bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
A two‐step methodology for CMOS VLSI reliability improvement: Step one
Authors: Davies M. S. , Miles R. E. , Postoyalko V. 
Published: July 2007

AbstractReliability improvement of CMOS VLSI circuits depends on a thorough understanding of the technology, failure mechanisms, and resulting failure modes involved. Failure analysis has identified open circuits, short circuits and MOSFET degradations as the prominent failure modes. Classical methods of fault simulation and test generation are based on the gate level stuck‐at fault model. This model has proved inadequate to model all realistic CMOS failure modes.An approach, which will complement available VLSI design packages, to aid reliability improvement and assurance of CMOS VLSI is outlined. A ‘two‐step’ methodology is adopted. Step one, described in this paper, involves accurate circuit level fault simulation of CMOS cells used in a hierarchical design process. The simulation is achieved using SPICE and pre‐SPICE insertion of faults (PSIF). PSIF is an additional module to SPICE that has been developed and is outlined in detail. Failure modes effects analysis (FMEA) is executed on the SPICE results and FMEA tables are generated.The second step of the methodology uses the FMEA tables to produce a knowledge base. Step two is essential when reliability studies of larger and VLSI circuits are required and will be the subject of a future paper. The knowledge base has the potential to generate fault trees, fault simulate and fault diagnose automatically.
Proper subgroup size for statistical process control
Authors: Holmes Donald S. , Mergen A. Erhan 
Published: July 2007

AbstractThis paper deals with an approach for choosing the proper subgroup size for control charts. The approach is particularly appropriate for batch industries where some batch‐to‐batch variation is to be expected and should be accommodated. It uses two tests to evaluate the proper subgroup sizes. The tests are ANOVA for testing that the process mean is in control and Bartlett's test for testing that the process variance is in control. Besides the two tests the width of the process from measurements based on the selected subgroup size needs to be compared with the desired specification limits. An example is included to illustrate the use of the approach.
A quality growth model and its application to initial production process control
Authors: Yamada Shigeru 
Published: July 2007

AbstractDuring initial production of a new product prior to actual production, the decrease in the fraction defective of units produced can be observed as personnel gather experience and the faults in the product's design, manufacturing, etc. are removed. This paper discusses an initial production process control based on a quality growth model proposed here. The model describes a continuing reduction in the cumulative defect rate defined by the ratio of the cumulative number of defective units to that of produced units. A stopping rule is also investigated for determining when to discontinue the initial control of the production process and proceed to the actual production stage. Further, a numerical example of the application is presented.
Reliability‐enabled changes in the design and manufacture of commercial electronic products
Authors: Ganter William A. 
Published: July 2007

AbstractIt has now become possible to design electronic products that have only a small probability of failing in a period of technologically useful life, if these products are to be used in an environment controlled for human comfort. Such product designs, even ones containing considerable complexity, can use combinations of ASIC and semi‐custom VLSI devices, damage‐resistant packaging and fault‐tolerant techniques to achieve breakthrough reliability. The theme of this paper is that once field failures can be reduced to small fractions of the units produced, by means of such design approaches, then major changes and their accompanying cost savings become possible in the manufacture and support of these electronic products. Although some extra design validation steps will be needed, the resulting opportunities can be very significant for companies that design and manufacture electronic products. This reliability‐enabled strategy is fully described in this paper.
A multi‐failure additive dependability model for transit system effectiveness analysis
Authors: Rapone Mario , Calabria Raffaela , Pulcini Gianpaolo 
Published: July 2007

AbstractDependability has been recognized in the transportation reliability literature as an effective measure of transit system service quality. Dependability models link system dependability with reliability and maintainability characteristics of subsystems, incorporating special operating characteristics and recovery policy from failure of each particular transit system. In this paper a new transit system dependability model is proposed, which considers the possibility that a passenger may be delayed by the occurrence of more than one failure in a trip. The mathematical difficulties associated with the algebra of random variables are overcome by using the Monte Carlo method. The results of the proposed model are compared with those relative to different modelling approaches in the literature, by applying the model to a common test scenario.
Reliability of plastic‐encapsulated logic circuits
Authors: Olsson Christer 
Published: July 2007

