Reliability

For typical consumer semiconductor products, which is closest to the usage period commonly assumed in reliability design?

  1. AAbout one week
  2. BAbout 10 years
  3. CAbout 1,000 years
Show answer and explanation

Answer: B. About 10 years

Many semiconductor products are designed and evaluated to keep failure rates sufficiently low for about 10 years under specified usage conditions. Automotive and similar products require longer periods and harsher conditions. Degradation over this period is estimated from short test times using accelerated tests and models.

  • A. About a week is far too short for a product.
  • B. Correct. About 10 years is commonly assumed.
  • C. Designing to guarantee 1,000 years is not realistic.
Practice this topic Back to topic

More Reliability questions

  1. For the same kind of semiconductor, which correctly describes the reliability levels required for consumer and automotive use?
  2. Based on the rule of thumb often used for chemical reactions and degradation, that "reaction speed roughly doubles for every 10 °C rise", how does lifetime change when the operating temperature is lowered by 10 °C?
  3. What is the main purpose of collecting and analyzing information on failures of products in use in the market (field failures)?
  4. Among ESD (electrostatic discharge) test models, which pair correctly names "discharge when a charged person touches an IC pin" and "discharge when the IC itself is charged and a pin touches metal"?
  5. Which thermodynamics-based model expresses lifetime acceleration including the effects of multiple stresses such as humidity and voltage in addition to temperature?