Parameter monitoring of electronic circuits for reliability prediction and failure analysis

As electronic modules are becoming ever more popular in critical safety applications, such as electronic vehicles and aeronautics, so do their operating conditions become harsher. This sometimes means using electronic components at the very limit of their functional parameters and very close to or even exceeding their maximum operating temperature. This of course leads to a dramatic decrease in component lifetimes and classical failure prediction algorithms are thrown off balance, giving unreliable results. This of course means that new prediction methods should be established. The following paper proposes a method for predicting the value of capacitors on the electronic modules, in order to perform real-time prediction of their lifetimes affected by their operational environment. First, two capacitor lifetime models are presented and compared and then the theoretical data are compared with the data obtained from accelerated ageing measurements.