Economic cost modeling of environmental-stress-screening and burn-in

The electronics industry is highly competitive. The introduction of new advanced integrated circuits continues. The manufacturer must develop a product with adequate life cycle, high quality and low failure rate in the specified time period. Environmental stress screening (ESS) is widely used in the electronics industry to assist in eliminating early or patent failures. The bathtub curve is a common model for the failure rate of a population. The classic bathtub curve has three parts: infant mortality; useful life; and wearout. However, some electronic products have latent defects which are not detected by conventional inspection or functional testing, and occur during the product useful life. Most electronic systems have finite useful life. As a result, technology obsolescence is of concern and should be considered, This paper uses a new interpretation and development of the bathtub curve that integrates: (1) latent failures; and (2) the concept of obsolescence, by constructing an integrated cost model used to determine both optimal burn-in and ESS times in the same environment.