Field reliability enhancement of electronic modules using ESS

Environmental Stress Screening (ESS) is a powerful evaluation method used to realize reliability gains and decrease infant mortalities of electronic hardware. This paper provides some background theory on ESS and discusses case histories of its application on several Northern Telecom designed products and OEM components that are used in NT products. The results of screening show that defects in design, manufacturing and components that are missed by conventional reliability screening methods can be quickly identified by ESS.<<ETX>>