The field of electronic testing is filled with its own technical jargon, which may be confusing for beginners. Besides the term 'aging testing', you may have heard of other reliability testing services such as high acceleration lift testing and high acceleration stress screening. But what do these terms mean? What is the difference between them and aging testing?
High Acceleration Life Test (HALT) has many similarities with aging testing. In fact, aging testing can be considered as a type of HALT. This is because HALT is not a specific test, but a testing method.
Similar to aging testing, HALT is typically conducted in the early stages of product development. This test aims to detect design defects in the device by subjecting it to harsh conditions and accelerating its lifecycle. Units that fail the evaluation will be identified and improved to eliminate any weaknesses discovered during HALT.
In contrast, high acceleration stress screening (HASS) is only conducted after the overall design of the product has been agreed upon and developed. HASS aims to use the data collected by previous HALT as a guide to apply further pressure on the equipment to ensure that consumers do not receive defective products or rapidly malfunctioning devices. However, these stress tests are limited to avoid affecting the product's lifecycle.
Although there are some differences between HALT and HASS, both methods involve the same three specific types of testing - temperature distribution, humidity distribution, and vibration distribution.
The purpose of conducting temperature analysis is to determine the minimum and maximum temperatures at which the equipment can remain usable. At the same time, humidity analysis specifically tracks the product's response to harsh humidity. Finally, vibration analysis subjects the equipment to mechanical stress to evaluate its durability. This test is conducted to ensure that the product can withstand rough handling that may occur during transportation.
After learning more about HALT and HASS, you may have noticed that aging testing can be divided into HALT or HASS, as it counts as temperature analysis. This only depends on when testing is conducted during the product development cycle. However, despite their similarities, we usually distinguish these terms separately. When someone talks about conducting accelerated life testing, they are referring to testing that is stronger, more rigorous, and lasts longer than aging testing.