Why is OE important?

In today's world, electronics are a crucial part of our everyday life. From your handheld phones, to planes in the sky, from cars on the road to satellites in space, we rely on electronics to enable us to live the way we do. It is why it is of paramount importance that reliability matters.  

Having standards is a very useful tool, but what we are really wanting to ensure is that our products perform as designed and is reliable. Objective evidence is a way of demonstrating that products are made to a high quality standard. 

As previously discussed, the ROSE test has been proven to not reflect today's modern electronics and so, this new way to qualify your manufacturing process is incredibly important to ensure the final product is successful. 
 

Whether a circuit assembly is built with traditional technology, or built with latest cutting edge technology from any field, the SIR test can be used to quantify that product. By incorporation of OE into J Std 001 there is now a recognised protocol where user and supplier can prove and accept that an assembly is fit for purpose.  

It is the confirmation that a product has been built to a standard, demonstrating that it meets the use in a challenging environment. OE is concerned about ECM and the development of corrosion and potential short circuits occurring in damp heat environments. Hence, testing is usually undertaken in a damp heat chamber at either 40°C/90%RH or 85°C/85%RH, typical of use environments. In the SIR test the bias is applied continuously driving any developing ECM events that can readily be detected by a change in resistance.

The OE evidence is therefore the direct output from the SIR test, which in turn is dependent on the PCB feature size, the applied bias, process residues, and any adventitious residues. SIR is sensitive to this vast range of variables, but reduces all of this to a simple measurement, resistance.