Failure Physics and Accelerated Testing

ACCELERATED step-stress and constant stress tests of two types of film resistors have been analyzed by menas of a time-temperature parameter, based on Arrhenius type aging mechanisms. Correlation was made with physical degradation models of the resistor types. Estimates of time to failure can be made, based on typical environmental exposures. Degradation in planar transistors was found to be affected by random discontinuities, so that a similar correlation could not be made.