Article summary:

In its efforts to reduce field failures and improve product reliability, the commercial electronics industry performs environmental testing on power electronics equipment. Although simple burn-in processes are the most familiar approach, many companies have adopted thermal cycling and environmental stress screening (ESS) to fully realize the benefits of environmental testing. But now, in an effort to shorten product development cycles and reduce costs, manufacturers have begun to adopt time-saving test methods such as accelerated stress testing (AST), also known as highly accelerated life testing/highly accelerated stress screening (HALT/HASS). Steve Petersen, Thermotron Industries Product Test Solutions, describes the application of these test methods and their benefits.

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