On October 29, 2014, the Center for Advanced Life Cycle Engineering and the IPC will hold the 8th International Symposium on Tin Whiskers in Raleigh, North Carolina, USA. This symposium is being supported by Lockheed Martin. This event is co-located with the IPC TechSummit, which runs Tuesday, October 28 through Thursday, October 30. Since its inception, the International Symposium on Tin Whiskers has been the most prominent forum for discussing the current state of knowledge related to tin whiskers. Tin whiskers, which are electrically conductive tin filaments that grow spontaneously from tin-finished surfaces, are a known failure risk in electronics that have tin-finished surfaces.

Despite significant research over the past decade, the ability to predict whisker growth for long-life applications remains a challenge. Further, studies on the use of barriers, such as conformal coating, to contain whiskers and prevent whisker contact have demonstrated issues with insufficient coverage and whiskers erupting from beneath thin coverage. Past presentations at this symposium have examined growth theories, whisker failures, and risk assessment and mitigations strategies.

The presentation line-up for the symposium is as follows: An investigation of tin whisker growth over a 32-year period, Barrie Dunn, European Space Agency, Noordwijk, the Netherlands Validation of the Dynamic Recrystallization (DRX) Mechanism for Whisker and Hillock Growth on Thin Films, Paul Vianco, Sandia National Labs, Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA Electrostatic theory of nucleation and growth of metal whiskers, V. G. Karpov, University of Toledo, Toledo, Ohio, USA Mechanisms for zinc whisker growth from electrodeposits produced using an alkaline non-cyanide electroplating bath , Liang Wu, Loughborough University, Loughborough, England SERDP Tin Whisker Testing and Modeling: Thermal Cycling Testing , Polina Snugovsky, Celestica, Toronto, Canada Whisker mitigation measurements using a test vehicle based on a printed circuit assembly, Martin Wickham, National Physical Laboratory (NPL), Teddington, England Platelet composite coatings for tin whisker mitigation, Lauren E.S. Rohwer, Sandia National Labs, Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA Development of Polyurethane Composite Coatings for Tin Whisker Mitigation, Junghyun Cho, Binghamton University (SUNY), Binghamton, New York, USA SERDP Tin Whisker Testing and Modeling: Simplified Whisker Geometric Short Circuit Risk Model Development, Stephan Meschter, BAE Systems, Endicott, New York, USA Case Study: Tin Whisker Risk Assessment of a Tin Surface Finished Connector, David Hillman, Rockwell Collins, Cedar Rapids, IA, USA Whisker Prevention and the Relevance of Plating Conditions, Werner Hgel, Robert Bosch, Stuttgart, Germany Tin Whisker Risk Management by Conformal Coating, Linda Woody, Lockheed, Ocala, FL, USA