Developing the Quality Assurance Requirements for a Custom Thin-Film Circuit Program

Because of the unique problem areas associated with thin film circuit fabrication, a study was initiated to develop the quality assurance requirements for custom thin film circuitry.

This study resulted in generating (1) contamination requirements, (2) criteria covering receipt and handling of vendor supplied components and materials, (3) controls for critical thin film processes, (4) necessary inspection points, (5) a closed loop process control and corrective action system, and (6) reliability and failure analysis requirements. Also, the study showed that better non-destructive testing methods need to be developed in order to detect latent defects and thereby, increase circuit reliability.