• Tin whiskers.
• How tin whiskers affect electronic/electrical products and equipment.
• How to prevent tin whiskers.
• How to mitigate (lessen the dangers of) tin whiskers.

Most of our members are or have been involved in the development and manufacturing of high-reliability electronics for manned spacecraft, satellites, rockets, missiles, airplanes, automobiles, medical devices, etc.

We hold a teleconference (telecon) almost every Wednesday, starting at 11:00am Eastern Time (10:00am Central Time, 9:00am Mountain Time, 8:00am Pacific Time) and usually lasting 2+ hours. We try to have one or two technical presentations each month by experts on tin whiskers and related topics. If one or more of our members has recently attended a conference, symposium, or other meeting that concerns tin whiskers, they share the most important non-confidential results from the meeting with us. Then we finish with a general discussion of tin whisker-related subjects.

To join the Tin Whisker Group, please contact Bill Rollins, who founded and is the Moderator of the Group.

The following documents have been provided by Tin Whisker Group members as background information on tin whiskers.

Date	Member	Document
April 26, 2019	Bill Rollins	Disruption in Aerospace and Defense Is Here: Are You Ready?
March 14, 2018	Gregory Cederlind	Litesurf -- Tin-Free Electroplating for Press-Fit Technology, by Frank Schabert, TE Connectivity Product Development Engineering
May 24, 2017	Tom Woodrow	NPL Webinar-- UV Inspection and Thickness Measurement of Conformal Coatings
April 6, 2016	Tetsuya Ima	Yamaha Revs Your Heart
February 10, 2016	Diana Shvydka and V. G. Karpov	Surface parameters determining a metal propensity for whiskers
May 6, 2015	Tom Woodrow	Keyence VK-9700 3D Laser Confocal Microscope
December 1, 2015	John Barnes	Bibliography for Tin Whiskers

Since late 2010/early 2011, the Tin Whisker Group has had numerous discussions about the likelihood of tin whiskers causing at least some of the Sudden Unintended Acceleration (SUA) problems with Toyota cars and trucks. Many of our members own and drive Toyota vehicles, so we have a personal interest in:

• Inspections and preventative maintenance tasks we can do ourselves.
• Warning signs that our car/truck/van may be developing an Unintended Acceleration problem.
• How to keep our vehicle under control-- and bring it to a safe stop-- if Unintended Acceleration happens to us.
• How to protect the evidence from tampering/ destruction.
• Finding knowledgeable people/ organizations that we can trust to investigate the problem thoroughly, and report it honestly.
• Getting the evidence to them.
• Following up on their investigation.

Several of our members, who work for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), were involved in the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) investigation of Toyota SUA problems. Several other members have been and are currently Expert Witnesses in lawsuits against car manufacturers for Unintended Acceleration problems. Dr. Antony F. Anderson, a consultant in the United Kingdom (UK), recently joined the group. He has been investigating Unintended Acceleration problems with various manufacturers' vehicles for over 8 years. Antony has written the following reports on Unintended Acceleration problems around the world:

• Anderson, Antony F., "Case Study: NHTSA's Denial of Dr Raghavan's Petition to Investigate Sudden Acceleration in Toyota Vehicles Fitted With Electronic Throttles," IEEE Access, Apr. 21, 2016.
• Anderson, Antony, "Comments on NHTSA 2014-0108: Intermittent Electronic/ Software Malfunctions - Learning from Failures," Dec. 2, 2014.
• Anderson, Antony F., "Intermittent Electrical Contact Resistance as a Contributory Factor in the Loss of Automobile Speed Control Functional Integrity," IEEE Access, Apr. 9, 2014.
• Anderson, A. F., "Provisional notes on the CTS electronic accelerator pedals as used in some Toyota vehicles," Dec. 15, 2012.
• Anderson, Antony, "Sudden Acceleration/Surge Incident Brandon Street, Wellington NZ," May 9, 2012.
• Anderson, A. F., "Re the Tanya Spotts EDR results," Mar. 2012.
• Anderson, Antony, Kirk, Brian, Armstrong, Keith, "The Present Limitations of Motor Vehicle Electronic Data Recording," Dec. 11, 2010.
• Anderson, Antony, Kir, Brian, and Armstrong, Keith, "The Poor Quality of Functional Safety Engineering in the Automobile Industry," Inside Functional Safety, pp. xx-xx, 2010.
• Anderson, Antony, Kir, Brian, and Armstrong, Keith, "The Poor Quality of Functional Safety Engineering in the Automobile Industry." (about 2010)
• Anderson, A. F., "Review of VRTC MEMORANDUM REPORT EA-07-010 VRTC-DCD-7113," Oct. 11, 2009.
• "Final Report: "2007 Lexus ES-350 Unintended Acceleration"," Apr. 30, 2008.

