Statistical Interpretation of Life Test

- Comparison between MIL and JEDEC

requirements

Yuan Chen, Ph.D.

NASA Langley Research Center
Background
• Some contents were prepared (but didn’t go through) for EEE Parts
101 training at MSFC in December 2022.
• Some thoughts were triggered during the NESC COTS assessment.
• Would not consider as a complete training or tutorial package, but for
sharing and discussion purpose.
• Focus or use semiconductor parts as an example

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Outline
• JEP001-1A, 2A and 3A
• “Foundry Process Qualification Guidelines” for semiconductor
• Life Tests in MIL-STD and JEDEC Standards
• 45 parts for 1000 hours and 3 lots with 77 parts from each lot for 1000 hours
• Assumptions
• Constant failure rate
• Exponential Distribution
• What does life test data mean?
• What a life test can demonstrate for λ?
• What a life test can demonstrate for lifetime or reliability?
• Volume matters
• Different philosophy
• Different processes

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JEP001-1A, 2A and 3A (I)
• “Foundry Process Qualification Guidelines”
• Wafer Fabrication Manufacturing Sites
• Provide methodologies for the minimum set of measurements to
qualify a new semiconductor wafer process .. with particular
reference to a generic silicon-based CMOS logic technology.
• 1A – Backend of Line
• 2A – Front End Transistor Level
• 3A – Product Level (part-level)
• Describe backend-level, transistor-level or package-level test and data
methods for the qualification of semiconductor technologies.

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JEP001-1A, 2A and 3A (II)
• Does not give pass or fail values or recommend specific test equipment, test
structures or test algorithms.
• Two levels of qualification
• Level 1 - pure process qualification intended to find reliability weaknesses. Primarily
addresses technology wear-out mechanisms through packages or wafer level reliability tests
on specially designed test structures.
• Level 1 qualification report – qual plan, description of the test vehicle including test structure features
and dimensions, summary of test methods used, pass/fail criteria, and test results, analysis and model
parameters.
• Level 2 – demonstrates the reliability of the process that corresponding to the reliability
demands from projected or known applications. Can be implemented via the testing of a
relevant functional technology qualification vehicle (TQV), including life test.
• Level 2 qualification report – qual plan, description of TQV, test description and specification, pass/fail
criteria, test results & analysis including failure analysis and FA results.

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JEP001-1A, 2A and 3A (III)
• Provide references for each test
• 1A – Backend of line testing
• Electromigration (EM), Stress Migration (SM) or Stress-Induced Voiding (SIV), Thermal Cycling
(TC), Inter/Intra Metal-Dielectric Reliability (IMD), Yield Data & Defect Density Calculation
• 2A – Transistor-level testing
• Time-Dependent Dielectronic Breakdown (TDDB), Voltage Ramp Dielectronic Breakdown
(VRDB)/Charge to Breakdown (QBD), Hot Carrier Injection (HCI), Bias Temperature Instability
(BTI), Plasma Process Induced Damage (P2ID), Ionic Contamination/Bias Temperature Stress
(BTS), Ionic Contamination/Triangular Voltage Sweep (TVS)
• 3A – Product-level testing
• Early Life Test, Long Term Life Test (HTOL), Temperature Cycling (TC), Temperature Humidity
Bias (THB) or Highly Accelerated Stress Test (HAST), ESD characterization, Latch-up
characterization, Process Control Monitor (PCM), Construction Analysis (CA)

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Life Test

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Life Tests in MIL-STD Standards
• MIL-STD-883K, Method 1005.10 “Steady-State Life”
• The steady-state life test is performed for the purpose of demonstrating the quality or reliability
of devices subjected to the specified conditions over an extended time period. Life tests
conducted within rated operating conditions should be conducted for a sufficiently long test
period to assure that results are not characteristic of early failures or "infant mortality,“….
• Sampling: MIL-PRF-38535 “General Specification for Integrated Circuits
(Microcircuits) Manufacturing”, Appendix D Table D-I
• Sample sizes are based upon the Poisson exponential binomial limit.
• Minimum size of sample to be tested to assure with a 90 percent confidence that a lot having
percent-defective equal to the specified sample size series value will not be accepted (single
sample).
• 45 parts for 90% confidence with < 5% defective allowable testing for 1000 hours at 125C.

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Life Tests in JEDEC Standards
• JEDEC Standard, JESD47I, “Stress-Test-Driven Qualification of Integrated
Circuits”
• HTOL (high temperature operating life) - The duration listed here is generally
acceptable to qualify for the given application level. However, it does not
necessarily imply the demonstrated of the lifetime requirements for a particular
use condition. It depends on failure mechanisms and application environments.
• Sampling in Table A
• 3 lots with 77 sample per lot for 1000 hours w/o failure.

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Assumptions -- important to remember or verify
• Exponential distribution is typically assumed when estimating the
failure rate using life test data.
• Bottom portion of bathtub curve or constant failure rate.
• Upper bound if actual failure rate is decreasing.
• The analysis/data on the following slides assume no failure has
occurred during life test. The same methodology applies to cases
when there are failures during life test.
• The failure rate, lifetime and reliability estimates on the following
slides are for the testing condition.
• An activation energy needs to be used to translate to a use condition.

