The service life of any electronics product is limited, especially in the consumption-driven era, the product life cycle of components is getting shorter and shorter. Some industries, on the other hand, require the support of semiconductor components with long life cycles, such as industrial, automotive, medical, aerospace, and defense, whose product cycles can be as long as 30 years or more. A sustainable supply of components is critical, and for this reason, an extended storage period of semiconductor components is often required after the end of the mass production period.
Whether it is a component manufacturer or a traditional authorized distributor, it is often more inclined to reserve inventory for demand in subsequent years. However, the quality of electronic components stored for a long time and whether they can still work normally are the biggest concerns of customers. How long is the shelf life of semiconductor components? How do measure its reliability?
Electronic Components
A key measure of quality and reliability is solderability. Component manufacturers generally use the date code as a mark to evaluate whether the device can still work effectively, but the service life of most components exceeds the date code specified by the manufacturer.
Allegro Microsystems concluded by the "wetting balance method" that long-term storage does not affect the solderability of components, nor does accumulate oxidation, and that storage in a sealed bag is sufficient.
In the research report, Texas Instruments concluded that in the appropriate warehouse environment, the shelf life of stored semiconductor components is greater than 15 years.
Since long-term storage will not affect the quality and reliability of components, the environmental conditions of storage are another key factor affecting the quality of components.
For the storage environment of electronic components, the warehouse is generally required to be clean, ventilated, and free of corrosive gases. In addition, the temperature and relative humidity also need to meet the requirements. The storage environment of components is specified in the general and detailed specifications of most components. SJ331 "General Technical Conditions for Semiconductor Integrated Circuits" stipulates that the temperature range for storage of semiconductor integrated circuits is -10 ℃ ~ 40 ℃, and the relative humidity is not more than 80%. The storage environment specified in these standards is not allowed to exceed the range, not the best environment for the storage of components.
Different components require different storage conditions, such as aluminum electrolytic capacitors or some devices with higher moisture sensitivity, which need to be considered differently according to requirements.
Components with anti-static requirements (such as MOS) need to be packed in anti-static bags and anti-static turnover boxes. Copper foil and pins cannot be directly exposed to the air to prevent the oxidation of the device.
Hard Find Electronics LTD. is an electronic components distributor that provides you with sustainable supply channels. All products we offer will be processing strict quality control to make sure the electronic parts are not damaged and are normal working.