Below is a nearly-complete list of presentations that have been made to the Tin Whisker Group since I joined in December 2008, compiled from my saved E-mails on the subject. Unfortunately, this folder exceeded 2.15GB a couple of weeks ago, trashing both the copy on my computer and the back-up copy on a flash drive. To recover from this problem, I had to restore the folder from a back-up DVD dated December 25, 2013. Therefore my list of presentations for the first quarter of 2014 may be incomplete. I also had a major computer crash a few years ago, and may have lost some E-mails then. So, if you have any additions or corrections to this web page, please E-mail them to me at jrbarnes@iglou.com, and I will acknowledge your contribution at the bottom of the web page.

Date	Presenter	Presentation
March 31, 2021	Joe Smetana	Board Thickness Effect on Accelerated Thermal Cycle Reliability as background, Bill Rollins recommends reading Reza Ghaffarian's presentation Ball Grid Array Assembly Reliability
October 14, 2020	Diana Shvydka and Victor G. Karpov	Gamma and x-ray accelerated tin whisker development
March 21, 2018	Prashant S. Chintawar	Electroplating Innovations from Honeywell
October 18, 2017	Vamsi Borra and Daniel Georgiev	Part - 2: Whisker characterization
October 11, 2017	Vamsi Borra and Daniel Georgiev	Part - 1: Whisker characterization (revised October 16, 2017)
July 19, 2017	Martin Wickham	Tin Whiskers Testing Using Conformal Coatings as a Mitigation
July 12, 2017	Diana Shvydka	Whisker growth on Sn thin film accelerated under gamma-ray induced electric field
June 7, 2017	Victor G. Karpov	Stochastic growth of metal whiskers (presentation) The stochastic growth of metal whisker (paper)
October 12, 2016	Jonathan Harris	The Impact of Plated Layer Contamination on Semiconductor Assembly: A Failure Analysis Perspective (part 1) The Impact of Plated Layer Contamination on Semiconductor Assembly: A Failure Analysis Perspective (part 2) CMC Laboratories, Inc.
September 7, 2016	Stephan J. Meschter	Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program (SERDP) Nanoparticle enhanced conformal coating project: Coating modeling for tin whisker mitigation (presentation) Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program (SERDP) Nanoparticle enhanced conformal coating project: Coating modeling for tin whisker mitigation (paper)
August 24, 2016	Stephan J. Meschter	Enabling Lead-free in the DoD through Risk Mitigation: Program Management and Systems Engineering Overview
June 15, 2016 & June 22, 2016	Gordon Davy	Preventing Tin Whisker Growth Risk (.pdf) Preventing Tin Whisker Growth Risk (.pps) Preventing Tin Whisker Growth Risk Rev. A (.pps)
June 1, 2016	Steve Smith, Bill Rollins	The Whisker-Tough Conformal Coating: A Certain Solution to an Uncertain Problem Engineering Requirements for a Tin-Whisker-Risk-Controlling Conformal Coating to be used in a Missile Tin whisker captivation by the Whisker-Tough Magnum conformal coating Effects of Conformal Coat on Tin Whisker Growth
May 18, 2016	David Pinsky	Mitigation of Pure Tin Risk by Tin-Lead SMT Reflow
May 11, 2016	Indranath Dutta, Bhaskar Majumdar	Influence of Indium Addition on Whisker Growth in Electroplated Tin Rationale for the Auger Studies
