Mechanical engineering issues and electronic equipment reliability: incurred costs without compensating benefits

Temperature is widely viewed as a major influence on failures of electronic equipment. The failure prediction methodology (FPM) concept of a constant failure rate that is accelerated by various environmental influences is widely applied beyond its validity. Misapplications of the reliability models in current use may cause failure avoidance efforts such as temperature reduction and parts quality selections not to yield anticipated overall results. The cost and complexity effects can be significant: temperature reduction, for example, can result in expensive system implementations in some cases. The author feels that the continuing quest for electronics reliability should change emphasis from attention to electronic parts to activities that address assembly and processes and he discusses the ways in which the temperature ingredient of reliability and similar concepts can be currently applied. Examples to illustrate disparities between anticipations and realizations are given. Alternate approaches are offered and their possible implementations are discussed