AbstractFamilies of plastic‐encapsulated logic circuits have been subjected to a qualification procedure. The aim was to qualify them for use in telecommunication equipment in a central office environment. The qualification was based on a large number of reliability tests performed by the Ericsson failure analysis laboratory and by the vendors themselves. Reliability monitoring data from the testing of more than 150,000 devices during the period 1984 to 1985 have been analysed. Life tests, such as ‘high temperature operating life’, ‘high humidity operating life’, and temperature cycling have been performed. A comparison between life‐test data and field data from telephone exchanges in service has also been made. An average activation energy of 0.5 eV has been shown to be useful in such a comparison for the best LS vendors and 0.3 eV for the best HCMOS vendors.
Some supplier quality assurance assessment issues
Authors: Singer A. J. , Churchill G. F. , Dale B. G. 
Published: July 2007

AbstractAn investigation has been carried out in thirteen suppliers of plant systems and equipment for one‐off construction projects, to determine the benefits and problems of applying quality assurance. This paper reports the findings of the investigation. These suppliers and the major purchasing agents are confronted with special quality assurance problems such as multiple auditing and inspection which are allied to the one‐off nature of the items supplied. It is pointed out that this sample of suppliers is commonly encountering four to five external audits each year and that there is some dissatisfaction with the professional competence of some auditors and many inspectors employed on non‐nuclear contracts.
Graphical and computer‐aided approaches to plan experiments
Authors: Joglekar Anand M. , Kacker Raghu N. 
Published: July 2007

AbstractDesign of experiments is a quality technology to achieve product excellence, that is to achieve high quality at low cost. It is a tool to optimize product and process designs, to accelerate the development cycle, to reduce development costs, to improve the transition of products from R & D to manufacturing and to troubleshoot manufacturing problems effectively. It has been successfully, but sporadically, used in the United States. More recently, it has been identified as a major technological reason for the success of Japan in producing high‐quality products at low cost.In the United States, the need for increased competitiveness and the emphasis on quality improvement demands a widespread use of design of experiments by engineers, scientists and quality professionals. In the past, such widespread use has been hampered by a lack of proper training and a lack of availability of tools to easily implement design of experiments in industry.Three steps are essential, and are being taken, to change this situation dramatically. First, simple graphical methods, to design and analyse experiments, need to be developed, particularly when the necessary microcomputer resources are not available. Secondly, engineers, scientists and quality professionals must have access to microcomputer‐based software for design and analysis of experiments.1 Availability of such software would allow users to concentrate on the important scientific and engineering aspects of the problem by computerizing the necessary statistical expertise. Finally, since a majority of the current workforce is expected to be working in the year 2000, a massive training effort, based upon simple graphical methods and appropriate computer software, is necessary.2The purpose of this paper is to describe a methodology based upon a new graphical method called interaction graphs and other previously known techniques, to simplify the correct design of practically important fractional factorial experiments. The essential problem in designing a fractional factorial experiment is first stated. The interaction graph for a 16‐trial fractional factorial design is given to illustrate how the graphical procedure can be easily used to design a two‐level fractional factorial experiment. Other previously known techniques are described to easily modify the two‐level fractional factorial designs to create mixed multi‐level designs. Interaction graphs for other practically useful fractional factorial designs are provided. A computer package called CADE (computer aided design of experiments), which automatically generates the appropriate fractional factorial designs based upon user specifications of factors, levels and interactions and conducts complete analyses of the designed experiments is briefly described.1 Finally, the graphical method is compared with other available methods for designing fractional factorial experiments.
A practical assessment of current plastic encapsulated microelectronic devices
Authors: Hughes John 
Published: July 2007

AbstractThe use of plastic encapsulated devices (PEDs) for a variety of market sectors has been the subject of much discussion over the past two decades. The advantages of lower cost together with the inherent mechanical ruggedness of these non‐cavity packages have been weighed against the concerns over quality and reliability and, in particular, electrical operation at extremes of temperature. This paper presents the results of some practical work undertaken on a modern LSI device in a plastic leaded chip carrier package. It then discusses British Telecom's experience with PEDs to date and concludes with some general considerations on the quality assurance requirements a purchaser may place on vendors of such devices.
Testing control chart subgroups for rationality
Authors: Holmes Donald S. , Erhan Mergen A. 
Published: July 2007

AbstractOne of the key issues in statistical process control (SPC) is the forming ‘rational subgroups’. Rational subgroups are defined as
Subgroups displaying only random within‐variation.
Subgroups having small within‐variation to compare with variation between subgroups.
In a previous paper1 we developed an approach of choosing the proper subgroup size for control charts for statistical process control. The approach is particularly appropriate for batch industries where some batch‐to‐batch variation is to be expected and should be accommodated. In this paper we will deal with the question of whether or not subgroups are rational. A randomness test can be used to verify rationality. The measure selected is the ratio of several different variance estimators. An example is provided to demonstrate the application of the measure.
The role of SPC in printed circuit board manufacture
Authors: Manson M. M. , Dale B. G. 
Published: July 2007

