ASSESSING THE LIFETIME PERFORMANCE OF ELECTRONIC COMPONENTS BY CONFIDENCE INTERVAL

ABSTRACT

The electronics industry has heavily prioritized enhancing the quality, lifetime and conforming rate(conforming to specifications) of electronic components, thus maximizing profitability. Various methods have been developed for assessing quality performance. In practice, process capability indices (PCIs) are used as a means of measuring process potential and performance. Moreover, most PCIs have been developed or investigated under assumption that electronic components have a lifetime with a normal distribution. However, PCIs for non-normal distributions have seldom been discussed. Nevertheless, the lifetime of electronic components generally possesses an exponential distribution. Under an exponential distribution, some properties of the PCIs and their estimators differ from those in a normal distribution. To more reasonably and accurately utilize the PCIs in assessing the lifetime performance of electronic components, this study constructs an UMVU estimator of their lifetime performance index under an exponential distribution. The UMVU estimator of the lifetime performance index is then utilized to develop the confidence interval. The purchasers can then employ the confidence interval to determine whether the lifetime of the electronic components adheres to the required level. Manufacturers can also utilize this procedure to enhance process capability.

Keywords:

• process capability index
• lifetime performance index
• confidence interval
• conforming rate
• exponential distribution