December 9, 2015	Eric Chason and Fei Pei	Sn whisker formation as a stress-induced nucleation and growth process
November 11, 2015	Victor Karpov	Verifying the electrostatic theory of whiskers
October 21, 2015	Victor Karpov	Electric field stimulated growth of Zn and Sn whiskers
April 8, 2015 & April 15, 2015	Victor Karpov	Understanding the movements of metal whiskers (presentation), Understanding the movements of metal whiskers (paper)
January 28, 2015 & February 4, 2015	Carol Handwerker	Handwerker Purdue update January 2015
December 3, 2014	Stephan Meschter	2009-mccormack-whisker-bridging-assessment.pdf meschter mckeown 2014 modeling Whisker group 2014-11-13.pptx TQFP128 example-whisker calculator 2014-11-13.docx Whisker_Risk_Model_3_2.xls
November 12, 2014	Stephan Meschter and Polina Snugovsky	Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program (SERDP) Tin Whisker Testing and Modeling: Tin Whisker Growth on SAC305 Assemblies and Risk Modeling
	Joe Smetana	iNEMI Tin Whisker Projects: Test Development, Risk Mitigation, and Fundamental Theory Development
October 15, 2014	Anthony Vasko	Rapid Growth of Whiskers in Evaporated Tin Films Under Influence of Electric Field
Aug. 27 & Sept. 3, 2014	Victor Karpov	Electrostatic Theory of Metal Whiskers Backup information: Electrostatic theory of metal whiskers New Theory Explains Mysterious Growth of Metal Strands Secret of `Metal Whiskers' in Electronics Finally Revealed? ScienceShot: How to Shave Metal Whiskers Tiny hairy metals threaten technology, but science holds the solution
June 18, 2014	Gordon Davy	Evaluating Moisture and Corrosion Risk in Hermetic Packages
Feb. 12, 2014	Tom Donnelly	Design for Reliability Guidelines
Nov. 20, 2013	Dave Hillman	An Investigation into the Tin Pest Phenomena: 3 Years and Counting
Nov. 6, 2013	Nik Chawla	In situ Mechanical Testing of Sn Whiskers
May 8, 2013	Eric Chason	Correlating Whisker/Hillock Growth with Compressive Stress in Sn during Thermal Cycling
Apr. 24, 2013	Jeff Montgomery	AEM, Inc.
Mar. 6, 2013	Dave Hillman, and Tom Lesniewski	An Investigation of Whisker Growth on Tin Coated Wire and Braid
Feb. 13, 2013	David Pinsky	Lead-Free and Supply Chain Manangement for High Reliability Systems
Jan. 30, 2013	Carol Handwerker	Tin Whisker Formation: A Predictive Model Based on Local Microstructure and Grain Boundary Properties
Jan. 23, 2013	Tony Rafanelli	Dependable Electronics with Lead-Free Components/Systems Overview
Jan. 16, 2013	Tony Rafanelli	Dependable Electronics with Lead-Free Components/Systems Overview
Jan. 9, 2013	Don Susan	Tin Whisker Work at Sandia National Laboratories
Nov. 6, 2012	Don Tyler	Robotic Hot Solder Dip for Prevention of Tin Whiskers and Weak Solder Joints
July 25, 2012	Stephan Meschter	SERDP Tin Whisker Testing and Modeling: Low Stress Conditions
July 11, 2012	Michael Osterman	CALCE Whisker Research
June 6, 2012	Jeff Chinn	IST Super-Hydrophobic ALD Coatings
May 16, 2012	Andrew D. Kostic	The Aerospace Corporation Lead-Free Working Group (LFWG)
Apr. 25, 2012	Mike Bozack	Research Activities in Surface Physics
Mar. 21, 2012	Mike Bozack	Research Activities in Surface Physics
Mar. 7, 2012	Joe Smetana	Variations in Thermal Cycling Response of Pb-free Solder Due to Isothermal Preconditioning
Feb. 29, 2012	Joe Smetana	HDPUG Pb-Free Board Materials Reliability Project 2: Moisture Sensitivity and Its Effect on Delamination
