Applied Research And Development
ACI facilitates and stimulates collaborative efforts in applied research activities to advance the state of electronics manufacturing and related technologies in the United States today. By forming best-in-class partnerships with industry, government and academia, we provide expertise from all areas and broaden the dimensions and breadth of our capabilities.
 ACI has experience managing multi-million dollar cooperative research projects in areas such as:
- Ruggedization and reliability of electronic assemblies and packages
- Design and packaging technologies for power electronics
- Failure mode determination and analysis
- Packaging solutions and implementation for semiconductors
- Production planning and new component integration for military systems.
ACI's internal research initiatives have also led to advances in materials characterization and corrosion analysis involving a wide range of electronics production materials and assemblies such as: solder alloys and fluxes (including lead free); polymeric encapsulants, underfills and molding compounds; thermoelectric assemblies; power integrated circuits; and area array electronics packages.
ACI's advanced scientific capabilities are packaged with years of practical manufacturing experience to deploy the benefits of our research initiatives to our partners. By partnering with ACI, companies of all sizes can maximize their R&D investment by leveraging the expertise and accomplishments of this truly unique national resource.
These are some of the R&D programs running at ACI.
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Current Projects
Completed Projects
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The Electronics Manufacturing Productivity Facility (EMPF) was established in 1984 to aid the electronics industry in improving electronics manufacturing processes required in the manufacture of military systems. Today, the EMPF operates as a National Electronics Center of Excellence deriving its resources from a consortium of industry, university, and government participants led by the American Competitiveness Institute (ACI). Under the direction of ACI, the EMPF serves as a corporate residence of expertise in electronics manufacturing, which includes providing advice to the Navy ManTech Program Director concerning program formulation. The EMPF’s principal goals are to (1) improve responsiveness to the needs of DoD weapon systems and the war fighter; (2) ensure that deliverables make a significant impact on the electronics manufacturing industry; (3) facilitate the development and transition of technology to the factory floor; and, (4) expand the customer base to a national level.
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ACI has begun a new project sponsored by “NAVSEA titled Advanced R&D for Navy Integrated Power Systems (IPS),” that will focus on a series of advanced power electronics hardware devices. These devices will be evaluated for their performance to determine the effectiveness of these new technologies for direct use in high power Navy applications. To evaluate these new advanced technologies, the project was broken down into three major subtasks: fiber optic sensors, wide band gap devices, and advanced heat exchangers. These new advanced technologies have the potential to increase system reliability, increase power densities, and improve system performance monitoring. The objective is to validate these alternative technologies on a suitable demonstration vehicle capable of providing significant IPS fault anomalies. Upon demonstrating the effectiveness of these technologies versus the current standard, ACI will assist with the implementation of these technologies within the Navy DD(X) IPS systems.
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The United States Army Electronics Sustainment Center (AESC) was established to act as a focal point for electronics sustainment issues. Through its partnerships with government and industry, the AESC is able to provide strategic solutions for aging electronics and legacy systems within the United States Army. The AESC has been successful in teaming with the government, defense electronics industry and academic partners in identifying sustainment issues, improving weapon system performance, extending the life of fielded weapon systems, and in reducing the total ownership cost of Army systems.
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