Simon Ko Email & Phone Number

System Level reliability of repairable/replaceable DNA sequencing instruments with PCBA, Laser, opto/electro mechanical module, server, and robot. NPI reliability allocation, budgeting, planning, & methodology development. Field reliability monitoring & feedback to modeling. Field system/Recurrent Event & GRP/NHPP/Cow-AMSSA reliability analysis, Field repairable/fleet system, Reliability Growth, ALT, Weibull, & RDT modeling & analysis.

Washington, D.C., Us

Reliability of consumer e-cigarette vaping device and Nicotine cartridge at NPI stage. Develop Reliability methodology: tests, process, fixture, and spec. based on application feedback from customer. Working with R&D/ID/PD cross functional team to ensure DFR, MRD/PRD meets FDA design protocol. Thermal, environmental, chemical, and mechanical stresses on Li-battery, casing, antenna, PCBA, accelerometer, pressure sensor, SoC chip, contact, adhesive, and plating reliability. Manage CM (Pegatron/Molex) for PRQ, ORT, reliability fall out, and gate exit to MP.

Manage Quality & Reliability in CM for RF consumer electronic products. Subject matter expert in materials selec-tion, testing, characterization, and SMT. FMEA, EVT/DVT/PVT/MP during product development. Developed Reliability test methodology, test conditions, specifications using accelerated model and adequate stress factors based on MRD/PRD. Qualification, of new design, processes, components, and suppliers.

Alhambra, Ca, Us

Design and verification analysis of preliminary design during R&D/NPI stage using FTA, DFMEA, PFMEA, DOE, and accelerated test to screen out weakest links, design flaw, operation limit, destruction limit in Temperature Tunable Optical Assembly. Design and develop reliability methodology: qualification standard, accelerated/stress test plan, and quantitative lifetime modeling of Integrated Tunable Laser Assembly including precision optics, PCB, module, subassembly, and laser.• Reliability testing of optoelectronic, electromechanic, optics, alignment, PCB, VECEL laser, TEC, Piezo ceramics, fiber, thermistor, RTD, hermetic seal, glass, optical thin film, solder/epoxy joints used in laser module.• Reliability in design phase for optoelectronics, electromechanical assemblies, interface, compatibility, degradation of joint, and alignment process for telecom product using HALT for early detection of design fault.• Qualification of optical assembly, process, vendor, materials, and components per Telcordia, JEDEC, MIL, and IPC. Establish standard reliability procedure, format, stress condition, and HASS for infant failure detection.• Reliability modeling, parameters fitting and optimization, cumulative distribution function, statistical analysis, and life characteristics relationship in QALT estimate using ALTA, Weibull++, Minitab, and JMP.• Physics of failure analysis, materials characterization, and failure mode determination in DFR test. Design and develop test methodology to verify effectiveness of modification. • Engaged with overseas CM to implement and monitoring SPC, control plan and document. Process control chart, process, product, and delta qualification and on-going reliability testing (ORT/ORM).

Fremont, Ca, Us

Manager of Failure Analysis Dept as part of a turn-key semiconductor packaging reliability testing lab.

Established a Reliability Lab, operation, and procedure. Developed reliability test methodology, qualification plan, hardware, equipment automation, data acquisition, data base, failure mode and criteria, resource logistic, and ex-ternal labs management. Test, characterization, and reliability of flat panel display components per CIE 1931 standard. Lifetime, accelerated stress test, and QALT predictive modeling of glass capillary and laminated film dispersed with nanoparticle of photoluminous and fluorescent quantum confinement phosphor (quantum dot) for consumer display. Improve lifetime by identifying root cause and failure mechanism of oxygen, humidity, and contamination through adhesive or cohesive permeation, fracture & stress corrosion of glass, and interface adhesion.

