Improving the reliability and safety of automotive electronics

The activities of the European Prometheus project´s PRO-CHIP research groups, which have studied the problem of improving automotive electronic reliability while respecting the specifications of low-cost, high-volume production, light weight, compactness, and short time-to-market imposed by the automotive industry, are reviewed. The reliability problems most frequently encountered by electronic devices for automotive applications, including failure mechanisms due to the package or to the assembling technology, different kinds of electrical overstress, electrostatic discharge, electromagnetic interference, breakdown and burnout of power devices, and failure mechanisms accelerated by high temperatures and high current densities, and the procedures the manufacturers use to evaluate and improve the reliability of their products are discussed.<>