Jim comes from the Midwest and holds an Electrical Engineering Degree from Purdue University .  He has 26 years of contributions to the Failure Analysis community through committee organizations for ISTFA, EOS/ESD, and IRPS and has published numerous award-winning papers on Failure Analysis techniques.  Colvin has been working as a Consultant for over 22 years and originated the Passive Voltage Contrast technique, the first portable Emission Microscope, the Vibration coupler, and the laser illuminator, to name a few.  Currently he is the CEO of FA Instruments, Inc. founded to provide leading edge tools for Failure Analysis.  Jim currently holds 10 patents for products relating to the semiconductor field and is recognized as a contributor to the advancement of semiconductor technologies.•    Best Paper award from the EOS/ESD Symposium for his paper titled “The Identification and Analysis of Latent ESD Damage on CMOS Input Gates” 1993.
•    Outstanding paper award from ISTFA for his paper titled” Color Voltage Contrast: A New Method of Implementing Fault Contrast with Color Imaging Software” 1995. Best Paper award from ISTFA for his paper titled "FemtoFarad/TeraOhm Endpoint Detecton for Microsurgery of Integrated Circuit Devices" 2012.Recent Publications:"FemtoFarad/TeraOhm Endpoint Detecton for Microsurgery of Integrated Circuit Devices" - ISTFA 2012 (Received Best Paper Award)"Stress Reduction during Silicon Thinning Using Thermal Relaxation and 3D Curvature Correction Techniques" - ISTFA 2012 "Gradient Thermal Analysis by Induced Stimulus" - ISTFA 2009 "Comparative Failure Analysis of Photovoltaic Devices" -- ISTFA 2009 "Moiré Stabilized Thermal imaging" - IPFA 2005Specialties: New product development of tools for the Failure Analysis Semiconductor field.