Livermore, Ca, Us

Mechanical, reliability, and lifetime testing of Si/SOI based 3D monolithic probe card for wafer level testing. De-termined and characterized mechanical and contact phenomena. Electroplated monolithic cantilevers from MEMS and semiconductor process connected to bond pad, trace, and via in cofired glass-ceramics (HTCC/LTCC—Corundum, Mullite, Cordierite) substrate through metal-ceramic blazing and soldering. Integration of module to system through elastic MEMS mandrel ribbon to PCB, mechanical fixture, protective layer, and packaging.• Developed reliability testing methodology for MEMS 3D cantilever structure. Metal microspring, solder joint, metal/ceramic joint, brazing, interconnect, epoxy bonding, lamination, low thermal expansion fixture, and PCB.• Reliability and environment testing of product integrity. Contact/interconnect electrical and mechanical properties, fatigue/vibration, creep, temperature/humidity cycle, elastic and plastic deformation, yield strength curve, shear test, contact resistance, wipe, wear, and current to failure under stressed or accelerated conditions.• Provided various departments with accelerated stress test for early detection of design, materials, process, and equipment flaw and reduce product development time 10 folds using HASS and HALT. HAST for high pres-sure humidity test at elevated temperature.• Quantitative Accelerating Lifetime Testing (QALT) for predictive modeling of lifetime using exponential and Weibull distribution with Arrhenius and inverse power life characteristics. Failure rate, activation energy, stress factor, multivariable analysis, MTTF/MTBF, scale factor, shape factor, and MoF/GoF.• Manage and multitask of ORM, FMEA, qualification, and reliability for engineering processes, projects, pro-grams, and products in various production level (device, component, module, and system) in cross functional environment. Report result, failure analysis of defect, and issue conclusion or recommendation for approval.

Livermore, Ca, Us

Materials analysis to characterize semiconductor and MEMS process issues using FIB, SEM/EDS FTIR, Dage, AFM, Nanoindentor, Sonoscan, metallographic, deprocessing, and commercial lab. *Defect/yield analysis of MEMS manufacturing processes based on Pareto Chart: photolithography, RIE/DRIE, wet etch, vacuum deposition, electroplating, ceramics brazing, wirebond, soldering, and ceramics to wafer bonding. *Precision cross section for electroplated features, correlation to XRF, plating knit line feature, qualification, DRIE critical dimension, solder joint microstructure, and monitoring critical dimension. *Failure analysis and fracture mechanism of reliability and mechanical test. Mechanical metallurgy and electro/chemical migration of microstructure, processes, and failure mode relationship. *Root cause and failure analysis of solder joints, adhesion interface, plating defect, cross linking of resist, contamination, particulate, fracture interface, adhesion/seed layer, undercut, knit line stress concentration fracture, composition analysis, and microstructure. *Hands on with Agile, JMP, Promis, MathCad, Minitab, and Oracle ERP.

157, 193 and 248 nm DUV excimer laser photolithography light source. Management of optics supplies chain and contract manufacturer to ensure quality and stability of optics components/modules for wavelength mea-surement, FWHM narrowing, and stabilizing. Cooperated with R&D to define, develop, test, and qualify product design, specification, and validation. Manage and implement quality, continuous improvement, and compliance of vendor and CM by establishing QC, test plans, and metrics to monitoring performance with SPC and 6 sigma. On-site audit and qualification procedure for new materials, suppliers, components, modules, and equipment.• Managed vendors of CaF2, MgF2, high purity Quartz (Corning HPFS 7980), silicate glass (Schott), zerodur based optics component and CM of optical module and integrated system using polishing, dicing, CNN ma-chining, RTV, epoxy, bonding, lamination, TIG, optics fiber, and precision alignment fixture.• Designed and developed reliability methodology to test lifetime/reliability of glass, crystal, and thin film/substrate per MIL-STD and warranty of high power laser for adhesion and integrity in billions laser pulse.• Test and qualified optical components used in 248/193/157 nm DUV excimer laser: beam splitter, prism, eta-lon, grating, lens, etc for optical surface, lifetime, and spatial profile, polarization, indexes, and reflectivity properties.• Qualified vendor for beam splitter, prisms, etalon, grating, lens, polarizer, OC and various optical components used in wavelength measurement, stabilizing, and narrowing modules of 193/157 nm excimer laser with VW double pass measurement for optics using mirror, lens, PDA, CCD, splitter, and opto-mechanical fixture.

