Reliability evaluation and prediction for silicon photodetectors

The electrical parameters of silicon detectors were measured under various external influences (temperature cycling, humidity, salt atmosphere, etc.). The tests were designed and the data were analyzed by using the randomized block design method from the SAS software package. To estimate the lifetime of the detectors, an accelerated lifetime was implemented. Using plots of inspected interval data based on the maximum-likelihood technique (using the software package CENSOR), it was found that the Weibull distribution fits the lifetime test data. The cumulative distribution function and the acceleration factor were calculated; the median lifetime of the silicon detector at room temperature was 8.94*10/sup 6/ hours, and the 95% s-confidence interval was (71.6-10.6)*10/sup 6/ hours. >