A study on accelerated preconditioning test

Preconditioning testing (PT) is widely used in the semiconductor industry for the testing of plastic SMDs. This test has 6 levels with 3 different temperature-humidity (TH) settings, and thus at least 3 TH ovens are needed to support conventional PT over 6 levels. This paper proposes an accelerated PT method to replace the conventional method, where PT at 6 levels can be conducted under one TH setting. This means that one oven is needed for PT over 6 levels. Also, the accelerated PT test time and cost at levels 2-6 are greatly reduced. In addition, it is not necessary for inspectors to change TH settings, so that possible human errors can be avoided.