WHAT DOES A FAILURE ANALYSIS ENGINEER DO?

Reviewed by Lam Nguyen under Editorial Standards

Updated: Jun 13, 2025 - The Failure Analysis Engineer enhances technical capabilities at failure analysis sites and drives enhancements in fault duplication and isolation accuracy. This position collaborates with cross-functional teams, including Product Managers and Technical Leads, to devise solutions for customer-reported issues and coordinates with Design Engineering and vendors for issue resolution and corrective actions. This role manages customer complaints, conducts electrical failure analyses, and oversees sample shipment logistics and reporting.

A Review of Professional Skills and Functions for Failure Analysis Engineer

1. Failure Analysis Engineer Duties

  • Decision-Making and Responsibility: Taking responsibility for work and making decisions with limited impact, impact of decisions is readily apparent, errors made typically only impact timeline (i.e., require additional time to correct).
  • Communication Skills: Using verbal and written communication skills to convey basic, routine factual information about day-to-day activities to others who are fully knowledgeable in the subject area.
  • Task Management: Completing most tasks with multiple steps, which can be performed in various orders, some planning and prioritization must occur to complete the tasks effectively, mistakes may result in some rework.
  • Creativity in Troubleshooting: Exercising some creativity to troubleshoot technical problems or deal with novel circumstances.
  • Problem Solving: Using deductive problem solving to solve moderately complex problems, most problems have defined processes of diagnosis/detection, some limited data analysis.
  • Test Platform Enablement: Enabling Production environment on test platforms to improve the flexibility of Failure Analysis and help reduce the project TATs significantly.
  • Automation and Efficiency: Improving group working efficiency by initiation and implementation of automations using various complex software and tools.
  • Failure and Root Cause Analysis: Performing failure and root cause analysis on product in the market, in conjunction with the Engineering and Design teams.
  • Report Design and Development: Designing and developing failure reports to the Design, Engineering, and Quality Improvement teams.
  • Test Method Development: Developing test methods, procedures, and failure analysis documentation.
  • Field Usage Analysis: Analyzing usage from the field in order to improve requirement setting and testing methods.

2. Failure Analysis Engineer Details

  • Failure Analysis Coordination: Coordinate Failure Analysis investigations to determine root cause and identify solutions to complex technical problems.
  • Cross-functional Collaboration: Work cross-functionally with subject matter experts across Research, Development, and Customer Support teams to assess and address root cause failures.
  • Workflow and Procedure Establishment: Establish Failure Analysis workflows, operating procedures, and best practices.
  • Hands-on Investigation: Work hands-on in lab to investigate failures and determine potential root causes, and develop novel methods for investigations.
  • Investigation Documentation: Document output of investigations, working closely with the QA team for field-facing failures.
  • Lab Setup and Equipment Procurement: Establish Failure Analysis lab, including identification, procurement, and qualification of necessary equipment.
  • Data Analytics and Monitoring: Coordinate/execute on data analytics to monitor failure rates, establish paretos of issues by component, SW version, etc.
  • Trend Monitoring and Proactive Measures: Monitor trend charts / SPC charts and recommend measures to proactively address issues trending towards failures.
  • Investigation and Mitigation Tracking: Track and communicate status of investigations and mitigations.
  • Long-term Solution Identification: Identify long-term solutions, communicate impact and urgency into Product Roadmap and Release Planning Processes.

3. Failure Analysis Engineer Responsibilities

  • Technical Capability Development: Develop the technical capabilities at the FA sites.
  • Fault Duplication and Isolation: Drive for improvements in the accuracy of the fault duplication and isolation.
  • Cross-functional Collaboration: Work closely with a cross-functional team of Product Managers, Technical Leads, and Customer Support to understand and come up with the right solution to resolve customer-reported issues.
  • Design Engineering Engagement: Engage Design engineering and communicate findings and resolutions for HW and SW field issues.
  • Component Engineering Collaboration: Collaborate with component engineering team and vendor to identify component root cause and corrective action.
  • Failure Analysis (FA) Execution: Perform FA through internal/external lab for failures from customer returns and NPI projects.
  • Failure Mode Understanding: Work with CQE, PQE, and engineering team to understand the failure modes.
  • FA Plan Generation: Generate FA plan and perform electrical FA (bench test, curve tracing, etc.) on the failure units.
  • 3rd Party Lab Instruction: Provide necessary instructions to 3rd party lab for FA.
  • Customer Complaint Management: Maintain customer complaint database and generate FA/8D report to customer.
  • Logistics Coordination: Make necessary logistics arrangements for the samples shipment.
  • Reporting: Report to Sr. QRA manager.

