Physics of failure for portable electronic devices in military applications

In military applications electronic devices play a vital role in the success of a mission. These devices which provide control, guidance, communication, and reconnaissance are critical components in modern unmanned vehicular applications. The current trend is to provide a human interface to control theses systems via portable devices. This trend in modern warfare has increased the complexity of electronic equipment, especially in low volume, highly sophisticated, and dense electronic systems. These modern devices take advantage of the remarkable advances made in low cost commercial electronics. This current movement of using commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) electronics and devices for military applications has led to concerns about their reliability in harsh battlefield environments. The increase in the use of COTS components lead to the need to improve the reliability of these components by understanding the failure mechanisms due to thermal loads, dynamic vibration, and shock through Physics of Failure (PoF) analyses.