Electronic Materials: Reliability

Electronic hardware is fabricated from a wide variety of materials, including semiconductors, metallic conductors, insulators, ceramics and organic coatings. Modern low-cost, widely-available miniaturized electronic circuits (e.g., in digital watches, hand-held calculators, microcomputers) are perhaps best known for their small size. Equally important to their usefulness is their reliability, that is, the capability to perform the desired function throughout the intended useful lifetime. This article explains how materials science and engineering contribute to the reliability of electronic devices and materials.