4. Failure Analysis Engineer Job Summary

  • Failure Analysis Execution: Perform or coordinate routine advanced failure analysis of devices and write and publish FA reports.
  • Relationship Building: Establish productive working relationships with internal customers, peers at other facilities, and experts at third-party labs.
  • Collaboration and Root Cause Analysis: Attend periodic meetings to review FA reports and collaborate with internal teams on root cause analysis.
  • Quality and Efficiency Improvement: Identify opportunities to improve the quality and efficiency of analytical services to the organization.
  • Report Review and Feedback: Review and edit reports completed by technicians, and provide feedback for training.
  • Work Instruction Writing: Write work instructions and processes for Failure Analysis at the direction of the FA Manager.
  • Technician Training: Help train Failure Analysis Technicians to follow processes and analyze, recognize, and properly report device failure modes.
  • Failure Mode Tracking: Track failure modes and maintain failure mode libraries.
  • Failure Mode Trend Reporting: Present periodic reports of failure mode trends to the FA Manager.
  • Equipment Setup: Bring up new failure analysis equipment at the direction of the FA Manager.
  • Fault Localization Techniques: Utilize fault localization techniques like Lock-in Thermography, Photoemission, OBIRCh, DALS, EOP/EOFM, EBIC, EBAC, Microprobing, and ATPG diagnosis.
  • Detailed FA Reporting: Write detailed high-quality Failure Analysis reports to summarize findings.
  • Project Documentation: Complete projects and document procedures and processes related to lab development, advancement, and maintenance activities.

5. Failure Analysis Engineer Accountabilities

  • Advanced Laboratory Tools Operation: Hands-on operation of advanced laboratory tools including Emission Microscopy and IC test platforms.
  • Test Data Analysis: Working with production test and fail data to identify candidate wafers and dies that are suitable for failure analysis.
  • Diagnostic Platform Setup: Setup and ownership of diagnostic platforms that allow for to analysis IC fail data at scale.
  • New Product Introduction Support: Contributing to New Product Introduction and validating key hardware and software solutions.
  • Circuit and Layout Studies: Performing detailed circuit and layout studies coupled with the fault isolation data.
  • Failure Analysis Planning: Generating detailed FA plans to identify root cause.
  • Technique Development and Collaboration: Developing a thorough understanding of upstream and downstream techniques in the lab and working seamlessly with peers of different disciplines to get results with the fastest possible throughput time.
  • Cross-functional Collaboration: Work closely with VF (virtual factory) counterparts, Low Yield Analysis, Product Engineering, and Quality and Reliability teams to meet yield targets and solve complex technological problems.
  • Lab Support and Communication: Support the Lab Manager and EBU Global Labs Team in terms of FA equipment set-up, failure analysis, documentation, and communicating results with internal and external customers.
  • New Product Development Support: Support the OV New Product Development and Material Development Teams in all activities related to new product design and development by following the Littelfuse 5 Phase system.
  • Patent Application Support: Generate invention disclosures for patent applications.
  • Failure Sample Analysis Support: Support the quality team for analysis of failure samples from either customer or production line once there is a requirement.
  • Technical Support for Products: Provide technical support to external and internal customers for Varistor products.

Job Role FAQs

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Editorial Process

Lamwork content is developed through structured review of publicly available job postings and documented hiring trends.

Editorial operations are managed by Thanh Huyen, Managing Editor, with research direction and final oversight by Lam Nguyen, Founder & Editorial Lead. Content is periodically reviewed to reflect observable labor market changes.