BELTSVILLE, Md., Jan. 20, 2014 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- DfR Solutions, the leader in quality, reliability, and durability (QRD) solutions for the electronics industry, announced today that it has been chosen to participate in the Next Generation Power Electronics Innovation Institute, led by North Carolina State University. The Institute is a $140 million advanced manufacturing consortium backed by the Obama Administration and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). It will unite 25 academic, government, and industry partners in an effort to revolutionize energy efficiency across a wide range of applications, including electronic devices, power grids and electric vehicles.
DfR Solutions was selected because of its leadership in the area of power electronics reliability and design in non-silicon based semiconductor devices. DfR Solutions will help develop robust, physics-based models for high power wide bandgap (WBG) semiconductor devices and packaging. By incorporating these models into the Sherlock Automated Design Analysis™ tool, critical reliability data will be available to all members of the Innovation Institute. The ability to make physics-based reliability predictions before prototyping will allow manufacturers to streamline product introduction, even with the latest technologies.
"We are honored to be chosen to contribute to such a ground-breaking initiative," stated DfR Solutions CEO Craig Hillman. "WBG technology is on the cutting edge of solid state power conversion. We expect to help accelerate adoption of this technology through the development and incorporation of physics-based predictions into our intuitive design analysis tool, Sherlock," says Hillman.
According to the White House, the Next Generation Power Electronics Innovation Institute is the first of three new manufacturing innovations institutes created to strengthen the US manufacturing sector, boost advanced manufacturing, and attract the good paying jobs that a growing middle class requires.
The institute is focused on enabling the next generation of energy-efficient, high-power electronic chips and devices by making wide bandgap semiconductor technologies cost-competitive with current silicon-based power electronics in the next five years. These improvements will make power electronic devices like motors, consumer electronics, and devices that support our power grid faster, smaller, and more efficient.
About DfR Solutions:
DfR Solutions is the expert in applying the science of Reliability Physics to electronics technologies and is the leading provider of quality, reliability, and durability (QRD) research, consulting, and software to the electronics industry. The company's integrated use of Physics of Failure (PoF) and Best Practices provide crucial insights and solutions early in product design and development and throughout the product life cycle. DfR Solutions specializes in knowledge- and science-based solutions to maximize and accelerate the product integrity assurance activities for clients in every marketplace for electronic technologies (automotive, avionics, consumer, energy, industrial, medical, military, telecom, and throughout the electronic component and material supply chain). Its ground-breaking software, Sherlock Automated Design Analysis™ is the only tool on the market for analyzing, grading, and certifying the expected reliability of products at the circuit card assembly level. Sherlock allows users to manage increasingly complex analyses more easily, efficiently, and faster than ever before. For more information regarding DfR Solutions, visit www.dfrsolutions.com.
About the Next Generation Power Electronics Innovation Institute:
The mission of the Next Generation Power Electronics Innovation Institute is to develop advanced manufacturing processes that will enable large-scale production of wide bandgap (WBG) semiconductors, which allow electronic components to be smaller, faster and more efficient than semiconductors made from silicon.
WBG semiconductor technology has the potential to reshape the American energy economy by increasing efficiency in everything that uses a semiconductor, from industrial motors and household appliances to military satellites.