Failures have to be avoided by proper design, material selection and manufacturing. Properties, degradation mechanisms, and expected lifetime of materials are introduced and the basics of failure analysis and analysis equipment are presented. Failures will be demonstrated experimentally and the opportunity is offered to perform a failure analysis with advanced equipment in the laboratory.

Reliability and availability are basic properties for safe and sustainable products in communications, energy and medical technology, air and space applications, and electronics. They are described as stochastic and physical processes and have to be optimized with functionality, environmental impact and life cycle costs in development phase already. The required basics will be taught.