Design of Experiments: application to the reliability assessment of MEMS devices - (Revision 2)
Abstract
This report presents the application of the Plackett-Burman design of experiment to a reliability study of a 3-axis commercial accelerometer based on MEMS (MicroElectro-Mechanical System). The aim is to observe the lifetime of the devices undergoing shock testing at 4,500g, after having been through different environmental conditions supposed to be representative of the space environment. In the study, 7 different parameters are analyzed: the first step is environmental, with temperature and humidity being varied. The second step consists in the application of a mechanical solicitation, in the form of a vibration test with varying frequencies and peak accelerations. The considered response is the number of cycles of a sequence of shocks along all axes of the device, necessary to produce total failure. The experimental results are used in order to compute the relative half-effects and evaluate the corresponding normal plots for the error analysis.