HALT and HASS

What is HALT and HASS?

HALT Definition- Highly Accelerated Life Test

HASS Definition- Highly Accelerated Stress Screen

HALT & HASS are unique, accelerated product reliability testing methods focused on finding defects in products so they can be fixed before becoming expensive field issues. Unique because these procedures are different from traditional design verification testing - different goals, different stresses, different results. Accelerated, because these procedures reveal product failure modes in a matter of hours or days, as compared to traditional test methods that can take weeks or even months to find, if at all. Using these procedures is an effective way to improve product reliability and increase your revenue. You can achieve the highest level of customer satisfaction by ensuring your products are free from defects and other quality issues. 

How do they work?  

HALT and HASS, collectively referred to as Accelerated Stress Testing (AST), subject a product to a series of overstresses, effectively forcing product weak links to emerge by accelerating fatigue. Unlike traditional single axis vibration test methods or thermal only methods, an AST program requires specialized HALT/HASS equipment to render the required stresses - random six-degree-of-freedom vibration and rapid thermal change rates - in the combined environment necessary to drive out latent failure modes.

In these procedures, stresses are applied in a controlled, incremental fashion while the unit under test is continuously monitored for failures. Once the weaknesses of the product are uncovered and corrective actions taken, the limits of the product are clearly understood and the operating margins have been extended as far as possible. Result? A much more mature product can be introduced much more quickly with a higher degree of reliability.

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