AbstractThis paper reports on research which examined the use of statistical process control (SPC) in the quality improvement process of a printed circuit board (PCB) manufacturer. The implementation of SPC is discussed along with the difficulties encountered and benefits achieved. The findings indicate that SPC is a tool which can be of considerable assistance in the quality improvement process of PCB manufacture. However, the variety of manufacturing technologies used and the number of interconnecting processes makes the application of SPC more difficult than in other traditional industries. The lessons learned include that the introduction of SPC must not be rushed, that discipline and support from all levels in the organization are crucial to its success, that SPC cannot be used in isolation—it needs the structure of a continuous improvement initiative, and that getting processes in a state of statistical control and capable, and keeping them there, is a difficult task which involves considerable effort and patience.
Fault diagnosis as an aid to process machine reliability
Authors: Denis Summers‐Smith J. 
Published: July 2007

AbstractIdentification of the reasons for failures of process plant machines is the first step in obtaining increased reliability. Weibull analysis of the service life obtained from maintenance records requires a minimum of only five incidents and provides an insight into the failure mechanism. Two examples are given where Weibull analysis of maintenance records helped identify the cause of failure and was instrumental in achieving enhanced reliability of process plant machines.
Proportional hazards analysis of diesel engine failure data
Authors: Jardine A. K. S. , Ralston P. , Reid N. , Stafford J. 
Published: July 2007

AbstractCanadian Pacific Rail's diesel engines undergo scheduled major overhaul at intervals of approximately four years. Between these overhauls the condition of an engine is monitored by a series of physical tests and spectroanalysis carried out on samples of lubricating oil. At present the results of these tests are interpreted by the combination of skilled oil‐analyst technicians and an expert system. The success rate of this is over 70 per cent, where success is defined to mean that the oil‐analyst/expert system recommends that the engine should be scheduled for maintenance and it does indeed subsequently show evidence of an imminent failure. The purpose of the paper is to report on an examination of the method of proportional hazards modelling to determine whether or not PHM could improve on the accuracy of the oil‐analyst/expert system in determining the risk of failure of a diesel engine.
The efficient maintenance of offshore structural integrity using reliability analysis
Authors: Kam J. C. P. 
Published: July 2007

AbstractEfficient maintenance of offshore structures is one of the priority development areas of the offshore industry world‐wide. The maintenance of the installations in a hostile environment such as the North Sea poses a particular problem. Owing to the large number of wave‐induced stress cycles experienced by the structures, the integrity is subject to progressive degradation under fatigue crack growth. If cracks are discovered in service, the operators of the structures will need to decide on the appropriate course of action. The priorities for actions will also need to be determined for cracks of various sizes found in different locations of the structures.In the past, the above decisions have depended very much on engineering judgement. However, the latest developments in reliability fracture mechanics (RFM) analysis have for the first time provided an objective criterion for this type of decision making. Moreover, this criterion is consistent with the established structural design criteria based on reliability analysis of strength—load interaction. Therefore, it has become a real possibility to incorporate structural integrity considerations by design.The reliability‐fracture‐mechanics‐based fatigue analysis includes studies on the uncertainties of load history, materials crack growth behaviour, fracture mechanics modelling, non‐destructive inspection and other environmental factors. This paper will review the development in this methodology.In order to integrate the above analysis into the overall design process, it is useful to carry out reliability analysis for the complete structural system. The current state of the art of structural system reliability analysis is therefore briefly reviewed. The necessary development in order to accommodate fatigue reliability degradation is then discussed.
Proportional hazards modelling of aircraft cargo door complaints
Authors: Leitao A. L. F. , Newton D. W. 
Published: July 2007

AbstractProportional hazards modelling is a powerful technique which can be used to investigate the effects of various explanatory variables on the life length of equipment. In this paper the analysis of aircraft cargo door complaints is considered, as this can cause serious delay problems. Particular attention is given to the assumptions supporting the application of the model. Consideration is given to problems in the choice of the appropriate basic metric time, definition of covariates and adapting the methodologies to this particular problem. Emphasis is placed upon the validation of the results by attempting several different structures of the dependent variables.
An iterative approach for estimating component reliability from masked system life data
Authors: Usher John S. , Guess Frank M. 
Published: July 2007

