Detecting early failures in printed wiring boards

摘要

A method and system 100 for testing printed wiring boards, comprises a test development unit 110 configured to generate electric fields 111 in a first set of PWBs 130a-n. A failure detection unit 112 is used to detecting failures in the first set and based on the generated electric fields to create a dielectric life curve of the first set 113. Based on the dielectric life curve, a screening time and voltage are defined to screen for premature failures in a second set of PWBs 131a-n. The parameters are selected by the screening parameter development unit 114 and transmitted to screening unit 120 to conduct screening of the second set of PWBs. The screening unit includes an electric field generation unit 121 and failure detection unit 122. The voltage applied to the first set of PWB can be a multiple of an operating value of the first set to simulate a life duration of the PWBs in a compacted time. The screening time and voltage are selected based on a screening curve generated by fitting the dielectric curve onto a data point corresponding to a prematurely failed PWB.