What are the types of aging tests for electronic products?

Date：2022-02-22 15:47:10Views：1694

First, what is aging test? During the aging test, the components on the special aging circuit board will bear the pressure equal to or higher than its rated working conditions to eliminate any components that fail prematurely before the rated life. These test conditions include temperature, voltage / current, operating frequency or any other test conditions specified as the upper limit. These types of stress tests are sometimes referred to as accelerated life tests (a subset of halt / HASS) because they simulate the operation of components under extreme conditions for a long time.

Aging method is a testing and quality control process used to identify and eliminate defective electronic components, and then sell or integrate them into larger systems. For industries that rely on frequent design changes and component modifications (such as semiconductor manufacturing), aging testing is an important function because it helps to maintain consistency between product operations.

The purpose of the test process is to outline possible defects by operating the product at high voltage levels, outside the standard temperature range, and under power cycle conditions. In addition to semiconductors, printed circuit boards, integrated circuits and similar microprocessor components are usually tested under aging systems.

Aging test methods usually involve stress testing of the final product, but can also be based on reliability evaluation to help improve manufacturing standards. Reliability testing usually focuses on the design stage, rather than after the development is completed, it needs to combine the built-in chip and test before wafer packaging to reduce the cost of packaging. If the electrical, mechanical, chemical or thermal properties that cause some faults are identified, it is possible to prevent them from reoccurring before they occur. This "fault phenomenon" method shows the root cause of product defects and can provide useful feedback for the design and development process.

In the principle of aging test, semiconductor devices are examples. Most semiconductor devices have the risk of early failure or failure, which will shorten the life of their chips. Aging testing can be used to determine the reliability of components at this critical early stage and ensure that the circuit enters a more effective long-term stage of its life. The aging system can make the equipment operate at elevated voltage and temperature, which will trigger the voltage and temperature fault mechanism in a short time. Although the pre burn test may be beneficial for screening defective products, the cost will increase according to the complexity of the equipment and the required pre burn time, and occasionally introduce new failure modes due to the severity of performance conditions.

Aging test level in electronic components, the most common aging test levels are usually tube core level, package level and wafer level aging. These names refer to the production stage of the test product, and each stage may bring various benefits to the manufacturer. Therefore, more and more people are looking for "known qualified test connectors", that is, tested test connectors with reliability and effectiveness, which can develop optimization methods in aging test. This test connector has different aging test seats to match in different production stages of the chip. For example, the wafer can use the probe card; For example, for chips, different packages have different aging test seats, QFP aging test seats, QFN aging test seats, etc.

Features of each common level include:

Package level: package level testing is a more traditional method in which the bare chip is aged after it is packaged and integrated into the final product. Although this technology helps to ensure the reliability of products in the final stage, the cost of repairing or completely discarding defective equipment may put pressure on resources.

Die level: in die level aging, the dies are placed in a temporary transport unit and tested before they are packaged and integrated into the final product. This approach reduces packaging costs and ensures that only functional chips are installed in the device at a relatively low cost.

Wafer level: this level reduces the cost of the aging process by testing the wafer as it completes the manufacturing phase to immediately determine the effectiveness of the component. Wafer level aging may produce a more unreliable end product than the end product tested under the package level method, but higher cost efficiency makes it a viable option.

Type of aging process the standard aging test system consists of a series of sockets that bridge the temporary electrical connection between the aging board and the equipment under test. A typical aging board may include up to fifty slots, and an aging system may contain dozens of such boards. Effective aging system performance depends on a thorough understanding of the temperature distribution in the aging plate, test equipment and aging furnace. Common aging test systems include:

Static aging: in this type of system, the test equipment is installed into the socket on the aging board, and then placed in the aging oven, in which the power supply and high temperature are applied at intervals of 12 to 24 hours. After cooling, take out the circuit board and carry out a series of functional tests on the equipment. External bias or load will not produce stress, but due to the lack of electrical input, the static aging method is not effective in evaluating complex devices.

Dynamic aging: in the dynamic aging system, the equipment is tested at the maximum rate set by the aging speed.

Aging test is a method to improve and reduce the early failure rate. Potential defects in semiconductors can be detected by aging testing. Potential defects become prominent when the device applies voltage stress and heating and begins to operate. Most early failures are caused by the use of defective manufacturing materials and errors encountered during the production phase. Through aging test, only components with low early failure rate can be put on the market.