Old tin whiskers problem rears ugly head again

TIN WHISKERS caused a short on an electronic system at NASA, the Denver Post reports, a story taken up by Slashdot today as well.

Tin whiskers are tiny strands which cause short circuits in some electronic systems when they bridge gaps they shouldn't.

The problem is well known to chip designers and there have even been conferences held by the likes of JEDEC to alert manufacturers to the problem.

The NASA page says that the tin whiskers which borked its system took 20 years to manifest, longer than others have reported.

The Denver Post, according to Slashdot, is reporting that the Colorado secretary of state's office has been tin whiskered for weeks.

But while the Denver Post hasn't been tin whiskered, it looks like its site is groaning under the weight of the Slashdotteria.

There's more here (Slashdot), here (Denver Post if you can get there, and here (NASA holding up well). µ

See Also
JEDEC calls for papers on tin whiskers, lead elimination
JEDEC calls for "tin whiskers" experts