The iRel40 project's third in-person General Assembly meeting was held in Rethymno, Crete, from Tuesday, May 9th to Friday, May 12th, 2023. Nearly 90 participants from all 13 iRel40 partner countries joined the meeting. The event served as a platform to review the project progress and plan the next steps toward a successful project ending in October 2023.

The meeting started with a "Come Together Networking" event on Tuesday, May 9th, in the late afternoon, at the meeting hotel. This engaging networking session provided an excellent opportunity for participants to exchange ideas and foster connections within the consortium network.

       

Figure 1: A come-together networking event with continuously arriving attendees engaged in a lively conversation.

       

Figure 2: iRel40 Crete meeting participants during the presentation of the project status and future steps.

During the meeting, the coordinator and work package leaders provided a comprehensive overview of the iRel40 project, encompassing its objectives, milestones, progress, and potential challenges. Because of the pandemic, the iRel40 project has had a challenging starting phase with no face-to-face meetings during the first two project years. Due to the engagement of all partners, their contributive studies and results, and the fruitful discussions in the last three face-to-face meetings in series, the iRel40 project is currently very well on its way to meet nearly all of its goals.

         

Figure 3: The participants were divided into five groups, engaging in insightful discussions about key performance indicators during a workshop organized by the WP5 team.

During this iRel40 project meeting various workshops were organized by work package leaders, each focusing on distinct aspects of electronic components and systems' reliability. The WP2 team hosted two workshops dedicated to Hybrid Modelling and Physical Health Management (PHM). These sessions delved into predictive models' impact, fault detection, diagnosis, prognostics, and health management, aiming to enhance electronics components and systems' reliability. The WP2 team is presently working on two final deliverables concerning these topics, scheduled for completion at the project's end.

A further workshop was organized by the WP5 team, which emphasized holistic testing and the identification of key performance indicators (KPIs). The WP4 team shared their progress on intelligent manufacturing and testing, while the WP3 team presented their results on the impact on stress and warpage, material interfaces investigations and degradation in encapsulation. The crucial focus of the WP3 team is the test vehicle catalog, where they conduct extensive work on single technology bricks to improve overall reliability.

     

Figure 4: Poster session with Ph.D. student posters and use case posters. Posters were available for discussion during the whole meeting.

A detailed part of the meeting was the presentation of the status of the use cases. Meanwhile, important reliability results are available, which now need to be implemented into the bigger picture. All 34 use cases were presented in a highlight presentation and an accompanying poster. These posters included four sections: a general description of the use case, the status of hardware readiness, reliability testing and assessment, and reliability impact, exploitation, and future collaboration.  

A poster session with use case posters was organized by the+ WP6 team during the iRel40 meeting. This session effectively facilitated fruitful discussions among the various work packages, creating an open and collaborative atmosphere to address research progress and challenges comprehensively. The posters received very positive feedback and offered valuable insights into the reliability of electronic components and systems.

Moreover, the involvement of enthusiastic and active Ph.D. students greatly contributed to the success of the Crete meeting. These students showcased their research outcomes through their own poster session, presenting a total of 12 highlights related to both use cases and test vehicles. The use case and Ph.D. poster presentations, expertly organized by the WP6 team during the iRel40 meeting, not only stimulated cross-work package discussions but also effectively engaged Ph.D. students in all aspects related to reliability.

The iRel40 General Assembly held in Crete provided the ideal platform for organization members to convene and review the progress achieved over the past year. The intensive work at the meeting was well balanced by the social activities including a visit of the new archeological museum at ancient Eleftherna and visit of the pottery where this traditional handcraft was demonstrated (Figure 5). On the evening of 3^rd day of the assembly, a social event was held in which members could enjoy a delicious dinner while networking with their project colleagues.

          

Figure 5: An engaging social event was organized, combining a visit of the new archeological museum at ancient Eleftherna, a visit to the pottery, a delightful dinner, and a lively national Greek dancing session for all participants to enjoy.

During the delightful social meeting at the Crete iRel40 GA gathering, the outstanding efforts and contributions of participants were recognized through prestigious awards. Julia Zündel from AT&S was granted the esteemed award for the best use case poster, specifically for her exceptional work on "Application of a design limits based, predictive design approach for the design of a reliable M2X module." Joshua Lommes from Fraunhofer IFAM was equally lauded and honored with the best student poster award for his impressive presentation on "Organic modification of layered silicates as barrier pigments in coating systems to protect electrical devices." Both awardees received certificates of appreciation to commemorate their exceptional performances (Figure 6).

              

Figure 6: At the social event, the awards for the best use case poster were presented to Julia Zündel (left picture) and for the best student poster to Joshua Lommes (right picture). Klaus Pressel, the project leader (2nd from left), and George Konstantinidis, the local organizer from Greek project partner FORTH (3rd from left), were the esteemed presenters.

More technical information on the outcome of the technical workshops at the Crete General Assembly will follow in upcoming "News Posts" on www.iRel40.eu. Researchers and stakeholders interested in reliability at ECS will hear more about the iRel40 project and its results.

The iRel40 event organizers and management team expressed gratitude to all participants for their dedication to the project and their hard work. They congratulated and acknowledged the progress achieved in the project, assuring that the next steps were firmly established. The partners eagerly anticipated the continuation of their collaborative efforts, united in their determination to make the iRel40 project a resounding success.

Figure 7: Sunset at Crete beach.