| Introduction | p. 1 |
| Definition of reliability | p. 1 |
| Historical development perspective | p. 2 |
| Quality and reliability | p. 3 |
| Economics and optimisation | p. 5 |
| Probability; basic laws | p. 5 |
| Probability distributions | p. 6 |
| Basic reliability distribution theory | p. 9 |
| Specific terms | p. 11 |
| The generalised definition of / and MTBF | p. 13 |
| Failures types | p. 15 |
| Failures classification | p. 16 |
| Reliability estimates | p. 17 |
| "Bath-tub" failure curve | p. 19 |
| Reliability of electronic systems | p. 20 |
| Can the batch reliability be increased? | p. 20 |
| What is the utility of screening tests? | p. 21 |
| Derating technique | p. 241 |
| About the testability of electronic and telecommunication systems | p. 25 |
| Accelerated ageing methods for equipped boards | p. 26 |
| Operational failures | p. 27 |
| FMEA/FMECA method | p. 29 |
| Fault tree analysis (FTA) | p. 30 |
| Monte Carlo techniques | p. 30 |
| Practical recommendations | p. 32 |
| Component reliability and market economy | p. 33 |
| Some examples | p. 35 |
| References | p. 37 |
| State of the Art in Reliability | p. 43 |
| Cultural features | p. 44 |
| Quality and reliability assurance | p. 44 |
| Total quality management (TQM) | p. 46 |
| Building-in reliability (BIR) | p. 48 |
| Concurrent engineering (CE) | p. 49 |
| Acquisition reform | p. 50 |
| Reliability building | p. 51 |
| Design for reliability | p. 51 |
| Process reliability | p. 52 |
| Technological synergies | p. 53 |
| Screening and burn-in | p. 54 |
| Bum-in | p. 56 |
| Economic aspects of burn-in | p. 59 |
| Other screening tests | p. 60 |
| Monitoring the screening | p. 61 |
| Reliability evaluation | p. 65 |
| Environmental reliability testing | p. 66 |
| Synergy of environmental factors | p. 68 |
| Temperature cycling | p. 70 |
| Behavi or in a radiation field | p. 72 |
| Life testing with noncontinous inspection | p. 73 |
| Accelerated testing | p. 75 |
| Activation energy depends on the stress level | p. 77 |
| Physics of failure | p. 78 |
| Drift, drift failures and drift behaviour | p. 81 |
| Prediction methods | p. 83 |
| Prediction methods based on failure physics | p. 84 |
| Laboratory versus operational reliability | p. 86 |
| Standardisation | p. 87 |
| Quality systems | p. 87 |
| Dependability | p. 87 |
| References | p. 87 |
| Reliability of Passive Electronic Parts | p. 93 |
| How parts fail | p. 93 |
| Resistors | p. 94 |
| Some important parameters | p. 97 |
| Characteristics | p. 98 |
| Reasons for inconstant resistors [3.8]...[3.10] | p. 100 |
| Carbon film resistors (Fig. 3.4) | p. 101 |
| Metal film resistors | p. 101 |
| Composite resistors (on inorganic basis) | p. 101 |
| Some design rules | p. 101 |
| Some typical defects of resistors | p. 102 |
| Carbon film resistors | p. 104 |
| Metal film resistors | p. 104 |
| Film resistors | p. 105 |
| Fixed wirewound resistors | p. 105 |
| Variable wirewound resistors | p. 105 |
| Noise behaviour | p. 105 |
| Reliability of capacitors | p. 105 |
| Introduction | p. 105 |
| Aluminium electrolytic capacitors | p. 107 |
| Characteristics | p. 108 |
| Results of reliability research studies | p. 110 |
| Reliability data | p. 111 |
| Main failures types | p. 111 |
| Causes of failures | p. 112 |
| Tantalum capacitors | p. 112 |
| Introduction | p. 112 |
| Structure and properties | p. 113 |
| Reliability considerations | p. 115 |
| DC/C0 variation with temperature | p. 116 |
| The failure rate and the product CU | p. 117 |
| Loss factor | p. 117 |
| Impedance at 100 Hz | p. 117 |
| Investigating the stability of 35 V tantalum capacitor | p. 117 |
| The failure rate model | p. 121 |
| Reliability comparison | p. 121 |
| Another reliability comparison | p. 123 |
| Polyester film / foil capacitors | p. 124 |
| Introduction | p. 124 |
| Life testing | p. 125 |
| I as a function of temperature and load | p. 126 |
| Reliability conclusions | p. 127 |
| Wound capacitors | p. 129 |
| Reliability and screening methods [3.37] [3.38] | p. 131 |
| Zinc oxide (ZnO) varistors [3.39]...[3.45] | p. 132 |
| Pulse behaviour of ZnO varistors | p. 134 |
| Reliability results | p. 138 |
| Connectors | p. 138 |
| Specifications profile | p. 139 |
| Elements of a test plan | p. 140 |
| References | p. 141 |
| Reliability of Diodes | p. 145 |
| Introduction | p. 145 |
| Semiconductor diodes | p. 146 |
| Structure and properties | p. 146 |
| Reliability tests and results | p. 146 |
| Failure mechanisms | p. 148 |
| Mechanical failure mechanisms | p. 148 |
| Electrical failure mechanisms | p. 148 |
| New technologies | p. 149 |
| Correlation between technology and reliability | p. 150 |
| Intermittent short-circuits | p. 153 |
| Z diodes | p. 154 |
| Characteristics | p. 154 |
| Reliability investigations and results | p. 155 |
| Failure mechanisms | p. 158 |
