Accelerated reliability growth of electronic devices

This paper describes a model for accelerated reliability growth (ARG) analysis. It provides target accelerated test times and aids in the estimation of the expected number of failures for each phase of the subsystem´s qualification program. Tools such as Microsoft® Excel are used to program a spreadsheet and graphically display growth curves. An input/output table form is created in this program, and a graphical output is made. An example illustrates the idealized curves for a subsystem using the ARG equations. The MTBF at each point of a test-analyze-and-fix reliability growth phase is shown. After each phase, corrective actions are incorporated into the subsystem, yielding a jump in MTBF. The acceleration factor (AF) is estimated from accelerated conditions and expected typical failure modes.