2023 iNEMI Fellows

Award Criteria

The iNEMI Fellow designation recognizes individuals whose engineering achievements have had a positive impact on iNEMI as well as the electronics manufacturing value chain. 

Eligibility Requirements 

• 5+ years of committed service to the technical community
• Provided significant technical contributions to a roadmap development or project work
• Demonstrated technical leadership in launching impactful technical projects
• Developed a leadership pipeline for future technical projects
• Made significant contributions to the global electronics manufacturing ecosystem that expand and advance the knowledge, use, and application of best practices globally
• Contributed to iNEMI and to the global electronics manufacturing ecosystem, demonstrating the increased value of collaborative innovation in the pre-competitive space

 

2023 Winners

• Raiyo Aspandiar, Intel Corporation
• Richard Coyle, Nokia Bell Labs 
• Carol Handwerker, Purdue University
• Wei Keat Loh, Intel Corporation
• Prabjit (PJ) Singh, IBM Corporation

 

Raiyo Aspandiar 
Senior Packaging R&D Engineer
Intel Corporation

Raiyo has played a significant role in iNEMI’s lead-free and low-temperature solder initiatives. He was part of iNEMI’s initial Lead-Free Assembly team, which down-selected alternatives to SnPb alloys during the lead-free transition. He has also chaired the BiSn-Based Low-Temperature Soldering Process and Reliability Project since its inception in 2015, helping the team understand the technical reasons for performance differences for various alloys. Raiyo has published and presented several technical papers to share information about LTS solder alloys with industry.

Based on the LTS efforts, Raiyo identified gaps in two additional areas — electromigration and models for acceleration factors in temperature cycles — and has initiated projects to solve the technical issues in these areas.

In addition to his project leadership, Raiyo provided key technical inputs for iNEMI’s Board Assembly Technology Integration Group (TIG) from 2010 to 2020 and has been a contributor to the iNEMI Roadmap. He is also a participant in the Characterization of Third Generation High-Reliability Pb-Free Alloys where he provided technical input on alloy dopants to provide margins for harsh reliability requirements.
 

Richard Coyle
Consulting Member of the Technical Staff
Nokia Bell Labs

Richard is a well-recognized industry expert in solder joint reliability, particularly for lead-free solder and temperature cycling of board assemblies. He has chaired four iNEMI projects in this area over the past 10 years and participated in at least nine additional projects during this time, spanning many areas of component and assembly reliability. His leadership and active participation in iNEMI projects dates back even farther to at least 2006.  Over this period of more than 15 years, Richard has co-authored more than 40 conference and journal papers highlighting iNEMI project results. He has published additional technical papers (totaling 75+) documenting other industry projects, academic collaborations and company-specific investigations. In the past four years, five of Richard’s publications have received SMTA International Best of Proceedings recognition, including three publications documenting iNEMI projects.
Richard has served on the iNEMI Board of Directors since 2018, providing technical oversight and executive guidance to the organization. 

Contributions to the Electronics Manufacturing Ecosystem
For more than two decades, Richard has made significant contributions to iNEMI and to the electronics manufacturing industry. He has led several comprehensive projects at iNEMI that have furthered industry’s understanding of the reliability performances of lead-free solder alloys. He has also been a pivotal member of other industry consortia such as the High-Density Packaging User Group (HDP) and the Advanced Research in Electronic Assemblies (AREA) Consortium.

Other service to the electronics industry includes serving on the Surface Mount Technology Association (SMTA) Board of Directors for two terms, including as Vice President of Technical Programs. Richard has been a member of the Technical Committee for the SMTA International conference for 10+ years, recently taking on the additional role of Lead-Free Track chair. Recognized with a 2022 SMTA Member of Technical Distinction Award, Richard is widely respected in academic and industry circles for his vast technical knowledge, his positive work attitude, and his support of a wide range of organizations.

iNEMI Project Leadership
Richard has chaired four iNEMI projects in recent years and has been involved in several more. He has significantly contributed to improved industry understanding of solder alloys, soldering processes, and component and assembly reliability. His leadership in defining, executing, and interpreting the results from these projects has enabled the electronics industry to successfully transition to lead-free solder processes with the necessary quality and reliability to support a wide range of applications.

