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Failure Modes and Effects Analysis (FMEA) Procedural Guide

See also: Failure Modes and Effects Analysis (FMEA) Overview

Describe the product or process.

A clear and specific description of the product or process undergoing FMEA must first be articulated. The creation of this description ensures that the responsible engineer fully understands the 'form, fit, and function' of the product or process.

Draw a block diagram of the product or process. A block diagram of the product/process needs to be developed to sho the logical relationships bet een the components of the product or the steps/stages of the process. A block diagram may be in the form of bo!es connected by lines, ith each bo! corresponding to a ma"or component of the product or a ma"or step of the process. The lines correspond to ho the product components or process steps are related to each other.

Complete the header of the FMEA Table Table 1!. FMEA Table headers vary from one to the ne!t, since they are supposed to be customi#ed according to the re$uirements of the companies using them. %enerally the header re$uires, among others that you may ish to add, the follo ing information& 'roduct/'rocess/(ystem )ame, *omponent/(tep )ame+ 'roduct ,esigner or 'rocess Engineer, )ame of the 'erson ho prepared the FMEA form+ FMEA ,ate+ -evision .evel /letter or number0+ and -evision ,ate.

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E#umerate the items compo#e#ts$ fu#ctio#s$ steps$ etc.! that make up the product or process. 1reak do n the product or process being sub"ected to FMEA into its ma"or components or steps. .ist do n each of these components or steps in Colum# 1 of

the FMEA table. The items must be listed do n in a logical manner.

&de#tif' all pote#tial Failure Modes associated with the product or process. A failure mode is defined as ho a system, product, or process is failing.

)o here arises some confusion in the semiconductor industry, hich usually measures its failure modes in terms of ho the product or process is deviating from its specifications. A product or process can have hundreds of different failure modes based on this definition, most of hich are highly correlated to each other because of a common failure mechanism behind them.

A failure mechanism is defined as the physical phenomenon behind the failure mode/s0 observed, e.g., die cracking, corrosion, electromigration, etc. To simplify the use of FMEA in the semiconductor industry, therefore, the engineer may choose hether to construct the FMEA table in terms of failure modes or in terms of failure mechanisms. For convenience of discussion, the term 'failure mode' shall refer to either failure mode or failure mechanism hen used in this eb page /this eb page only20. An e!ample of a semiconductor process here failure mechanisms may be more effective to use is 3irebonding, hose failure mechanisms include ball lifting, edge lifting, ire breaking, bond4to4bond shorting, etc.

)ist dow# each Failure Mode usi#g its tech#ical term.

5sing an official technical term for listing the failure mode prevents confusion. All potential failure modes should be listed do n for each item /product component or process step0. Colum# 2 of the FMEA Table shall be used for this purpose.

Describe the effects of each of the failure modes listed a#d assess the se+erit' of each of these effects. For each of the failure modes in *olumn 6, a corresponding effect /or effects0 must be identified and listed in Colum# 3 of the FMEA Table. A failure effect is hat the customer ill e!perience or perceive once the failure occurs. A customer may either be internal or e!ternal, so effects to both must be included. E!amples of effects include& inoperability or performance degradation of the product or process, in"ury to the user, damage to e$uipment, etc. Assign a severity rating to each effect. Each company may develop its o n severity rating system, depending on the nature of its business. A common industry standard is to use a 74to478 scale system, ith the '7' corresponding to 'no effect' and the '78' corresponding to ma!imum severity, such as the occurrence of personal in"ury or death ith no arning or a very costly breakdo n of an enormous system. Colum# " of the FMEA Table is used for the severity rating ,E-! of the failure mode.

&de#tif' the possible cause s! of each failure mode. Aside from its effect/s0, the potential cause/s0 of every listed failure mode must also be enumerated. A potential cause should be something that can actually trigger the failure to occur. E!amples of failure causes include& improper e$uipment set4up, operator error, use of orn4out tools, use of incorrect soft are revision, contamination, etc. The potential causes are listed in Colum# % of the FMEA Table.

0ua#tif' the probabilit' of occurre#ce 1robabilit' Factor or 1F! of each of the failure mode causes. The likelihood of each of the potential failure cause occurring must be $uantified. Every failure cause ill then be assigned a number 1F! indicating this likelihood or probability of occurrence. A common industry standard for this is to assign a '7' to a cause that is very unlikely to occur and a '78' to a cause that is fre$uently encountered. 'F values for each of the failure causes are indicated in Colum# ( of the FMEA Table.

&de#tif' all e3isti#g co#trols Curre#t Co#trols! that co#tribute to the pre+e#tio# of the occurre#ce of each of these failure mode causes.

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E!isting controls that prevent the cause of the failure mode from occurring or detect the failure before it reaches the customer must be identified and evaluated for its effectiveness in performing its intended function. Each of the controls must be listed in Colum# * of the FMEA Table.

Determi#e the abilit' of each co#trol i# pre+e#ti#g or detecti#g the failure mode or its cause.

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The effectiveness of each of the listed controls must then be assessed in terms of its likelihood of preventing or detecting the occurrence of the failure mode or its failure cause. As usual, a number must be assigned to indicate the detection effectiveness /DET0 of each control. ,ET numbers are sho n in Colum# . of the FMEA Table.

Calculate the 4isk 1riorit' 5umbers 415!. The -isk 'riority )umber 415! is simply the product the Failure Mode (everity /(E90, Failure *ause 'robability /'F0, and *ontrol ,etection Effectiveness /,ET0 ratings. Thus, -') : /(E90 ! /'F0 ! /,ET0. The -'), hich is listed in Colum# / of the FMEA Table, is used in prioriti#ing items re$uire additional $uality planning or action. hich

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&de#tif' actio# s! to address pote#tial failure modes that ha+e a high 415. A high -') needs the immediate attention of the engineer since it indicates that the failure mode can result in an enormous negative effect, its failure cause has a high likelihood of occurring, and there are insufficient controls to catch it. Thus, action items must be defined to address failure modes that have high -')'s. These actions include but should not be limited to the follo ing& inspection, testing, monitoring, redesign, de4rating, conduct of preventative maintenance, redundancy, process evaluation/optimi#ation, etc. Colum# 12 of the FMEA Tables is used to list do n applicable action items.

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&mpleme#t the defi#ed actio#s. Assign a responsible o ner and a target date of completion for each of the actions defined. This makes o nership of the actions clear4cut and facilitates tracking of the actions' progress. The responsible o ner and target completion dates must be indicated in Colum# 11 of the FMEA Table.

The status or outcome of each action item must also be indicated in Colum# 12 of the FMEA Table.

4e+iew the results of the actio#s take# a#d reassess the 4156s. After the defined actions have been completed, their over4all effect on the failure mode they're supposed to address must be reassessed. The engineer must update the (E9, 'F, and ,ET numbers accordingly. The ne -') must then be recalculated once the ne (E9, 'F, and ,ET numbers have been established. The ne -') should help the engineer decide if more actions are needed or if the actions are sufficient. Colum#s 13$ 1"$ 1%$ and 1( of the FMEA Table are used to indicate the ne 'F, ,ET, and -'), respectively. (E9,

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7eep the FMEA Table updated.

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5pdate the FMEA table every time the product design or process changes or ne actions or information cause the (E9, 'F, or ,ET to change.

Table 1. E3ample of a ,implified FMEA Table

See also: Failure Modes and Effects Analysis (FMEA) Overview. HOME Co yri!ht " #$$% SiliconFarEast.com. All &i!hts &eserved.