Production AST with Computer Disks - Reprinted from A Method of Reliability Improvement Using Accelerated Testing Methodologies, in the Proceedings of the NEPCON West Conference, pp. 431439, with permission from the author and Reed Exhibition Companies 1996.

Reliability growth is a major goal of many new product introductions. There are many ways of achieving this growth in a new product. One of the new methods, production AST or highly accelerated stress screening (HASS)[1], is discussed in this chapter. Utilizing Highly Accelerated Stress Screening along with highly focused root cause analysis win help reliability grow rapidly, which is highly desirable in today's fast-moving time-to-market-driven companies. An example of how this process works based on the experience gained in the introduction of a new power system is discussed. HASS is part of an overall iterative process of forcing failures, analysis, correction, and retesting. HASS itself needs to be continually monitored for its effectiveness, and corrections must be made for missed defects. Case studies, with reliability data, are presented to demonstrate how HASS can be a major part of a reliability growth process.

• Introduction

• Growing Reliability

• Problem

• Case Study

• Product Flow

• Profile Utilized

• A Look at the Failure Mechanisms

• The Bottom Line

• Conclusion

• References