Jay Brusse

NASA · Electronic Parts Engineering

Bulk metal foil and thin film resistors occasionally contain localized defects within the etched resistor pattern. Common defects of this type include in-line constrictions referred to as notches, unremoved resistor material bridges between adjacent pattern lines, and embedded non-conductive particles in the resistor material. Such defects are pron...

If you manage a data center, especially one that sits on a raised floor, zinc whiskers might eventually have an impact on your operations. Zinc whiskers, as the name implies, are tiny hair-like filaments of zinc that actually grow from certain zinc-coated metal surfaces. Zinc whiskers are typically less than a few millimeters long and only a few th...

This website provides information about tin whiskers and related research. The independent research performed during the past 50+ years is so vast that it is impractical to cover all aspects of tin whiskers in this one resource. Therefore, the absence of information in this website about a particular aspect of tin whiskers should NOT be construed a...

Commercial-Off-The-Shelf (COTS) multilayer ceramic chip capacitors (MLCCs) are continually evolving to reduce physical size and increase volumetric efficiency. Designers of high reliability aerospace and military systems are attracted to these attributes of COTS MLCCs and would like to take advantage of them while maintaining the high standards for...

intent of this presentation is to depict a mechanism for creating damaging electrical shunts on laser diodes: Failure Mechanism. Metal whisker formation from die attach solder.

This paper discusses the issues of tin whisker growth on discrete electronic components. It presents both a critical analysis of existing published documents on tin whisker nucleation and growth and a summary of very recent experiments that provide further understanding of the potential means of whisker formation mitigation. Many of the proposed te...

The movement to eliminate lead (Pb), especially active in Japan and the European Union, has resulted in an increasing use of pure tin (Sn) coatings on leads and other external and internal surfaces of capacitors, resistors, and other passive components. This paper discusses the issues of tin whisker growth with respect to passive components. It als...

Tin whiskers pose a risk of intermittent short circuits in terrestrial applications and potentially catastrophic metal vapor arcs in space (vacuum) environments. Research on whiskering and mitigation practices has historically produced highly variable results. These variations and recurring observations of whisker-induced failures are central to th...

The NASA Parts Selection List (NPSL) is an on-line resource for electronic parts selection tailored for use by spaceflight projects. The NPSL provides a list of commonly used electronic parts that have a history of satisfactory use in spaceflight applications. The objective of this www site is to provide NASA projects, contractors, university exper...

A 1998 commercial satellite failure caused by tin whisker induced shorts prompted NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) to issue a NASA Advisory (NA-044 and NA-044A) (1,2) to remind the NASA community of the tin whisker phenomenon and the inherent risks associated with the use of pure tin plated components. Indeed the NASA Advisory served as a "r...