Semiconductor device reliability in extreme high temperature space environments

Reliability at high temperatures is one of the most important problems for electronic components operating in extreme space environments. High temperature operation not only reduces the performance of electronic devices, but also greatly shortens their lifetime. The electronic devices are usually designed for room temperature performance. In this paper a review is made of high temperature reliability testing of solid-state electronic components. To date, most of this work has been concerned with high temperature stressing, usually for short periods of time (less than 100 hours) to demonstrate stability. Comprehensive high temperature reliability studies will be required to field high temperature devices for future space exploration.