RELIABILITY EVALUATION OF PLASTIC ENCAPSULATED PARTS

This paper compares the failure rates of several families of plastic e ncapsulated microcircuits (PEMs) using both field & test data (test da ta are converted to device failure rates for field conditions using co mmon acceleration equations) and Mil-Hdbk-217 calculations. Calculated failure rates are obtained from the Mil-Hdbk-217F for both plastic en capsulated and ceramic hermetic class-B microcircuits. Comparisons sho w that the results from Mil-Hdbk-217 are misleading and that the US mi litary and Government part-selection methods should not be burdened by this -217 methodology.