Feb. 22, 2012	Eric Chason	Real-Time Study of Whisker/Hillock Formation in Sn-Cu Systems by EBSD Characterization
Feb. 15, 2012	Michael J. Bozack	Research Activities in Surface Physics
Feb. 8, 2012	Joe Smetana	The Effects of Lead-Free Reflow On Conductive Anodic Filament (CAF) Performance of Materials
Feb. 1, 2012	Nik Chawla	Overview of Pb-free Solder Research Activities
Jan. 25, 2012	Gordon Davy	Tin-Whisker-Impenetrable Metal Cap Process for Electronic Assemblies: An Analysis of Cap TW Penetrability and Prevention vs. Mitigation
Jan. 18, 2012	Joe Smetana	A Standard Multilayer Printed Wiring Board for Material Reliability Evaluations
Jan. 18, 2012	Joe Smetana	Reliability Testing of PWB Plated through Holes in Air-to-Air Thermal Cycling and Interconnect Stress Testing after Pb-free Reflow Preconditioning
Jan. 11, 2012	Michael Osterman	Assessment of Tin Whisker Mitigation for Conformally Coated SnPb Assemblies
Dec. 21, 2011	Gordon Davy	Tin-Whisker-Impenetrable Metal Cap Process for Electronic Assemblies: An Analysis of Cap TW Penetrability and Prevention vs. Mitigation
Dec. 7, 2011	Gordon Davy	Tin-Whisker-Impenetrable Metal Cap Process for Electronic Assemblies: An Analysis of Cap TW Penetrability and Prevention vs. Mitigation
Nov. 16, 2011	Gordon Davy	Tin-Whisker-Impenetrable Metal Cap Process for Electronic Assemblies: An Analysis of Cap TW Penetrability and Prevention vs. Mitigation
Nov. 9, 2011	Gordon Davy	Tin-Whisker-Impenetrable Metal Cap Process for Electronic Assemblies: An Analysis of Cap TW Penetrability and Prevention vs. Mitigation
Nov. 2, 2011	Gordon Davy	Tin-Whisker-Impenetrable Metal Cap Process for Electronic Assemblies: An Analysis of Cap TW Penetrability and Prevention vs. Mitigation
Oct. 26, 2011	Nicholas Clore	Identification and Counting Procedure for Tin Whiskers, Hillocks, and Other Surface Defects
Oct. 19, 2011	Gordon Davy	Tin-Whisker-Impenetrable Metal Cap Process for Electronic Assemblies: An Analysis of Cap TW Penetrability and Prevention vs. Mitigation
Oct. 12, 2011	Jay Brusse	Electrical Failure of an Accelerator Pedal Position Sensor Caused by a Tin Whisker and Discussion of Investigative Techniques Used for Whisker Detection
Aug. 31, 2011	Andrew D. Kostic	Lead-free Electronics Reliability - An Update
Aug. 24, 2011	Andrew D. Kostic	Lead-free Electronics Reliability - An Update
Aug. 10, 2011	Joe Smetana	Pb-free Solder Joint Reliability in a Mildly Accelerated Test Condition
July 27, 2011	Joe Smetana	The Effects of Non-filled Microvia in Pad on Pb-free Solder Joint Reliability of BGA and QFN Packages in Accelerated Thermal Cycling
July 13, 2011	Steve Smith	Fluid Physics
June 22, 2011	Dave Gilbert	Toyota Sudden Unintended Acceleration
May 11, 2011	Tom Hester	Tin Whisker Self-Mitigation in Surface Mount Components
Mar. 23, 2011	Bill Vuono	Cleaning Fluid Entrapment under Vented Flip Chip Packages
Feb. 23, 2011	Fred Verdi	Susceptibility Testing for Tin Whiskers
Feb. 16, 2011	John Osenbach	Creep and It's Affect on Sn Whisker Growth
Feb. 9, 2011	John Osenbach	Creep and It's Affect on Sn Whisker Growth
Jan. 26, 2011	Anduin Touw	GEIA-HB-0005-4 Guidelines for Performing Reliability Assessment for Pb Free Assemblies used in Aerospace and High-Performance Electronic Applications
