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4 Steps to Accomplish HALT

4 Steps to Accomplish HALT

4 Not Always Easy Steps

Highly Accelerated Life Testing, HALT, is a method to discover the weaknesses in a design. Using a step stress approach of single and combined stresses, you can quickly expose the salient weaknesses in your design and/or assembly process.

The value of HALT is it’s quick and often finds problems not previously known. You will destroy one or more prototypes, yet the value of knowing specifically what needs improvement more than justifies the sacrifice of a few photos.

Conducting HALT may be part of your reliability plan. Keeping a few steps in mind will help make sure your HALT does provide value back to your development efforts. [Read more…]

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Seminar: HALT Techniques and connecting to program objectives

Seminar: HALT Techniques and connecting to program objectives

This is the third session from the Annual Apex Ridge Reliability Seminar held in Boston.

In this session, I discuss the methodology of HALT and how to connect it with program tools and objectives.

The philosophy of HALT is often misunderstood simply due to its name and acronym, “Highly Accelerated Life Testing” (HALT).

It is not an accelerated life test, it’s really not even a test. HALT is a process of increasing stress on a design to induce failures for the purpose of learning about the design and improving its robustness.

It’s a discovery process. [Read more…]

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You May Often be Exceeding Operating Specifications!

You May Often be Exceeding Operating Specifications!

HALT (Highly Accelerated Life Test) requires exceeding specifications

One aspect of HALT, (a test to find weaknesses and reliability risks empirically), is the difficulty for many engineers that are new to the HALT- that it guarantees that the maximum or recommended operating environmental specifications for the system and components under test will be exceeded, and failures beyond spec are potentially relevant to field reliability. [Read more…]

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Why success with HALT begins long before doing HALT

Why success with HALT begins long before doing HALT

Implementing a new reliability development paradigm in a company which is using traditional, standards-based testing can be a perilous journey.

It is especially true with introducing HALT (Highly Accelerated Life Test) in which strength against stress, and not quantifying electronics lifetimes is the new metric.  Because of this significant change in test orientation, a critical factor for success begins with educating the company’s top  [Read more…]

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Why HALT is a methodology, not equipment

Why HALT is a methodology, not equipment

It is easy to understand why the term HALT (Highly Accelerated Life Test) is so tightly couple to the equipment called “HALT chambers” systems.  Many do not think they can do HALT processes without a “HALT Chamber”. Many know that Dr. Gregg Hobbs, who coined the term HALT and also HASS (Highly Accelerated Stress Screens), spent much of his life promoting the techniques and was also the founder of two “HALT/HASS” environmental chamber companies. [Read more…]

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Why Parametric Variation Can Lead to Failures and HALT Can Help

Why Parametric Variation Can Lead to Failures and HALT Can Help

Many reliability engineers have discovered HALT will quickly find the weaknesses and reliability risks in electronic and electromechanical systems from the capability of thermal cycling and vibration to create rapid mechanical fatigue in electronic assemblies. Assemblies that have latent defects such as cold solder or cracked solder joints, loose connectors or mechanical fasteners, or component package defects can be brought to a detectable, or patent, condition by which we can observe and potentially improve the robustness of an electronics system.

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For Maximum Test Value, Take it to the Limit!

For Maximum Test Value, Take it to the Limit!

When we go to an automobile race such as the Indianapolis 500, watching those cars circle the track can get fairly boring. What is secretly unspoken is that everyone observing the race is watching for a race car to find and sometimes exceed a limit, finding a discontinuity. The limit could be how fast he enters a curve before the acceleration forces exceed the tires coefficient of friction, or how close to the racetrack wall, he can be before he contacts it and spins out of control. Using the race analogy, [Read more…]

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No Evidence of Correlation: Field failures and Traditional Reliability Engineering

No Evidence of Correlation: Field failures and Traditional Reliability Engineering

Historically Reliability Engineering of Electronics has been dominated by the belief that 1) The life or percentage of complex hardware failures that occurs over time can be estimated, predicted, or modeled and 2) Reliability of electronic systems can be calculated or estimated through statistical and probabilistic methods to improve hardware reliability. The amazing thing about this is that during the many decades that reliabilityengineers have been taught this and believe that this is true, there is little if any empirical field data from the vast majority of verified failures that shows any correlation with calculated predictions of failure rates.
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Does HALT Lead to Product Over-Design?

Does HALT Lead to Product Over-Design?

Every once in a while I see a comment that by following the HALT methodology you will “over design” a product.

Many question at what point or operational limit do you quit increasing the stress-strength margins. Those who hold this view of HALT do not understand the essence of what was Gregg Hobbs’ principles and paradigm shift. [Read more…]

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A Brief Introduction to HALT

A Brief Introduction to HALT

Highly Accelerated Life Testing (HALT) is a technique to expose weaknesses or faults with a product.

HALT uses individual or combined stresses in a step stress approach to quickly apply sufficient stress to reveal defects.

HALT is not a specific chamber or fixed set of test conditions. It is an exploratory process to reveal weaknesses in a design.

The product development process naturally includes a check step, to determine if the expected functions of the product work as expected.

Some teams then add a measured amount of stress (temperature, vibration, dust, load, etc.) to the product to explore functionality at elevated stress levels. [Read more…]

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When to Conduct HALT

When to Conduct HALT

HALT (highly accelerated life testing) is a method to reveal product weaknesses. Design prototypes experience the step-stress application of relevant stresses until failures appear.

The intent is to find design or process related weaknesses early in the design process thus providing time to economically address the issue. Using a build-test-fix approach does improve a product’s robustness and reliability.

Being a useful tool, should you conduct HALT on every project? It seems that revealing weaknesses is certainly useful. [Read more…]

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HALT Value

HALT Value

It’s always necessary to estimate the value of specific reliability activities. It is needed to justify the investment required to accomplish the task. Prototypes, diagnostics equipment, and environmental chambers are expensive. The difficulty is an inability to know what will be found, before conducting the experiment.

Not doing the test means the certainty of not finding anything. That is often not enough motivation to invest, to learn something about the reliability performance. The following scenario is just one situation, along with a few ideas to help you estimate the value of investments in reliability work. [Read more…]

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Why HALT is a methodology, not equipment

Kirk Gray, Accelerated Reliability Solutions, L.L.C.

It is easy to understand why the term HALT (Highly Accelerated Life Test) is so tightly couple to the equipment called “HALT chambers” systems.  Many do not think they can do HALT processes without a “HALT Chamber”. Many know that Dr. Gregg Hobbs, who coined the term HALT and also HASS (Highly Accelerated Stress Screens), spent much of his life promoting the techniques and was also the founder of two “HALT/HASS” environmental chamber companies. [Read more…]