Education Workshops
The ISTFA 2026 Education Workshops are designed to deliver in-depth, practical learning experiences for professionals at every stage of their failure analysis career. These workshops provide a hands-on environment where attendees can deepen technical expertise, explore advanced methodologies, and gain real-world skills that can be applied immediately in the lab and in the field.
Led by industry experts, researchers, and experienced practitioners, ISTFA workshops are known for their focus on real-world applications, emerging technologies, and best practices in failure analysis, materials characterization, and reliability engineering.
2.5D, 3D, 3.5D advanced packaging techniques: design, process, manufactory, yield, reliability, and failure analysis
Saturday, October 3, 2026 | 8:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.
Instructor: Yan Li, MediaTek
Pricing
Member – $325
Member (Student) – $199
NonMember – $425
NonMember (Student) – $199
Advanced Packaging enables the heterogeneous integration of chiplets with die embedding and die stacking techniques, and provides maximum device performance with a much faster product development cycle. However, as the 2.5D, 3D, and 3.5D packages are getting more and more complicated, it brings numerous challenges in the design, material and process development, product manufactory, yield ramping, reliability risk assessment, fault isolation and failure analysis of new products within the short timeline.
This short course provides detailed illustration of the design, process, manufactory, yield, reliability, and failure analysis for 2.5D, 3D, and 3.5D advanced packages. An overview of the advanced packaging industry with detailed assembly process flow, including Cu Pillars, micro bumps, thermal compressive bonding (TCB), Hybrid bonding (HB), Redistribution Layer (RDL) Lithography, die embedding, testing, and Surface Mount Technology will be discussed. Current Industry focus and research trends will be highlighted. Reliability, fault isolation, and failure analysis of advanced packages will be elaborated.
Biography: Dr. Yan Li received her Ph.D. degree in Materials Science and Engineering from Northwestern University, U.S.A. in 2006, and her M.S and B.S degree in Physics from Peking University, China. After more than 17 years in Intel Arizona and 3 years in Samsung Advanced Packaging group in San Jose focusing on advanced packaging technology developments, she joined Media Tek USA as a Principal Engineer of Packaging Technology in 2026. Dr. Li has been an active member of Minerals Metals and Materials Society (TMS), Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), American Society for Metals (ASM), and Electronic Device Failure Analysis Society (EDFAS). She has been appointed as TMS and International Symposium for Testing and Failure Analysis (ISTFA) annual conference organizer since 2011, EDFAS board member since 2019, EDFAS vice president since 2024, IEEE Electronic Components and Technology Conference (ECTC) Applied Reliability sub-committee member since 2024, and ISTFA general Chair in 2024. Dr. Li has published numerous papers and patents in the microelectronic packaging area. She is an associate editor of “Microelectronics Reliability” and the co-editor of three semiconductor industry highly recognized books on 3D Microelectronic Packaging and Autonomous Vehicles.
Beam Based Defect Localization
Saturday, October 3, 2026 | 1:30 – 5:30 p.m.
Instructor: Ed Cole, SANDIA National Labs
Pricing
Member – $325
Member (Student) – $199
NonMember – $425
NonMember (Student) – $199
This short course reviews SEM (scanning electron microscopy) and SOM (scanning optical microscopy) techniques for IC failure analysis. All of these techniques can be performed on a standard SEM or SOM (using the proper laser wavelengths). The use of advanced electron/optical beam test systems will also be discussed. The goal is to provide beneficial information to both novice and experienced failure analysts. Topics are: 1) Standard techniques: secondary electron imaging for surface topology, backscattered electron imaging, voltage contrast, capacitive coupling voltage contrast, electron beam induced current imaging, and x-ray microanalysis; 2) Specialized SEM techniques: novel voltage contrast applications, resistive contrast imaging, and charge-induced voltage alteration (both high and low energy versions); and 3) SOM techniques: light-induced voltage alteration, thermally-induced voltage alteration/optical beam induced resistance change, Seebeck Effect imaging, soft defect localization/laser-assisted device alteration, laser logic probing, and solid immersion lens applications.
Biography: Edward I Cole, Jr. received a Ph.D. (1987) in physics from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. His doctoral work involved the development and fundamental understanding of non-destructive, low energy electron beam techniques to analyze integrated circuits. He joined the Failure Analysis Department of Sandia National Laboratories in 1987. His research interests are in the development and improvement of non-destructive IC failure analysis tools, with emphasis on electron and optical beam techniques and he has published frequently in the field of failure analysis. Two of the failure analysis techniques developed by teams Dr. Cole led, Charge-Induced Voltage Alteration (’95) and Light-Induced Voltage Alteration (’98), have won R&D 100 awards. In 1995 Dr. Cole was named a Distinguished Member of the Technical Staff at Sandia National Laboratories. In 2004 Dr. Cole was appointed to the position of Sandia Senior Scientist. He has served on the executive and management committees of the ISTFA and IRPS conferences, chairing the ISTFA’96 event. He has served on the Electronic Device Failure Analysis Society (EDFAS) Board of Directors from 1998-2004 and was EDFAS President from 2000-2002. He is presently immediate past-editor of the EDFAS Society’s magazine was General Chair of the IRPS’07, and serves on the IRPS Board of Directors and ASM Volunteerism committee. In 2013 he was appointed a Sandia Fellow and a Fellow of ASM International.
