ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses approaches to assessing the reliability of electronic products under non-operating conditions. A crude rule of thumb, used before any systematic study of storage reliability was conducted, was that the ratio between operating and non-operating failure rates was about 10 to 1. However, after the completion of studies on storage reliability, the 10 to 1 ratio was considered very pessimistic. The final objective of any reliability prediction method is to prevent any design, manufacturing, and operational failures associated with the product. The very purpose of conducting a reliability prediction — that is, to prevent the recurrence of the failure under similar conditions — is defeated. Physics of failure is an approach to design, reliability assessment, testing, screening, and stress margins that uses knowledge of root-cause failure processes to prevent product failures through robust design and manufacturing practices. The design must be evaluated and optimized for manufacturability, quality, reliability, and cost effectiveness before production begins.