| Failure mechanisms of Z diodes | p. 159 |
| Design for reliability | p. 160 |
| Some general remarks | p. 161 |
| Catastrophic failures | p. 162 |
| Degradation failures | p. 162 |
| Trans-Zorb diodes | p. 163 |
| Introduction | p. 163 |
| Structure and characteristics | p. 163 |
| Impatt (IMPact Avalanche and Transit-Time) diodes | p. 65 |
| Reliability test results for HP silicon single drift Impatt diodes | p. 165 |
| Reliability test results for IIP silicon double drift Impatt diodes | p. 166 |
| Factors affecting the reliability and safe operation | p. 166 |
| References | p. 169 |
| Reliability of Silicon Transistors | p. 171 |
| Introduction | p. 171 |
| Technologies and power limitations | p. 172 |
| Bipolar transistors | p. 173 |
| Unipolartransistors | p. 173 |
| Electrical characteristics | p. 175 |
| Recommendations | p. 176 |
| Safety Limits | p. 176 |
| The du/dt phenomenon | p. 177 |
| Reliability characteristics | p. 178 |
| Thermal fatigue | p. 180 |
| Causes of failures | p. 182 |
| Failure mechanisms | p. 182 |
| Failure modes | p. 183 |
| A check-up for the users | p. 185 |
| Bipolar transistor peripherics | p. 185 |
| The package problem | p. 185 |
| Accelerated tests | p. 186 |
| The Arrhenius model | p. 187 |
| Thermal cycling | p. 188 |
| How to improve the reliability | p. 190 |
| Some recommendations | p. 191 |
| References | p. 193 |
| Reliability of Thyristors | p. 197 |
| Introduction | p. 197 |
| Design and reliability | p. 199 |
| Failure mechanisms | p. 199 |
| Plastic and hermetic package problems | p. 202 |
| Humidity problem | p. 204 |
| Evaluating the reliability | p. 204 |
| Thyristor failure rates | p. 206 |
| Derating | p. 207 |
| Reliability screens by General Electric | p. 209 |
| New technology in preparation: SITH | p. 210 |
| References | p. 213 |
| Reliability of Integrated Circuits | p. 215 |
| Introduction | p. 215 |
| Reliability evaluation | p. 219 |
| Some reliability problems | p. 219 |
| Evaluation of integrated circuit reliability | p. 219 |
| Accelerated thermal test | p. 221 |
| Humidity environment | p. 222 |
| Dynamic life testing | p. 223 |
| Failure analysis | p. 224 |
| Failure mechanisms | p. 224 |
| Gate oxide breakdown | p. 225 |
| Surface charges | p. 226 |
| Hot carrier effects | p. 226 |
| Metal diffusion | p. 226 |
| Electromigration | p. 227 |
| Fatigue | p. 228 |
| Aluminium-gold system | p. 229 |
| Brittle fracture | p. 229 |
| Electrostatic Discharge (ESD) | p. 229 |
| Early failures | p. 230 |
| Modeling IC reliability | p. 231 |
| Screening and burn-in | p. 233 |
| The necessity of screening | p. 233 |
| Efficiency and necessity of burn-in | p. 235 |
| Failures at screening and burn-in | p. 237 |
| Comparison between the IC families TTL Standard and TTL-LS | p. 240 |
| Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASIC) | p. 240 |
| References | p. 241 |
| Reliability of Hybrids | p. 247 |
| Introduction | p. 247 |
| Thin-film hybrid circuits | p. 250 |
| Reliability characteristics of resistors | p. 250 |
| Reliability of throughout-contacts | p. 251 |
| Thick-film hybrids | p. 252 |
| Failure types | p. 253 |
| Reliability of resistors and capacitors | p. 254 |
| Reliability of "beam-leads" | p. 254 |
| Thick-film versus thin-film hybrids | p. 257 |
| Reliability of hybrid ICs | p. 259 |
| Causes of failures | p. 261 |
| Influence of radiation | p. 264 |
| Prospect outlook of the hybrid technology | p. 264 |
| Die attach and bonding techniques | p. 270 |
| Introduction | p. 270 |
| Hybrid package styles | p. 271 |
| Failure mechanisms | p. 274 |
| References | p. 275 |
| Reliability of Memories | p. 277 |
| Introduction | p. 277 |
| Process-related reliability aspects | p. 283 |
| Possible memories classifications | p. 288 |
| Silicon On Insulator (SOI) technologies | p. 290 |
| Silicon on sapphire (SOS) technology | p. 291 |
| Failure frequency of small geometry memories | p. 291 |
| Causes of hardware failures | p. 292 |
| Read only memories (ROMs) | p. 294 |
| Small geometry devices | p. 296 |
| Characterisation testing | p. 296 |
| Timing and its influence on characterisation and test | p. 298 |
| Test and characterisation of refresh | p. 298 |
| Screening tests and test strategies | p. 299 |
| Test programmes and -categories | p. 301 |
| Test categories | p. 301 |
| RAM failure modes | p. 302 |
| Radiation environment in space; hardening approaches | p. 303 |
| Design trends in microprocessor domain | p. 305 |
| Failure mechanisms of microprocessors 306 | |
| References | p. 310 |
| Reliability of Optoelectronics | p. 313 |
| Introduction | p. 313 |
| LED reliability | p. 316 |
| Optocouplers | p. 318 |
| Introduction | p. 318 |
| Optocouplers ageing problem | p. 318 |
| CTR degradation and its cause | p. 320 |
| Reliability of optocouplers | p. 321 |
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