Richard served as the Chair and then the Co-Chair of the iNEMI Tin Whiskers Users Group (circa 2006). This group’s investigations into the risk factors associated with tin whiskers resulted in the creation of two documents intended to help manufacturers reduce the risk of tin whiskers in lead-free products by recommending mitigation practices, process controls, and verification testing. The first was JEDEC standard JESD201, “Environmental Acceptance Requirements for Tin Whisker Susceptibility of Tin and Tin Alloy Surface Finishes,” and the second was a JECEC/IPC joint publication, JP002, “Current Tin Whiskers Theory and Mitigation Practices Guideline.”

Richard has participated in the iNEMI Technology Working Groups (TWGs) examining Pb-free component and board finish reliability and primary factors in component warpage as input to various iNEMI Roadmap chapters, and he directly contributed to the Board Assembly Roadmap content in 2019.

 

Carol Handwerker
Reinhardt Schuhmann, Jr. Professor of Materials Engineering 
Professor of Environmental and Ecological Engineering 
Purdue University

Carol has demonstrated superior and effective leadership in conducting enabling research for the electronics industry, particularly in areas related to materials science and sustainability. She has helped define and build strategies for key areas of research along the electronics manufacturing value chain and is a recognized expert in the field of electronics and sustainability, which has been acknowledged through her role as an expert advisor to the U.S. government and her success in building relevant funded research programs for our industry.

Carol acted as a leader and champion for iNEMI’s early lead-free initiatives and, more recently, in the areas of sustainability and circularity in electronics manufacturing. Within iNEMI, she is currently co-chair of the Sustainable Electronics topic for the iNEMI Roadmap and served in that role for the previous three roadmap cycles. She is actively involved with the iNEMI Sustainable Electronics Technology Integration Group (TIG), has served on iNEMI’s Environmental Leadership Steering Committee, and has helped define and/or led many cross-industry projects related to reuse, recycling and recovery of value from end-of-life electronics. Carol has also been a long-time member of the iNEMI Technical Committee and a co-chair of the Research Committee. 

iNEMI Project Leadership
Carol’s leadership in two key iNEMI initiatives exemplify her expertise and insights as well as a commitment to a collaborate approach to addressing critical industry issues:

iNEMI lead-free projects (started in 1999)

• Collaborative, cross-industry effort identified SAC 305 as an initial replacement solder
• Enabled better understanding and faster development of materials, processes and assembly capabilities to ensure long-term reliability of lead-free assemblies
• Co-editor of the book, Lead-free Electronics: iNEMI Projects Lead to Successful Manufacturing, published in 2007, that summarized key learnings from this work to help educate the industry during the transition to lead-free solders

iNEMI Value Recovery from Used Electronics Project

• Engaged multiple stakeholders from the hard disk drive (HDD) value chain on a shared focus on circularity 
• Demonstrated the benefit of moving from the mindset of “reuse or shred” to “reuse and recover” for HDDs
• Conducted multiple demonstration projects to show that HDDs can have value, even after the end of first life
• Provided a comprehensive demonstration of the circular economy for the industry at that time

Contributions to the Electronics Manufacturing Ecosystem
Carol is an excellent ambassador for iNEMI, promoting the technical output of projects and the collaborative research consortium as a model for effective research. In addition, her strong technical contribution to the field of material science and electronics manufacturing has been recognized across the industry and technical communities. Leadership roles outside of iNEMI include:

• Currently co-chairs the Education and Workforce Development Technical Working Group for the NIST-funded, SRC-led Roadmap for Microelectronic and Advanced Packaging Technologies (MAPT)
• Was principal investigator for the university-based Global Traineeship in Sustainable Electronics program 
  • Five-year, $3.2 million grant from the National Science Foundation’s Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship (IGERT) program 
  • Combined education and training of future engineers with research to develop new, more environmentally friendly and sustainable materials
• Invited to join the Industrial Advisory Committee (IAC), part of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), which provides guidance to the Secretary of Commerce on: 
  • Science and technology needs of the nation’s domestic microelectronics industry
  • Effectiveness of the national strategy in supporting U.S. leadership in microelectronics manufacturing
  • Research and development programs and other advanced microelectronics activities funded through CHIPS for America
  • Opportunities for new public-private partnerships

