Richard A. Blanchard, Ph.D.
Dr. Blanchard has over 35 years experience in the semiconductor and electronics industries, with Fairchild Semiconductor, Supertex, Siliconix, IXYS Corporation, Failure Analysis Associates (Exponent), IP Managers and SVEWG. Dr. Blanchard has also served as an independent consultant and expert witness in semiconductor technology, and a Professor of Electrical Engineering at Foothill College. Dr. Blanchard was previously Principal Engineer and Engineering Manager of the Electrical & Electronic Division of Failure Analysis (Exponent) Associates, where he was employed for seven years. As Division Manager, he performed numerous forensic tests and analysis of electronic and electrical systems and of semiconductor devices. These were often subject to legal disputes, particularly those involving intellectual property rights. Dr. Blanchard has testified in court and served on numerous occasions as an expert witness on technologies that include MOS, MOSFET & bipolar device technology; semiconductor device physics; microchip fabrication & analysis; electronic systems; electrical & electronic failures; ESD & EOS failures; semiconductor device/integrated circuit assembly & packaging; CMOS, DMOS & BiCMOS; power IC`s & power electronics; printed circuit board (PCB) manufacturing; semiconductor process & control. In addition, he has served as an arbitrator and a "Special Master" to the court. Dr. Blanchard has published several books and numerous articles on semiconductor technology and devices. He holds more than 130 US patents on semiconductor technology and is a member of the IEEE, the Electrostatic Discharge Society, and the International Micro-circuits and Packaging Society. He received his BSEE and MSEE degrees from MIT in 1970 and his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University in 1982. View Full CV

1127
This expert has over 20 years experience with inspections, investigations, fact-finding reports, depositions, and trial testimony for electrically caused damage, injury and/or death in the above areas of expertise.

• Construction-Electrical
• Electric Shock Design
• Elevators/Sliding Glass Doors/Fires-Electrical
• Industrial Equipment
• Lighting
• Lightning Strikes/Motors/Products-Electrical
• Utility Poles
• Safety Codes
• Wiring Insulation

1150
This expert`s 25-plus years of experience span all aspects of the vertical transportation industry including application engineering, design, safety, inspection, installation, retrofit, repair, replacement, and maintenance. He has been a certified Elevator/Escalator Safety Inspector through the National Association of Elevator Safety Authorities and the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) since 1991. He serves on the ASME Code Committee responsible for maintenance, repair, and replacement of elevators, escalators, moving walks and other vertical transportation equipment covered by the ASME A17.1 codes.

• Elevators, Escalators, Moving Walks, Dumbwaiters, Conveyors, Personnel Hoists, Residential Elevators
• Maintenance and Inspection
• Document and Site Review
• Safety and Building Codes
• Design and Modernization
• Retrofit and Repair

1273
Expert has over 35 years of industrial and academic of experience in the field of chemistry and chemical engineering. He has consulted with hundreds of corporations involved in the development, optimization, technical marketing and quality control of new and existing consumer and industrial products. The expert also has advanced training as a nationally certified fire and explosion investigator and is skilled at determining the origin and cause of fires and explosions relating to flammable liquids, aerosol cans, gases and clothing fires. He is also experienced in products liability issues and complex litigation relative to safety in design, formulation, packaging and handling, warnings and instructions and labels. The expert has been involved in over 400 forensic litigation cases as well as intellectual property litigation matters. He is a patent holder and published expert.

• Chemical Engineering
• Chemistry
• Product and Process Development
• Household and Industrial Products
• Fires and Explosions: Origin & Cause
• Safety in Design & Formulation
• Safety in Packaging and Handling
• Rheology
• Surface and Interfacial Chemistry
• Hazardous Chemicals
• Chemical Burns
• Toxic Exposures
• Water Soluble Polymers
• Organosilicones; Emulsions

1284
Expert is a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineer with over 22 years experience in mechanical design analysis, often as it relates to product safety, use, and maintenance. In addition to design analysis, he has investigated and analyzed numerous accidents, failures, and fires across North America involving industrial machinery, vehicles, heavy equipment and consumer products. Expert is published and has prior expert witness experience and has been deposed and testified.