Jan. 19, 2011	Anduin Touw	GEIA-STD-0005-2 Standard for Mitigating the Effects of Tin Whiskers in Aerospace and High Performance Electronic Systems, Rev A draft 1/5/11
Dec. 22, 2010	Henning Leidecker	Metal Vapor Sparking and Arcing
Dec. 8, 2010	Steve Smith, Bill Rollins, and Charlie Minter	The Whisker-Tough Conformal Coating: A Certain Solution to an Uncertain Problem
Nov. 17, 2010	Gordon Davy	Can Method 1018 Test Results Indicate Corrosion Risk?
Nov. 3, 2010	Eric Chason	How do whiskers and hillocks grow in Pb-free Sn coatings?
Oct. 20, 2010	Tom Woodrow	Evaluation of Conformal Coatings as a Tin Whisker Mitigation Strategy, Part III
Oct. 13, 2010	Terry Munson	Flip-Chip BGA Fluid Entrapment and Mask Porosity Problems
Oct. 6, 2010	Terry Munson	Lidded FCBGA Fluid Entrapment and Mask Porosity
Sept. 22, 2010	David Pinsky	Application-Specific Tin Whisker Risk Assessment Algorithm- Update 2010
Sept. 8, 2010	Bob Landman, Gordon Davy, and Denny Fritz	Whisker-Impenetrable Selective Metal Cap Process for Electronic Assemblies
Aug. 18, 2010	Gordon Davy	OEMs' Pb-free and Tin Whisker Options - Prevention vs. "Mitigation"
June 16, 2010	Pylin Sarobol	The Effects of Local Film Properties on Whisker and Hillock Growth on Sn, Sn-Cu and Sn-Cu-Pb Electroplated Films
June 9, 2010	Aaron E. Pedigo	Understanding Fundamental Tin Whisker Growth Mechanisms by Characterizing Film Properties
May 26, 2010	Tom Woodrow	Composition of Tin Whiskers on Tin-Plated Brass
May 26, 2010	Mike Bozack	(tin whiskers growing on thin film tin over a zinc substrate)
May 19, 2010	S. Meschter	Lead-to-lead spacing considerations a part of a comprehensive 2B tin whisker mitigation strategy
April 10, 2010	Tom Lesniewski	Assessment of Whisker Growth from Tin Coated Wire and Cable
Mar. 31, 2010	Lyudmyla Panashchenko	Plating Dendrite Formations on Sn plating
Jan. 27, 2010	John Osenbach, Maureen Williams, Carol Handwerker, and George Galyon	Sn Whiskers
Jan. 20,2010	Lyudmyla Panashchenko	Evaluation of Environmental Tests for Tin Whisker Assessment
Dec. 9, 2009	Tom Woodrow	Effects of Pb on the Diffusion of Tin within Tin Platings
Dec. 2, 2009	Jim Blanche	Leadfree Technology Experiment in a Space Environment
Nov. 18, 2009	Lyudmyla Panashchenko	Fat Metal Whiskers
July 22, 2009		Some Examples of "Whiskers" from Tin-Based Alloys
July 15, 2009	Stephan Meschter	A Probabilistic Assessment of Component Lead-to-Lead Tin Whisker Bridging
July 8, 2009	Eric Chason	Sn whisker formation: relationship between intermetallic formation, stress and whisker nucleation
June 24, 2009	Kurt Kessel	NASA-DoD Lead-Free Electronics Project
June 10, 2009	Joe Smetana	iNEMI Recommendations on Lead Free Finishes for Components Used in High-Reliability Products
May 13, 2009	Joe Smetana	Theory of Tin Whisker Growth "The End Game"
Apr. 29, 2009		The Fusing of Wires and Tin Whiskers
Apr. 22, 2009		The Fusing of Wires and Tin Whiskers
Feb. 25, 2009	Peter Borgesen	Lead-Free Solder Joint Reliability Oxymoron? (I like it, but ...)
Feb. 18, 2009	Gordon Davy	Interfacial Layer Growth Kinetics
Jan. 28, 2009	Karim Courey	Estimating the Probability of Electrical Short Circuits from Tin Whiskers - Part I
Dec. 17, 2008	Stephan Meschter	Effect of hot solder dipping on part stresses

Last revised March 22, 2021