 

Wei Keat Loh
Director of Core Competencies and Site Manager for 
Assembly & Test Technology Development (ATTD) in Malaysia
Intel Corporation

Wei Keat has been engaging with iNEMI for more than 12 years, during which time he has chaired several iNEMI projects and is the current chair of iNEMI Packaging Technology Integration Group (TIG). He has helped iNEMI identify key players and needed capabilities to accomplish project goals and eliminate technology gaps, leading to project achievements and outputs that are recognized and referenced by the electronics industry. He encourages the participation of young engineers and helps them grow in leadership and industry recognition. Wei Keat is also active in industrial events and conferences, where he promotes iNEMI’s roadmaps and projects and demonstrates the value of collaboration. 

Packaging TIG Leadership
Wei Keat joined the Packaging TIG in 2014 and became chair in 2018. Under his leadership, Packaging has become one of the most active iNEMI TIGs with industry webinars, technical forums, conference engagements and ongoing development of relevant projects to meet member needs. Working with iNEMI staff members Tsuriya-san and Haley Fu, Wei Keat helped establish and continues to drive the monthly iNEMI Packaging Tech Topic Series — a series of webinars that are open to industry. This program has helped raise awareness of iNEMI efforts and collaboration opportunities. 

Wei Keat has contributed to each Packaging Technical Plan since 2017 and is now working on the 2024 plan. In 2020, he helped revamp documentation Technical Plan to make the easier to update and maintain.

iNEMI Project Leadership
Wei Keat has made significant contributions to iNEMI programs by sharing his skills and knowledge as well as resources. As a project leader, he is adept at pacing the team’s work in a meaningful and collaborative way without adding tension and stress within the member organizations. He also leverages his networks to broaden iNEMI communications and reach. 

He has led or been involved in multiple iNEMI projects on package warpage, including the multi-phase Package Warpage Prediction and Characterization projects which span more than 12 years. This series of projects addresses future package warpage challenges including measurement, modeling, and material development. The projects have generated significant data on package warpage and published nine conference papers in a yearly cadence, some of which were recognized as Best Papers. Phase 5 of the project received an iNEMI Project Leadership Award in 2022.

In addition to the warpage-related projects, Wei Keat has helped drive further collaboration among iNEMI members to address gaps in the application of low-temperature solder on both first- and second-level interconnect, revisit reliability assessment for first-level interconnect solder voids, investigate adhesion strength of laminates, explore new metrology on moisture induced polymeric expansion, along with other potential research topics.

 

Prabjit (PJ) Singh
Senior Technical Staff Member
IBM Corporation

Prabjit Singh has led three major multi-phase iNEMI projects in which the teams have made major technically innovative contributions to the electronic manufacturing industry. These innovations have helped companies reduce production time, improve quality and reliability and/or reduce costs. Results of each of these efforts are well-documented in dozens of conference publications.

Creep Corrosion

• FOS Chamber — Developed the iNEMI flowers-of-sulfur chamber as a low-cost, effective alternative to the very expensive and hard-to-maintain mixed flowing gas (MFG) chamber used to test electronic assemblies for robustness against corrosion in the field.  A dozen companies are using the iNEMI flowers-of-sulfur test chambers. 
• Creep Corrosion Test — Invented and developed a reliable test for creep corrosion using the iNEMI FOS chamber that can be completed in less than two weeks to ensure that the PCB supply is free of PCBs that would suffer creep corrosion in the field.
   

Conformal Coating Test
Invented and developed a test for characterizing conformal coatings using planer serpentine silver and copper thin films. The advantage of the test is that the results are quantitative in nature and the test duration is less than a week compared to the industry’s present test that is qualitative and takes nearly a year to complete. iNEMI recognized Phase 1 of the Conformal Coating Evaluation for Improved Environmental Protection Project with a Project Leadership Award in 2022.

Electromigration of SnBi Solder for Second-Level Interconnect
Invented and developed a novel planar solder test specimen for studying electromigration in low-temperature solders such as SnBi.  The novelty of the test is that the specimens are easy to prepare and the progress of electromigration can be non-destructively tracked without having to cross-section the solder joints. Arrhenius plots have been determined to predict the electromigration life of solder joints under field conditions.