A Physics of Failure Based Qualification Process for Flexible Display Interconnect Materials

The next paradigm shift in display technology involves making them flexible, bringing with it many challenges with respect to product reliability. To compound the problem, industry is continuously introducing novel materials and experimenting with device geometries to improve flexibility and optical performance. Hence, a method to rapidly qualify these new designs for high reliability applications is imperative. This dissertation involves the development of a qualification process for gate line interconnects used in flexible displays. The process starts with the observed failure mode of permanent horizontal lines in the displays, followed by the identification of the underlying failure mechanism. Finite element analyses are developed to determine the relationship between the physical flexing and the mechanical stress imposed on the traces. The design of an accelerated life test is performed based on the known agent of failure being cyclic bending that induces a tensile strain. A versatile dedicated test system is designed and integrated in order to rapidly capture changes in resistance of multiple traces during test. Dedicated test structures are also designed and fabricated to facilitate in-situ electrical measurements and direct observations. Since the test structures were consumed during the integration of the test system, random failure times are used in the process of determining a life-stress model. Different models are compared with respect to their applicability to the underlying failure mechanism as well as parameter estimation techniques. This methodology may be applied towards the rapid qualification of other novel materials, process conditions, and device geometries prior to their widespread use in future display systems

Inferencia estadística robusta basada en divergencias para dispositivos de un sólo uso

Tesis inédita de la Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Facultad de Ciencias Matemáticas, leída el 30-06-2021A one-shot device is a unit that performs its function only once and, after use, the device either gets destroyed or must be rebuilt. For this kind of device, one can only know whether the failure time is either before or after a speci c inspection time, and consequently the lifetimes are either left- or right-censored, with the lifetime being less than the inspection time if the test outcome is a failure (resulting in left censoring) and the lifetime being more than the inspection time if the test outcome is a success (resulting in right censoring). An accelerated life test (ALT) plan is usually employed to evaluate the reliability of such products by increasing the levels of stress factors and then extrapolating the life characteristics from high stress conditions to normal operating conditions. This acceleration process will shorten the life span of devices and reduce the costs associated with the experiment. The study of one-shot device from ALT data has been developed considerably recently, mainly motivated by the work of Fan et al. [2009]...Los dispositivos de un solo uso (one shot devices en ingles), son aquellos que, una vez usados, dejan de funcionar. La mayor dificultad a la hora de modelizar su tiempo de vida es que solo se puede saber si el momento de fallo se produce antes o despues de un momento específico de inspeccion. As pues, se trata de un caso extremo de censura intervalica: si el tiempo de vida es inferior al de inspeccion observaremos un fallo (censura por la izquierda), mientras que si el tiempo de vida es mayor que el tiempo de inspeccion, observaremos un exito (censura por la derecha). Para la observacion y modelizacion de este tipo de dispositivos es comun el uso de tests de vida acelerados. Los tests de vida acelerados permiten evaluar la fiabilidad de los productos en menos tiempo, incrementando las condiciones a las que se ven sometidos los dispositivos para extrapolar despues estos resultados a condiciones mas normales. El estudio de los dispositivos de un solo uso por medio de tests de vida acelerados se ha incrementado considerablemente en los ultimos a~nos motivado, principalmente, por el trabajo de Fan et al. [2009]...Fac. de Ciencias MatemáticasTRUEunpu

Storage degradation mechanism analysis and storage life prediction of the optoelectronic couplers

Optoelectronic couplers are typical optoelectronic devices with long life and high reliability. Accelerated degradation testing is mostly utilized to assess optoelectronic coupler storage life. However, in engineering, integrated optoelectronic coupler may be nagged with the fusion of multi-channel degradation data. To solve this problem, the paper firstly conducted accelerated storage degradation testing on a certain type of the optoelectronic coupler, and analyzes the main degradation model and mechanism of an optoelectronic coupler under storage environment. Meanwhile, the paper gives an access for processing multi-channel degradation data based on pseudo life, which can be also employed to assess other integrated devices, like memories, with their accelerated degradation data

The role of electrical noise in screening transformers prone to failure

Insulation used as a barrier between the high voltage and low voltage windings of a transformer has sites of in- homogeneities like pinholes, cracks or voids, developed during the manufacturing process. Thus, these minute air pockets are stressed much more than the solid dielectric, on the application of a voltage stress, because the dielectric constant of the solid insulation is many times that of the air dielectric. As a result, excitation or ionization takes place in the air (gases). The amount of excited or ionized molecules is proportional to the volume of the inhomogenei- ties within the insulation. Therefore, experiments were conducted to monitor the electrical noise generated due to partial ionization of the tiny air gaps in the insulation. This was done by placing the transformer in a plexiglas tubing, around which an antenna was wound. The antenna was connected to a highly sensitive Hammerlund receiver, whose carrier level meter was calibrated in S-units. For 5S units of noise to be generated, the voltage stress required to be applied to the insulation was measured for a sample of three hundred transformers. The voltage readings were analyzed statistically and were found to have a normal distribution. Seven units which gave high voltage readings and seven units which gave low voltage. readings were subjected to accelerated life tests. This data has been analyzed statistically and has been found to be significant. The coefficient of correlation has been found and a linear regression equation has been formulated. The F-test of significance has been applied to the regression equation and has been found to be statistically significant