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Exponential Distribution
• Probability density function 𝑓𝑓 𝑡𝑡 = 𝜆𝜆𝑒𝑒 −𝜆𝜆𝑡𝑡
• Cumulative distribution function F 𝑡𝑡 = 1 − 𝑒𝑒 −𝜆𝜆𝑡𝑡
• λ – failures per unit of time
• Mean Time to Failure = 1/λ
• Time with a percentage tx%
• t50%: time when 50% of parts fail – corresponding to Median Time to Failure = ln(2)/λ
• t5%: time when 5% of parts fail
• t1%: time when 1% of parts fail
• Reliability is R 𝑡𝑡 = 𝑒𝑒 −𝜆𝜆𝑡𝑡
• t50%: time at reliability is 50%
• t5%: time at reliability is 95%
• t1%: time at reliability is 99%

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λ Estimation
• λ estimation
• Point estimate
• An interval around that has a high degree of confidence of enclosing the true
value of λ, called confidence interval
• 90% (a percentile) confidence interval means
• Same experiment repeated many times
• Same estimation method used to estimate the interval for λ
• 90% of these intervals would contain the true λ
−ln 𝛼𝛼
• For zero failures, upper limit for λ is 𝜆𝜆100(1−𝛼𝛼) =
𝑛𝑛𝑛𝑛
• 100(1-α) is the upper percentile, n is sample size, T is the testing hours

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What a life test can
demonstrate for λ? 1000000

• Blue – 45000 device-hours

Lamda Upper Bound (FIT)

w/o failure 100000
• Green – 231000 device-
hour, i.e., 3x77 parts
under 1000 hours w/o
failure 10000

−ln 𝛼𝛼
• Using 𝜆𝜆100(1−𝛼𝛼) =
𝑛𝑛𝑛𝑛
• λ upper bound as a 1000
function of bound 50 60 70 80 90 100
percentile Bound Percentile (%)

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What a life test can Bound Demostrated Life at Testing Condition
demonstrate for lifetime Percentile t50% (yrs) t10% (yrs) t5% (yrs)
or reliability? 50 5.14 0.78 0.38
60 3.89 0.59 0.29
• Blue highlighted - 45000 device-hours
w/o failure 80 2.21 0.34 0.16
• Red numbers - MIL-PRF-38535 90 1.55 0.24 0.11
Appendix D Table D-I 95 1.19 0.18 0.09
• 45 parts - 90% confidence with < 97.5 0.97 0.15 0.07
5% defective allowable, i.e., at
least 95% of parts will pass 1000 99 0.77 0.12 0.06
hours or 0.11 years. 50 26.38 4.01 1.95
• 22 parts - 90% confidence with < 60 19.95 3.03 1.48
10% defective allowable, i.e., at 80 11.36 1.73 0.84
least 95% of parts will pass 2045
hours or 0.24 years 90 7.94 1.21 0.59
• Green highlighted – 231000 device- 95 6.1 0.93 0.45
hour, i.e., 3x77 parts under 1000 hours 97.5 4.95 0.75 0.37
w/o failure 99 3.97 0.6 0.29

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What a life test can demonstrate?
• The answer to this question is associated with confidence level,
reliability and an activation energy assumed.
• The implementation of any life test plan is also associated with cost of
the electronic parts as well as testing time needed.
• When projects have different target mission life, different
requirement on confidence level, reliability requirement and different
restraints on cost and testing time, different life test plans are
needed.

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Example
• Case I:
• Confidence level =50%
• Reliability level =50%
• Target mission time =10 years at 55C
• Case II
• Confidence level =90%
• Reliability level =50%
• Target mission time =10 years at 55C
• Case III:
• Confidence level =90%
• Reliability level =90%
• Target mission time =10 years at 55C

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Case I, II and III
Shown as Green, Red and Blue Dots
50%R with 1000
100000 hrs testing time
Number of electronic parts each part
10000 90%R with 1000
hrs testing time
1000 each part
needed

99%R with 1000

hrs testing time
100
each part
Case I
10

1 Case II
50 70 90
confidence level (%)
Case III

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Case I, II and III
Shown as Green, Red and Blue Values

# of DUT Confidence Levels

needed 99 95 90 80 70 60 50
R=50% 90 59 45 31 23 18 13
R=90% 855 610 501 385 314 260 216
R=99% 11347 8500 7178 5775 4884 4196 3602
* Data assume 1000-hour testing time on each electronic part

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Volume Matters – from Statistic Perspective
• Different philosophy
• Low volume
• screening is the key, assuming two separated statistical populations
• High volume
• large sample size for established reliability from qual, pre-qual, process control monitor,
on-line reliability monitoring
• Different processes
• Process qualification, package qualification, product qualification, lot
qualification
• Process qualification, package qualification, product qualification, yield

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New Terminology Defined - Established COTS Part
1. is produced using processes that have been stable for at least one year so there are enough data to verify
the part’s reliability;
2. is produced in high volume. High volume is defined as a series of parts sharing the same datasheet having a
combined sales volume over one million parts during the part’s lifetime;
3. is 100% electrically tested per datasheet specifications at typical operating conditions in production prior to
shipping to customers. Additionally, the manufacturer must have completed multi-lot characterization over
the entire set of operating conditions cited in the part's datasheet, prior to mass production release. Thus,
production test limits are set for typical test conditions sufficient to guarantee that the parts will meet all
parameters’ performance specifications on the datasheet;
4. is produced on fully automated production lines utilizing statistical process control (SPC), and undergoes in-
process testing, including wafer probing for microcircuits and semiconductors, and other means
appropriate for other products (e.g., passive parts). These controls and tests are intended to maintain
process tolerances and eliminate defective parts at various stages of production; and
5. has demonstrated consistent yield trend appropriate for high volume commercial technologies at that
technology node.

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Summary
• Comparison of life tests in MIL-STD and JEDEC Standards and their
statistical meaning and implications
• Low volume of MIL parts and large volume of commercial parts result
in different philosophy and process to ensure reliability.

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