Toward comprehensive reliability testing of electronic component boards

Many electronic products, particularly portable electronic products, experience during operation different loadings simultaneously. It has become clear that the single load tests do not represent well enough the use environments loading conditions of many electronic products and modifications to the reliability evaluation procedures are necessary. But before loading conditions can be combined in a meaningful manner, the failure mechanisms under single load environments and their possible interactions when combined need to be clarified. This paper makes a brief review to the reliability of electronic assemblies under different loading conditions from the perspective of failure modes and mechanisms. Failure modes and mechanisms under thermal/power cycling and mechanical shock/vibration conditions are discussed first. Thereafter, the interactions of the loading conditions when combined consecutively or concurrently will be investigated.