The Safety Challenges and Strategies of Using Lithium-Ion Batteries presents a comprehensive overview of the safety issues related to lithium-ion batteries. After an introduction explaining the basics of lithium-ion battery technology and the various chemistries used throughout the manufacturing process, the book delves into the design and process of failure models and mechanisms including cell assembly, formation, and electrode preparation processes, discusses the compliance, regulations, and standards of lithium-ion battery manufacture, and reviews how environmental factors such as temperature, humidity, and atmospheric pressure can affect the durability, performance, and safety of batteries.

CALCE is offering an intensive 4-day course on Root Cause Failure Analysis of Electronics. The course will introduce a closed-loop methodology for root cause analysis, provide an introduction to physics-of-failure-based reliability concepts, and cover specimen preparation and techniques for imaging, testing, and materials analysis applicable to electronic assemblies, components, and devices. The course comprises a combination of classroom instruction, equipment demonstrations, hands-on laboratory training, and a series of group breakout sessions focused on analyzing a failure case study.

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November 18-21, 2025
For more information, contact Dr. Michael Osterman.

On October 15 and 16, 2025, the Center for Advanced Life Cycle Engineering will hold its biannual Reliability Science Symposium. The meeting will include an overview of CALCE's research activities, followed by several detailed presentations of research projects. The meeting is open to all CALCE members. Others can contact Dr. Michael Osterman to seek an invitation.

Prof. Mohamed Alam, Jai N. Gupta Distinguished Professor at Purdue University, presented a seminar at CALCE on “Moore's Law and the Journey Ahead: Integrated Circuits in Extreme Environments” on September 9. His talk explored the growing reliability challenges faced by integrated circuits in military, space, and avionic applications, where harsh environments demand highly specialized packaging such as 2.5D/3D hetero-integration. Prof. Alam provided insights into cross-coupled chip-package-board interactions (CPBIs) and discussed potential solutions to ensure reliable IC operation under extreme conditions. He also shared his public resources on the design of experiments and transistor reliability.

Prof. Christou delivered two keynote addresses this summer, at the Nanotexnology Conference in Thessaloniki, Greece, where he spoke on heterogeneous integration of superconductors and semiconductors for photonic arrays, and at the HITEK 2025 Conference in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where he explored the role of diamond and related materials in advanced packaging and novel devices.

Organizations at all levels in the electronics product supply chain need organizational policies to reduce their exposure to the risk of procuring counterfeit parts. Creating, implementing, validating, and updating organizational policies and ensuring that all business units are trained in the policies and understand their responsibilities are essential for the organization.

PhD Student

Undergraduate Research Assistant

Intern (Germany)

Henry Zhou

Aashi Moola

Zeyad Jazouli 

During charge-discharge cycling in cylindrical lithium-ion batteries, lithiation and delithiation within the electrodes cause anisotropic expansion and contraction, generating mechanical stresses that can contribute to degradation mechanisms such as core collapse....

Electrochemical processes within a lithium-ion battery cause electrode expansion and gas generation, thus resulting in battery swelling and, in severe cases, reliability and safety issues. This paper presents the mechanisms responsible for swelling, including thermal expansion, lithium intercalation, electrode interphase layer growth, lithium plating, and gas generation, while highlighting their dependence on material properties, design considerations, C-rate, temperature, state of charge (SoC), and voltage. ...

The advantages of Printed Hybrid Electronic assemblies are of considerable interest to designers of electro-mechanical systems, especially for applications in extreme environments. This study considered the reliability of electrical components embedded into polymeric substrates and interconnected with printed conductors as elements of PHE assemblies subject to extreme acceleration levels experienced during mechanical shock. ...

Fatigue model constants of a board level reliability model are obtained for Bi-based SAC305 hybrid solder joints. Three tasks are performed to achieve the goal. In the first task, the constitutive properties (the Anand model constants) of hybrid solders are obtained as a function of Bi concentration from the constant strain rate tests at various temperatures. In the second task, ideal package assemblies containing hybrid solder joints are assembled using a metal-core PCB on the top and an FR-4 PCB at the bottom....