An analysis of field failure of passive and active components, including connectors

Summary form only given, as follows. The author briefly describes current work on establishing and running an organization for the collection and analysis of field-failure data on passive and active components in electronic equipment. The data collection is described and the essential features are noted of the data format that is being used. Data have now been collected from all the sources for nearly two years, and the results obtained are presented. Statistical analysis covering three major areas is discussed. They are: the establishment of a field-failure hierarchy showing which components caused the most problems in equipment; analysis of the effect of specific aspects of the component usage on the failure rates observed; and detailed examination of the data supplied to determine possible failure of components due to faults in circuit design. Connectors are also discussed where appropriate.<>