Development of optical thin film coating operation from concept to finish and expanded production lines 8 fold. Determined the compromise between theoretical simulation and actual vacuum deposition process to optimize yield, cost, and performance of optical coating. Experience in R&D, product design, process development, staff training, yield improvement using SPC and DOE. Negotiated with raw materials and equipment vendors for new materials, design, modification, control interface, and software. • Hands-on experience in optical coating design/simulation software: FilmStar, TFCalc, Film Wizard, and Essential McLeod.• Developed fabrication, cleaning, and thin film coating process with various substrate: display panel, optical component, filters, special mirror, optical fiber, and laser rod. Net shaping forming, drilling, dicing, milling, and tolerance, UV curing, lamination, bonding, welding, and thermal adhesive for optical devices and modules.• Designed, characterized, and ramp-up optical coating to reach projected revenue: anti-/high/tap reflection, bandpass filter (CWDM, DWDM), beam splitter, polarizer, phase shift filter, edge filter, chirping output coupler, Gain Flattening Filter (GFF), and protective/diffusion barrier in the UV/visible/IR range.• Developed/modified novel thin film/substrate materials for new coating products/design: SiO2, HfO2, Ta2O5, TiO2, Nb2O5, Y2O3, Sapphire, ITO, Si, Ge, Cu, Al, Cr, Au, Ag, W, Ti, substance 1/2, alloy, metallorganic, BK7, F-2, FUSI, alkaline/boron/sodium-lime/phosphate silicate glass, MgF2, CaF2, CeF3, LaF3, Sulfide, and Selenide.• Modified, accepted, and qualified Leybold, Balzer, Vecco, Eddy, Edward, Denton, Varian, Intervec vacuum coating chamber using Magnetron, RF sputtering, E-Beam Ion Assist Deposition, Ion Beam Sputtering, and thermal evaporation technique with reflective/transmittive optical monitor and thickness/rate control oscil-lator.

ISO 9001 certified clean room manufacturing of magnetic disk drive media. Failure analysis and yield improve-ment of new products and RMA during pilot production and OEM qualification stage of disk drive magnetic media. *Characterized defect/composition of materials/thin film: EDS, ESCA(XPS), AES(Auger), FTIR, XRF, and X-ray. Topography/morphology/metrology/microstructure: AFM/MFM (Digital Instrument DI3000), Tencor, Zygo, SEM (Hitachi), and Nomarskie microscope. Crystallography/phase: EPMA, WDS, X-ray Diffraction (pole figure, rock curve, lattice refinement), Grazing incident XRD (Rigaku). Electrical properties: 4 probe, C-V, Q-V, I-V, Hall Effect, and magnetic hysteresis loop.

Synthesize nano-powder with new technique. Dehydration, shape forming, sintering, kinetics and ther-modynamics, nucleation and growth, P-T-composition stability diagram. Processing, microstructure and properties relationship. *TGA, DSC, BET, porosimetry and gas analysis. Particle size distribution: centrifugal, electrical sensing, laser diffraction, and light scattering. *Designe furnace with atmosphere control for thermodynamic and diffusion studies of oxidation, reduction and phase stability of materials. *Material thermal and mechanical properties: porosity, thermal expansion/stress, effect of heat treatment, and Fictive temperature of glass. *Surface science of ceramics and glass: effects on sintering, vitrification, surface tension and wetting behavior, and liquid phase sintering. Interfacial properties between metal, ceramics, and vitrified materials. *Thermodynamics and kinetics of phases, microstructure, and oxygen partial pressure relationship in gas-solid reaction. *Combine thermal analysis, XRD, and electron microscope to determine partial pressure dependent phase diagram isothermally and isoplethally.

Ph.D, Ceramics Engineering

Ms, Materials Science

Bs, Metallurgical Engineering