Abstract：

We address the role, objectives and attributes of the accelerated life testing (ALT) in electronic and photonic engineering, including the major challenges and possible pitfalls, and interaction of ALT with other types of accelerated testing, such as qualification and product development testing. The emphasis is on structural elements, such as, e.g., electronic assemblies or coated optical fibers, that experience thermal loading. We elaborate on a concept of the probabilistic design for reliability (PDfR). This concept, based on 1) ALT for the most vulnerable (weakest link) elements of the system and 2) the subsequent modeling effort, enables one to predict, minimize and, if necessary, even control a low probability of failure for an electronic, opto-electronic or a photonic device, subsystem or a system operated at the given stress (loading) conditions for the given duration of time. We discuss in detail the role of predictive modeling, both analytical(“mathematical”) and numerical (mostly finite-element-based), in the ALT and PDfR efforts. As to the optical fibers, we will cursorily address some major aspects of the mechanical behavior and DfR of such fibers. The emphasis is on optical interconnects subjected to the combined action of bending and axial loading, pigtails in laser packages, two-point bending tests, consideration of the silica material nonlinear stress-strain relationship, jacketed fiber strippability, thermal stress in fibers soldered into ferrules or bonded into capillaries, as well as the new generation of nano-material-based coatings of optical fibers. The major concepts are illustrated by numerous examples based primarily on the author’s published work.

BIOGRAPHY：

Dr. Suhir is Distinguished Member of Technical Staff (ret), Physical Sciences and Engineering Research Division, Bell Labs, Murray Hill, NJ. He is currently on the faculty of the Electrical Engineering Department, University of California, Santa Cruz, CA, where he teaches a course “Basics of Electronic Reliability”. He is also Visiting Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Maryland, College Park, MD and CEO of the ERS Reliability Engineering Co (www.ERSuhir.com). Dr. Suhir is Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), the American Physical Society(APS), the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), the Institute of Physics (IoP), UK, and the Society of Plastics Engineers (SPE). He has authored about 300 technical publications (patents, papers, book chapters, books). Dr. Suhir is BoG Member and Distinguished Lecturer of the IEEE CPMT Society. He received many professional awards, including: 2008 Fulbright Fellowship Award in the field of Information and Communication Technologies; 2004 ASME Worcester Read Warner Medal for outstanding contributions to the permanent literature of engineering; 2001 IMAPS John A. Wagnon Technical Achievement Award for contributions to the technical knowledge of the microelectronics, optoelectronics, and packaging industry; 2000 IEEE-CPMT Outstanding Sustained Technical Contribution Award for contributions to the technologies in fields encompassed by the CPMT Society;2000 SPE International Engineering/Technology (Fred O. Conley) Award for pioneering contributions to plastics engineering; 1999 ASME and Pi-Tau-Sigma Charles Russ Richards Memorial Award for outstanding contributions to mechanical engineering, and 1996 Bell Laboratories Distinguished Member of Technical Staff Award for developing engineering mechanics methods for predicting the reliability, performance, and mechanical behavior of complex structures used in manufacturing Lucent Technologies products.