Product reliability at low failure rates: Wrong expectations and real limitations

The automotive industry serves as a prominent example for high reliability requirements under harsh application conditions. Reliability assessment is torn between expectations from customers and what it can realistically achieve, reliability testing being limited by both technical and economical reasons. Furthermore, reliability methodology on package and product level severely lags behind what we have become accustomed to on the wafer technology side. The paper looks at some of the issues and implications when assessment of low failure rates is required.