AbstractLife data from systems of components are often analysed to estimate the reliability of the individual components. These estimates are useful since they reflect the reliability of the components under actual operating conditions. However, owing to the cost or time involved with failure analysis, the exact component causing system failure may be unknown or ‘masked’. That is, the cause may only be isolated to some subset of the system's components. We present an iterative approach for obtaining component reliability estimates from such data for series systems. The approach is analogous to traditional probability plotting. That is, it involves the fitting of a parametric reliability function to a set of nonparametric reliability estimates (plotting points). We present a numerical example assuming Weibull component life distributions and a two‐component series system. In this example we find estimates with only 4 per cent of the computation time required to find comparable MLEs.
Fuzzy logic approach to ic quality assurance plan selection
Authors: Kohoutek Henry J. 
Published: July 2007

AbstractThe problem of selection of a proper quality assurance and control programme for manufacturing of microelectronics devices is usually solved empirically by analogy with existing situations, or those experienced in the past. This problem is characterized by incomplete comprehension of influencing variables, unknown relationships among them, and their often vague definitions. This makes it an almost perfect candidate for application of methods from the theory of fuzzy sets and approximate reasoning. One such reasoning process is described here using familiar terms from the MIL‐HDBK‐217E, and is illustrated by an ASIC MOS device example.
Imaging of packaging‐related problems in electronic components by scanning acoustic microscopy
Authors: Wilson K. J. , Sutherland R. R. , Videlo I. D. E. , Wakefield B. 
Published: July 2007

AbstractLow‐frequency (50 MHz) scanning acoustic microscopy has been applied to the problem of imaging defects in semiconductor packages. The results have been compared with the more established technique of X‐ray shadow imaging. The scanning acoustic microscope has been found to be able to image a greater variety of defects than X‐ray shadow imaging, although the acoustic image could often only be fully interpreted after comparison with the corresponding X‐ray image. Scanning acoustic microscopy is now proving to be a valuable analysis technique for the detection and characterisation of packaging related problems.
A review of reliability evaluation techniques applied to ingaas pin photodiodes, germanium apds and ingaas apds
Authors: Stokoe J. C. D. , Putland P. A. , Sutherland R. R. 
Published: July 2007

AbstractThis paper reviews current life‐testing practices applied to photodiodes, illustrated with examples from some recent work on commercial components. A description is given of the types of photodiode tested, followed by an explanation of the basic princples of life‐testing. Comparisons of biasing methods are made and the difficulties of testing certain photodiodes are discussed. It is shown that it is impossible to demonstrate high reliability in fibred packages (without using a very large number of devices on test), because of life‐test temperature limitations. Similarly, it is difficult to demonstrate high reliability for germanium avalanche photodiodes (APDs). It is also shown that it can be very difficult to demonstrate high reliability in devices which reach wear‐out within short times at relatively low life‐test temperatures. Recent results are presented which demonstrate that planar PIN photodiodes are superior to mesa PINs, and that planar InGaAs APDs can have an acceptable reliability.
Some problems encountered in the construction and interpretation of control charts
Authors: Dale B. G. , Shaw P. 
Published: July 2007

AbstractThis paper reports the typical problems encountered in the construction and interpretation of control charts for use in the motor industery. The main findings include the fact that the data used to construct the initial control limits sometimes fail to give a true picture of process performance, the statistical theory underlying the design of control charts is often not considered and understood by users, and the taking of samples involving attribute data appears, on occasions, to be more prone to difficulties than is the case with measured data. A list of dos and don'ts is given which may help companies avoid some of the trap encountered in the construction of control charts.
Metal–GaAs interaction and contact degradation in microwave MESFETs
Authors: Zanoni Enrico , Callegari Alessandro , Canali Claudio , Fantini Fausto , Hartnagel Hans L. , Magistrali Fabrizio , Paccagnella Alessandro , Vanzi Massimo 
Published: July 2007

AbstractThis work reports and critically reviews failure mechanisms induced by metal‐GaAs interaction and contact degradation in low and medium power GaAs MESFETs in the framework of a comprehensive reliability evaluation test plan, performed mainly on commercially purchased devices manufactured by different technologies. The results show that, at least as regards contact degradation phenomena, these technologies have reached sufficient maturity, and significant reliability levels have been achieved even for the most severe application and environments. Devices coming from some suppliers still suffer from reliability problems. such as ‘sinking’ of Au‐based gate metallization into the active channel. Al electromigration, Al/GaAs interdiffusion enhanced by high contacts electromigration, surface metal migration and short circuiting of closely spaced electrodes on GaAs with a non‐suitable surface preparation and/or passivation. All these failure mechanisms have been identified by means of suitable microanalytical techniques, correlated with device electrical degradation and thoroughly discussed in this paper by comparison with results previously reported in the technical literature.