Using empirical reliability tools to estimate the effect of HASS on product field life

Highly Accelerated Stress Screening (HASS) is a production test process that has become a widely accepted method for detecting process or component changes in a product that could reduce product reliability.  It is sometimes used in conjunction with, and often as a replacement for, classical burn-in.  HASS uses vibration and thermal stresses to quickly force latent defects in a product to fail or to become detectable through marginal performance, thus increasing the out of box quality and reducing warranty expenses.