Reliability Engineering

Reliability tests at Richnex are divided into two categories, package and device. Reliability testing results are analyzed for further circuit or process improvement.

Package Reliability

Package reliability tests are used to verify the protection capability of a specific package and the manufacturability of SMT. During different temperature/moisture test conditions, package materials show different thermal stress, humidity resistance and chemical performance. The characteristics signal potential risk for chip assembly.

MSL: Moisture Sensitive Level III Precondition Test
HTST: High Temperature Storage Test
THT: Temperature Humidity Test
HAST: Highly Accelerated Temperature and Humidity Stress Test
TCT: Temperature Cycling Test
PCT: Pressure Cooker Test

Richnex follows the JESD22 series of standards for package reliability testing. IST and our assembly suppliers follow the same criteria in the reliability test services they provide Richnex. These package reliability tests are processed for the qualification of new assembly sites, new package processes and package BOM (Bill of Material) changes.
Given that package reliability tests take months to complete, they cannot provide real-time monitoring of process execution but these tests are an index of assembly process stability. Package reliability measures for process monitoring are applied to each assembly site based on the risk evaluation.

Device Reliability

All devices are tested for ESD, latch-up and lifetime using the widely recognized industry procedures before production shipment.

ESD
We follow the JESD22, MIL-883 series to evaluate each product for ESD tolerance. Different zap models (HBM, MM and CDM) are applied to our products and results are analyzed and fed back to quality improvement.

Latch-up
Following JESD78, we evaluate the latch-up capability of every product..

HTOL (High Temperature Operation Life Test)
HTOL is an important test to evaluate product lifetime and design bugs. It simulates product operation. Both temperature and voltage acceleration are applied to each product. It also tests foundry process stability.

Traceability

At the top of each Richnex product is marked with our coding system. This coding system is applied daily to our IC. It is crucial to non-conforming parts control and quality control tracking. Our coding can also be found on the label of boxes, reels and cartons as shown in the picture above. This system will generate unique codes for a 14 year time period. Production history is retained in an Oracle database. Production history can be traced effectively and efficiently by a single IC.