• Mechanical Design Analysis
• Vehicles and Heavy Equipment
• Industrial Machinery
• Consumer Products
• Dynamics and Impact
• Product Failure Analysis
• Accident Reconstruction
• Fires and Explosions

1317
Expert has over 25 years of experience in the design and development of robotic equipment for confined space inspection and cleaning. He has been the lead developer of a wide variety of land-based and water-borne robotic systems for a wide range of industrial and military applications. He has provided consultation to some of the largest corporations in the United States in a wide range of technology application areas. He has served as a submarine acoustic trials director for the US Navy from 1977 through 1987 and has been responsible for the development of a range of innovative techniques for underwater object location and tracking. He has been the principal investigator on several programs sponsored by the Office of Naval Research, Naval Ships System Command, The Defense Advanced Projects Agency, and other government organizations. Expert has represented the US Government and the Nuclear Regulatory Agency for a number a years at the International Atomic Energy Agency, Vienna, Austria. In this role he has served as a research coordinator for the application of advanced artificial software techniques for nuclear reactor control and emergency shutdown and the general application of safety systems for reactor protection. Expert is actively involved in the transfer of robotic technology to the petroleum and petrochemical industry for vessel integrity inspection and testing. He works with most of the major oil companies in the United States and several overseas petroleum producers and manufactures. He holds a Ph.D. in Applied Experimental Psychology/Engineering and has prior litigation support experience.

• Robotics and Remote Systems
• Product Safety Design
• Acoustics
• Visual Displays
• Controls
• Human Performance
• Ultrasound Testing
• Aboveground Storage Tank and Pipeline Integrity Testing
• Industrial Safety

1328
Extensive experience in the design, engineering, manufacturing, testing, patenting, process optimization and failure analysis of aerospace, automotive, consumer products and medical devices as well as experience in manufacturing, analysis, automation, improvement, management and regulatory compliance. A multi-disciplined engineering approach is employed to assist attorneys, companies and individuals in the analysis and understanding of complex, technical issues involving products, premise, accident reconstruction, manufacturing, testing and patents. Expert has extensive litigation support experience including testimony at deposition and trial; he holds a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering and multiple patents.

• Forensic Engineering
• Machine and Product design & analysis
• Manufacturing processes analysis, monitoring and controls
• Multi-discipline engineering solutions
• Patent analysis
• System modeling & analysis
• Failure analysis
• Machining Processes

1368
Expert has over 20 years experience in forensic engineering and litigation support. The broad spectrum of his experience allows for early identification and evaluation of case issues and how to appropriately address them. Data analysis experience provides evidence of real world performance of products. Testing and test management skills allow for demonstrable presentation of concepts and evidence. Expert has prior litigation support experience.

• Mechanical and materials science engineering
• Failure analysis of mechanical systems and metallurgical components
• Accident investigation, documentation, and reconstruction
• Automotive and truck engineering
• Gears and drive-train components
• Motorcycles and all-terrain-vehicles
• Helmets and safety equipment
• Machine design and safety
• Hand, power and machine tools
• Metallurgy and welding
• Instrumentation and testing
• Firearm

1378
Expertise is in computer systems and electronic circuits. The breadth of this expertise spans computer hardware and software and many other products that utilize electronic circuits. Expert has been creating computing products for over twenty five years. Among these are computer I/O systems, video on demand systems, storage subsystems, computer controlled equipment, and high speed timing circuits. Expert legal consulting services include: expert witness, evaluating products for infringement issues, product testing to investigate root causes of failure and unit to unit variations, and assisting with technical language to accurately respond to interrogatories.

• Computer design and architecture, PC to Mainframe
• Operating systems, applications, programming languages
• Assembly language, firmware, microcode, drivers
• I/O systems, storage systems, Networking protocols (TCP/IP, etc)
• Processors, chipsets, controllers
• Real time control systems
• Digital circuit, analog circuit, and mechanical design
• Technical analysis and strategic planning
• Hardware and software evaluation, test plan creation and execution
• System performance and capacity measurements
• Logic analyzer and oscilloscope measurements
• Signal fidelity measurement
• Patent review
• Manufacturability and quality review

1379
Expert has professional experience in several overlapping technologies: computerized devices and equipment, industrial controls, automation, computer hardware and software, electronics and electrical & electronic engineering. He is a patent holder and has prior litigation support experience.

