Solid State Student Guide: Device Pathology

This 16 page resource, made available by Maricopa Advanced Technology Education Center (MATEC), is a guide for students to use when assessing failures of electronic components within electronic systems. As electronic systems are complex, there can be thousands of causes for any given component failure. The goal of understanding the failure response process is to make the environment safe, ready for further investigation, and ultimately to prevent the failure from occurring again. The following larger system concepts are addressed:

• A system is more than the sum of its parts. Individual components can never constitute a system.
• Systems have unique problems.

The guide walks students through the fail response process and covers the following topics: Equipment and Supplies, Special Safety Requirements, Lab Preparation, Introduction, Performance - Activities to Undertake, Deliverable(s), and more. Five appendices of lab activities facilitate deeper understanding of the failure response process.