Burn-In

Burn-In strategies:

1- Static burn-in systems apply extremes of voltage and temperature to each device but do not exercise the device. Thus, static burn-in—the least expensive of the burn-in strategies—does not stress all the potential failure mechanisms.

2- Dynamic burn-in systems exercise the device inputs and properly terminate the outputs in addition to applying extremes of voltage and temperature. With dynamic systems, electron charge transfers occurring at the exercised device’s circuit nodes initiate failure mechanisms that would escape static burn-in.

3- Burn-in-with-test systems also verify that a device under test gets exercised—that is, the device is powered up and test vectors are applied. Keep in mind that burn-in sockets—fragile high-pin-count components subjected to the repeated insertion/extraction cycles of production burn-in—are themselves prone to failure. Just a few bad socket pins could prevent test vectors or supply voltages from reaching the device undergoing burn-in, resulting in your shipping or using parts that haven’t been electrically stressed.