• Computers & Computerized Devices
• Industrial Controls & Automation
• SCADA & Telemetry Systems
• Computer Forensics
• Low Voltage Power Distribution & Control
• Intellectual Property
• Accidents & Damages
• Engineering Management
• Commercial Disputes
• Deposition & Trial Testimony - Qualified in US Federal Court

2014
This consultant is an automotive repair inspector with over 30 years experience in Collision, Salvage, Insurance and Post Repair inspections and estimation. He specializes in post repair inspections, diminished value assessments, improper collision repairs, total loss evaluations, used car certification, collision repair certification and 3-D vehicle dimensioning. He has extensive expert witness experience.

• Post Repair Inspections
• Diminished Value Assessments
• Improper Collision Repairs
• Total Loss Evaluations
• Used Car Certification
• Collision Repair Certification
• 3-D Vehicle Dimensioning

2034
Expert with a master degree in Mechanical engineering from Stanford University. This expert has an extensive experience as an expert witness and has been deposed and testified on many occasions.

• Mechanical Engineering
• Human Factors Engineering/Ergonomics
• Failure Analysis
• Accident Investigation and Reconstruction
• Safety Design
• Failure Prevention Methods
• Automation
• Robotics
• Microprocessor Applications
• Specializes in Tires, Wheels, and Brakes

2125
This expert has over 40 years experience as an engineering consultant to the tire industry and its subsidiaries including tire manufacturers, tire distributors, tire retreaders, tire cord manufacturers, tread rubber manufacturers, rim and wheel manufacturers, and indoor tire and road test facilities. This expert is qualified in 36 states to perform failure analysis for tires and rims, and has processed nearly 1400 such cases since the mid 1960's.

• Failure analysis in regards to tires and rims

2230
This expert is an electrical, electro-mechanical, and mechanical consulting engineer with many years of experience in the invention and design of electro-mechanical and mechanical devices. As a design engineer, this expert has invented and designed mechanical and electro-mechanical devices of great diversity; including: robots, generators, motors, computer components, switches, and similar type of electronic and mechanical devices. In addition, this expert is extensively published, holds dozens of patents, and has decades of consulting and litigation support experience.

• Electrical Accidents and Injuries
• Mechanical Accidents and Injuries
• Product Liability
• Expert Witness (Industrial accidents, product liability, electrical accidents, and patents.)
• Electro-Mechanical Engineering
• Mechanical Engineering
• Engineering and Business Management
• Engineering and Business Consulting

2235
This expert has nearly 20 years experience providing forensic and design engineering services for attorneys, insurance companies and electronic/electrical design/manufacturing related companies. Issues addressed include all aspects of the design, fabrication, production, operation and failure mechanisms of electrical and electronic devices and products as well as computer systems, both hardware and software. Primary investigations include fire cause and origin, equipment damage or failure analysis, high voltage surge and lightning losses, business interruption, personal injury or death, and property loss. This expert is a registered Electrical PE in the state of North Carolina and has over 27 years of experience in various industries and products.

• Forensic & Investigative Electrical Engineering
• Fire cause and origin
• Electronic/Electrical Hardware Design Engineering
• Telecommunication and Data Network Engineering
• EMC Design, Analysis and Test Engineering

2316
This expert brings 13 years experience in materials engineering, specializing in failure analysis, materials characterization and materials processing. This expert is an experienced litigation consultant & patent holder.

• Materials Characterization
• Materials Synthesis
• Qualitative Analysis
• Materials Selection and Processing
• Failure Analysis of Materials
• Mechanical Testing of Materials
• Nondestructive Materials Evaluation
• Metallurgical Engineering
• Fracture Mechanics

2350
This expert's Ph.D. thesis evaluates how automobiles collapse during impact. For eighteen years he then worked in industry, focused on structures, tires, soils, foundations, fluid mechanics, and design optimization. For the last seventeen years he has been involved in litigation work centered on vehicular and industrial accidents.

