Simulation-based FMEA for the reliability assessment of printed circuit boards

Simulation-based FMEA is presented as a method to estimate the reliability of printed circuit boards at the system level. A numerical simulation of relevant stress variables is combined with fatigue models and a probabilistic FMEA to determine probabilities for system level failure modes. Uncertainties of model parameters are estimated and included in the simulation to provide a comprehensive analysis of system level failure probabilities. A parametric reduced order model is used for the numerical simulation to efficiently perform the calculations with uncertain parameters. The simulation-based FMEA workflow is applied to a test printed circuit board excited by harmonic vibrations. • Presentation of a concept for quantitative FMEA based on simulation • Simulation includes material and geometry parameter uncertainties. • Parametric model order reduction considering material and geometry parameters • Determination of probability distributions for system level failure modes