What is Camera Burn-In?

are Climatic chambers built to perform a wide range of climatic tests on materials. Some of these tests are very specific, designed for a specific product category and requiring special chambers. 

The case we are examining today is that of Burn-In Chambers for semiconductor testing.

What are Semiconductors

Once a household name only among engineers and computer scientists, semiconductors have hit the headlines since the pandemic. We are still in the midst of the biggest semiconductor crisis since their invention, due to the production slump resulting from the various lockdowns.

Why are semiconductors so important?

Science tells us that semiconductors are semimetals that can have a resistivity higher than that of conductors and lower than that of insulators; resistivity depends directly on temperature.

Because of these invaluable characteristics, semiconductors are used in electronics , more precisely in microchips and electronic boards.

Semiconductors are, in short, an essential component of countless electronic products we use every day. Semiconductor burn-in testing is a crucial step in verifying their reliability.

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What is Semiconductor Burn-In Testing?

Being the most delicate and at the same time most functional of many consumer electronics, semiconductors are subjected to a rigorous series of tests in climatic chambers including the Burn-In Chamber.

Semiconductor burn-in testing occurs early in the component's life to immediately assess its durability and reduce the product's risk of infant mortality . This is an extreme climate test that subjects the semiconductor to thermal cycles (such as 125°C for 168 hours ) and environmental cycles (such as 20 cycles from -10 to 70°C ).

Due to the extreme values ​​reached during semiconductor burn-in testing, not all environmental chambers are equipped to perform it. Those that reach these values ​​are called burn-in chambers.

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What are Burn-in Chambers?

Burn-in chambers or semiconductor ovens is the name given to all climatic chambers that are capable of reaching certain temperatures and therefore performing the Burn-in Test.

It should be noted that this is not a technical name and the most important thing is to check the technical characteristics of the machine. 

For example, chambers known as environmental chambers reach values ​​that make them suitable for performing the test, namely a temperature range that can reach -70/180°, and adjustable humidity up to 98°.

Ovens, burn-in chambers, or environmental chambers: whatever the manufacturer calls them, the important thing is that they can reach certain values.

To find out the test requirements in detail, we recommend that you consult the relevant international regulations , which can be found in the IEC/EN- 60068-2 and IEC/EN- 60068-3 standards.

The FDM Environmental Chamber for Semiconductor Burn-In Testing

Based on the above, our FDM Environmental Chamber is the ideal tool for performing burn-in tests on semiconductors.

In addition to the maximum values ​​mentioned above, our environmental chambers have an ascent and descent rate of +5/-4°/min respectively, necessary to reproduce the stresses of semiconductor burn-in testing.

Each FDM climate chamber also features a simple and intuitive interface that guides the operator through every step of the process. For more information, please contact us.

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Reference Standards

• JEDEC JESD22-A108 — Temperature, Bias, and Operating Life. JEDEC standard for high-temperature operating life testing (HTOL) and burn-in.
• MIL-STD-883 Method 1015 — Burn-in Test. Military method for screening for infant defects and qualifying the reliability of electronic components.
• MIL-STD-750 Method 1039 — Burn-in on Discrete Semiconductor Devices.
• AEC-Q100 — Failure Mechanism Based Stress Test Qualification for Integrated Circuits, includes HTOL and early life failure rate (ELFR).
• JESD91 — Method for Developing Acceleration Models for Electronic Component Failure Mechanisms (Arrhenius model).
• JESD85 — Methods for Calculating Failure Rates in Units of FITs.
• IEC 60068-2-2 — Environmental testing – Test B: Dry heat (reference for static high-temperature chamber).

Authoritative Sources

• JEDEC Solid State Technology Association. American organization that created the JESD22/JESD85/JESD91 standards on reliability testing.
• DLA – Defense Logistics Agency. Publishes MIL-STD-883 and MIL-STD-750.
• Automotive Electronics Council (AEC). Automotive qualification specifications AEC-Q100/Q101.
• IEC – International Electrotechnical Commission. IEC 60068 standard on environmental testing.

Frequently Asked Questions about Camera Burn-In

What is burn-in and what is the bathtub curve?

Burn -in is the accelerated thermoelectric stress of electronic components aimed at eliminating early-life failures before delivery to the customer. It is based on the bathtub curve of the failure rate λ(t): decreasing initial region (infant mortality, 0-1000 h), constant intermediate region (useful life, 1000 h – 10⁵ h), increasing terminal region (wear-out). Burn-in statistically eliminates defective devices in the first region by subjecting them to 24-168 hours of thermoelectric stress at 125-150 °C with power bias. For automotive Grade 0 AEC-Q100, the standard burn-in is 168 h at 150 °C at the operating levels of nominal VDD and VIN stressed. The expected final post-burn-in defect rate is < 50 ppm for commercial applications and < 10 ppm for automotive.

How to calculate burn-in acceleration with Arrhenius model?

The Arrhenius model describes the temperature dependence of the failure rate according to the law: λ(T) = A exp(-Ea/kT), where Ea is the activation energy (eV), k Boltzmann constant (8.617 10⁻⁵ eV/K), T absolute temperature. The acceleration factor AF between stress temperature Ts and operating temperature Top is: AF = exp[(Ea/k) (1/Top – 1/Ts)]. Typical energies: Ea = 0.7 eV for oxide/interface defects; 0.9 eV for metal electromigration; 1.0–1.3 eV for corrosion. Example: 168 h at 150 °C with Ea=0.7 eV is equivalent to approximately 5.5 years at 55 °C or 13 years at 40 °C . To obtain FIT rate (Failures in Time = failures per 10⁹ hours) we use JESD85 with chi-square distribution for confidence interval 60-90% on a limited sample size.

What environmental conditions must a burn-in chamber offer?

The burn-in chamber is designed for high controlled temperatures typically +85/+150 °C (extreme +200/+300 °C for SiC/GaN), without humidity control. Technical characteristics: stability ± 0.5 °C, uniformity ± 3 °C over the useful volume with forced convection ≥ 1.5 m/s; ability to dissipate the heat released by the DUTs under bias (typical power dissipation 100 W – 10 kW per chamber); DUT power supply with dedicated driver boards in the chamber (stabilized VDD 0.1%, current monitored for each slot); in-situ monitoring of electrical parameters (Icc, Vout) with continuous logging; safety lock-out in the event of over-temperature, over-current, open/short failures. For AEC-Q100 Grade 0 qualification, the chamber must maintain 150 °C with a full load of 4-8 kW of dissipation, with filtered air extraction to prevent outgassing of the plastic packages.

How do you scale sample size and duration for statistical burn-in?

The sizing follows JESD47 and reliability research with a statistical approach. For Qualification lot AEC-Q100 a minimum of 77 devices × 3 lots = 231 samples subjected to 1000 hours HTOL at 125 °C with 0 failures is required (acceptance 0/231 = LTPD 1%). For less severe applications (commercial/industrial) it is reduced to 77 samples on 1 lot. The calculation of the lower confidence bound of the failure rate uses a chi-square distribution: λ ≤ χ²(2r+2, 1-α) / (2 DH AF) where r=failures, α=confidence level (typically 0.4 or 0.1 = 60%/90% CL), DH=total device-hours. Example: 0 failures out of 231 devices × 1000 h × AF=78 (150→55 °C, Ea=0.7) gives λ ≤ 51 FIT at 60% CL. Longer plans (> 3000 h) allow to go below 10 FIT required for high-reliability and aerospace Class S.