• Analysis and reconstruction of vehicle collisions
• Analysis of vehicle response to operator input
• Design optimization and numerical analysis
• Dynamics, impact, and vibration
• Finite element and finite difference analysis of solids and fluids
• Mechanical failure analysis
• Soil mechanics and foundation engineering
• Tire Research & Design

2363
This expert has extensive experience in the design and analysis of fully integrated and automated process machinery and in failure and risk analysis. He has conducted failure and risk analyses on large industrial machinery, and designed operational and safety improvements to automated systems used in industries such as consumer products, medical products, steel products, and others. He is experienced in technical problem solving, fault and failure analysis, design for compliance, safety and risk analysis, project, product and technical management, and the design of capital equipment for process and assembly automation.

• CD DVD CDR Technologies
• CD DVD CDR Manufacturing Equipment
• Robotics
• Optical Inspection
• Sensors
• Ionization Systems
• Failure analysis
• UV Curable Coding Systems
• Safety and Risk Analysis
• Coding Machinery
• Injection Molding Machinery
• Automated Assembly Machines
• PVD Systems / Vacuum Metalizers

2373
The expert is a registered Professional Engineer with extensive experience in traffic and roadway safety engineering. He is a nationally recognized expert on pedestrian and bicycle facilities planning, design, operations and safety. Since the early 1990s, he has been developing concept plans for corridor traffic calming, intersection designs, and roundabouts. He has worked on the local, state and national levels developing guidelines for the design and operation of neighborhood streets, traffic calming features, and pedestrian and bicycle facilities. In addition to bicycle and pedestrian planning and engineering, this expert's experience includes interstate traffic safety studies, fatal crash analyses, roadway corridor crash reviews, intersection analysis, and general traffic studies.

• Bicycle Operations and Safety
• Pedestrian Operations and Safety
• Traffic Operations and Safety
• Traffic Calming Operations and Safety

2402
This expert has over 18 years of academic and industry experience. He has been involved in variety of product design, product improvement, and forensic engineering practice. He has a strong background in mathematical modeling of dynamic systems and design optimization. His expertise in mechanical engineering and product design covers a broad range. Research interests include: dynamics of rotating machinery, bearing design, design optimization, and kinematics of machinery. Most recently he has been involved in medical devices, more specifically design and development of catheters.

• Machine System Design
• Machine Component Design
• Design of Medical Devices (Bio-Mechanical Devices)
• Mathematical Modeling
• Forensic Engineering
• Dynamics of Rotating Machines
• Fluid-Solid Interactions

2408
This expert has over 30 years of technical and managerial experience in both industry and academia. His primary expertise is in computational methods and simulation in mechanical engineering. He has focused in particular on the development and application of computational methods in these areas. His litigation support experience as an expert witness in patent litigation began in 1999. He has provided litigation support in over thirty cases including approximately 25 patent infringement cases.

• Computation Methods
• Heat Transfer
• Thermodynamics
• Thermal Sciences
• Fluid Dynamics
• Combustion
• Solid Mechanics
• Mechanical Design
• CAE & CAD Software

2453
Expert has over 30 years of technology experience his expertise includes embedded systems design (hardware and software), video post-production, and semiconductor test engineering. He is a patent holder and has expert experience

• Imbedded Systems Design
• Programmable Remote Controls
• Video Post Production
• Demystifying Technology
• Semiconductor and Wafer Testing

2522
MS, Mechanical Engineering, with patent litigation experience including multiple depositions

• Structural Analysis (finite elements)
• Machine Design, Gear Design, Kinematics
• Vibration
• Construction and Farm Machinery
• Thermal Sciences
• Thermodynamics
• Failure Analysis, Glass Fractography
• Electronic and Optical Packaging & Thermal Management for Avionic Platforms
• Pressure Vessels
• Optics, Optomechanics
• Radiometry
• Acoustics
• Fluid Mechanics
• Powder Technology, Rheology
• Environmental Pollution Control
• Web & Paper Handling Technology
• Electrostatics
• Soils
• Systems Engineering
• Applied Mathematics
• Statistics
• Laser Technology Applications, Holography
• Materials Science
• Xerography
• Fatigue Life, Facture Mechanics & Control Plans
• Photographic Science
• Graphic Science
• Color Science
• Photoelectrophoresis
• Image Science
• Pyschophysics of Visual and Audio Perception
• Biomechanics
• Medical and Scientific Instruments
• Corrosion
• Fire cause and origin