What is Bathtub curve?

A curve showing how the failure rate changes over time. It consists of the early-failure, random-failure and wear-out periods and is shaped like a bathtub.

Bathtub curve (failure rate over time) Time Failure rate Falling Nearly constant Rising Early failures Random failures Wear-out Screened out by burn-in Designed to come after product life

Field: Reliability

Bathtub curve in the explanations

Questions that mention Bathtub curve (2)

  1. Which correctly lists the three periods that make up the bathtub curve, showing how failure rate changes over time?
  2. Which correctly describes the purpose of burn-in?

Related terms

Burn-in Arrhenius model Electromigration ESD (electrostatic discharge) FIT rate Hot carrier injection (HCI) Latch-up MTTF (mean time to failure) NBTI (negative bias temperature instability) Soft error

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