On component reliability and system reliability for automotive applications

A new strategy is proposed for automotive system reliability design. Such strategy aims to overcome the discrepancy between single component reliability and system lifetime/performance requirements. While the design for X (DfX, X: reliability, testability, manufacturability, ...) methodology is part of every state-of-the art semiconductor development, it remains that reliability specifications and ppm goals of a products are strongly application and sector specific. It is therefore especially necessary to understand the aging behavior of system-integrated components, each of which must work beyond their foreseen lifetime targets, as well as to understand the effect of steady-state and varying failure rates on system performance. We propose to extend component failure rate assessment based on the regular useful life phase (exponential distributions) by also including early and wear out phase completely with corresponding Weibull distributions with their scale parameters dependent on competing dominant modes in these regimes. By doing so, the system design and verification cycle can be shortened and further improved, saving both time and costs.