Application of HALT and HASS techniques in an advanced factory environment

The future of any industry depends on its' ability to produce high quality, reliable goods, on time and at competitive prices. It is therefore a pre-requisite that effective, fast and cost efficient screening to detect production and infant mortality problems is achieved at the key stages of the production process to ensure that targets for primary performance indicators such as yield and warranty returns may be ensured. This paper examines the choice, definition and effect of such a screen, in a leading power supply manufacturing enterprise. Early failures lead to a local rise in failure after a certain amount of ageing. The techniques used are highly accelerated life testing (HALT) and highly accelerated stress screening (HASS).