Calibration of High-Frequency Mechanical Impact Simulation Based on Drop Tests

A series of drop tests was implemented in the present study in order to allow the reproduction of a single impact identical to the high frequency mechanical impact (HFMI) under monitored conditions in the laboratory. Therewith, characterization of the investigated material’s mechanical behavior by explicitly considering possible irregularities concerning the present deformation modes would be enabled. Main goal was the determination of the investigated material’s dynamic yield stress for various strain rates inside the spectrum of interest, so that the Cowper–Symonds viscous material model would be calibrated for the subsequent HFMI simulation. The values of the dynamic yield stress extracted by the present drop tests show good agreement with other experimental methods regarding the investigated material S355. The introduction of the calibrated material behavior on the present drop tests in the finite element (FE) analysis of HFMI led to reduced preciseness though, in comparison with the FE analysis, which considered high strain rate tensile tests found in literature. A series of conclusions was drawn from both the experimental and numerical investigations, confirming most of the initial expectations. Further work is proposed, in order to clarify an incompatibility met during the numerical investigations

Practical reliability. Volume 3 - Testing

Application of testing to hardware program

Optimal Constant-Stress Accelerated Degradation Test Plans Using Nonlinear Generalized Wiener Process

Accelerated degradation test (ADT) has been widely used to assess highly reliable products’ lifetime. To conduct an ADT, an appropriate degradation model and test plan should be determined in advance. Although many historical studies have proposed quite a few models, there is still room for improvement. Hence we propose a Nonlinear Generalized Wiener Process (NGWP) model with consideration of the effects of stress level, product-to-product variability, and measurement errors for a higher estimation accuracy and a wider range of use. Then under the constraints of sample size, test duration, and test cost, the plans of constant-stress ADT (CSADT) with multiple stress levels based on the NGWP are designed by minimizing the asymptotic variance of the reliability estimation of the products under normal operation conditions. An optimization algorithm is developed to determine the optimal stress levels, the number of units allocated to each level, inspection frequency, and measurement times simultaneously. In addition, a comparison based on degradation data of LEDs is made to show better goodness-of-fit of the NGWP than that of other models. Finally, optimal two-level and three-level CSADT plans under various constraints and a detailed sensitivity analysis are demonstrated through examples in this paper

RELIABILITY TESTING & BAYESIAN MODELING OF HIGH POWER LEDS FOR USE IN A MEDICAL DIAGNOSTIC APPLICATION

While use of LEDs in fiber optics and lighting applications is common, their use in medical diagnostic applications is rare. Since the precise value of light intensity is used to interpret patient results, understanding failure modes is very important. The contributions of this thesis is that it represents the first measurements of reliability of AlGaInP LEDs for the medical environment of short pulse bursts and hence the uncovering of unique failure mechanisms. Through accelerated life tests (ALT), the reliability degradation model has been developed and other LED failure modes have been compared through a failure modes and effects criticality analysis (FMECA). Appropriate ALTs and accelerated degradation tests (ADT) were designed and carried out for commercially available AlGaInP LEDs. The bias conditions were current pulse magnitude and duration, current density and temperature. The data was fitted to both an Inverse Power Law model with current density J as the accelerating agent and also to an Arrhenius model with T as the accelerating agent. The optical degradation during ALT/ADT was found to be logarithmic with time at each test temperature. Further, the LED bandgap temporarily shifts towards the longer wavelength at high current and high junction temperature. Empirical coefficients for Varshini's equation were determined, and are now available for future reliability tests of LEDs for medical applications. In order to incorporate prior knowledge, the Bayesian analysis was carried out for LEDs. This consisted of identifying pertinent prior data and combining the experimental ALT results into a Weibull probability model for time to failure determination. The Weibull based Bayesian likelihood function was derived. For the 1st Bayesian updating, a uniform distribution function was used as the Prior for Weibull á-â parameters. Prior published data was used as evidence to get the 1st posterior joint á-â distribution. For the 2nd Bayesian updating, ALT data was used as evidence to obtain the 2nd posterior joint á-â distribution. The predictive posterior failure distribution was estimated by averaging over the range of á-â values. This research provides a unique contribution in reliability degradation model development based on physics of failure by modeling the LED output characterization (logarithmic degradation, TTF â<1), temperature dependence and a degree of Relevance parameter `R' in the Bayesian analysis