Comparison of reliability prediction methods using life cycle cost analysis

In this paper, it was discussed on the several reliability prediction models for electronic components and comparison of these methods was also illustrated. A combined methodology for comparing the cost incurring for prediction was designed and implemented with an instrumentation amplifier and a BJT transistor. By using the physics of failure approach, the dominant stress parameters were selected on basis of research study and were subjected to both instrumentation amplifier and BJT transistor. The procedure was implemented using the methodology specified in this paper and modeled the performance parameters accordingly. From the prescribed failure criteria, mean time to failure was calculated for both the components. Similarly, using 217 plus reliability prediction book, MTTF was also calculated and compared with the prediction using physics of failure. Then, the costing implications of both the components were discussed and compared them. From the results, it was concluded that for critical components like instrumentation amplifier though the initial cost of physics of failure prediction is too high, the total cost incurred including the penalty costs were lower than that of traditional reliability prediction method. But for non-critical components like BJT transistor, the total cost of physics of failure approach was too higher than traditional approach and hence traditional approach was much efficient. Several other factors were also compared for both reliability prediction methods.