A word from the General Chair 
 With regard to current technology developments and market trends in the automotive industries, it is very impressive to note how fast electronics became one of the most decisive factors for todays and future automotive applications. New trends like assisted driving and connected cars, electric vehicles, or progress in motor and safety managements are highly dependent on increasingly more complex semiconductor based systems. In turn, these new application fields are significantly affecting the technology roadmaps of the electronics industry. And there is no doubt- these thrilling developments will also pose many new and very challenging demands specifically on electronics robustness and reliability.
Thus, while ESREF 2016 will continue in considering the full spectrum of reliability topics in electronics, it will additionally address the field of automotive electronics reliability as its special topic. It is a great pleasure to invite you to meet the experts in electronics reliability and failure analysis at ESREF 2016 in Halle (Saale)!

Matthias Petzold

Fraunhofer Institute for Microstructure of Materials and Systems (IWMS)
Center for Applied Microstructure Diagnostics  (CAM)