Printed Circuit Boards and Reliability
Potting compounds are often used on printed circuit boards to improve reliability. In spite of this added protection, adhesive failures, otherwise known as delamination, can occur and lead to...
View ArticleThe Case of the Malnourished Zener Diode
Zener diodes are among the most misunderstood and misused parts in electronic systems. How can this be? You might ask. The diode only has two connections, run some current through it, and it simply...
View ArticleZener Diode Failure in a Clipper Application
This is an application where two Zener diodes were placed in series, in a back to back configuration. They were placed across the primary winding of a transformer used to apply modulation to an AM...
View ArticleFunctional Safety: Reliability Prediction vs. Reliability Demonstration
An adaption of the Functional Safety standards IEC 61508 and IEC 26262 by the European Union brought a new life into slowly fading activity of reliability prediction. Both reliability prediction and...
View ArticleThe Power of Population in Semiconductor Device Reliability
When we introduce a new chip, we plan and execute a comprehensive reliability qualification plan. This plan will be based on many different reliability stresses addressing infant mortality rate test,...
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