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Kirk Gray — Active Contributor

Author of Accelerated Reliability articles and Next Generation HALT and HASS, plus, co-host on Speaking of Reliability.


This author's archive lists contributions of articles and episodes.

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Thermal HALT

Thermal HALT

A Tool for the Discovery of Signal Integrity and Software Reliability I

Abstract—Failures in the execution of software can have many different causes. Errors in coding, incorrect sequence of software execution, and other factors result in software “bugs” that, when discovered, must be corrected for reliable system operation. However, this paper focuses on another cause of software failures: those that come from variations in the many tiers of component manufacturing and system assembly. This paper shows how applying thermal HALT on electronic circuits, and systems helps skew parametric performance at the circuit board and system levels and increase the probability of discovering marginal signal quality and integrity, which can lead to software operational failures.ssues

Update as of July 15, 2025: Kirk created a technical paper based on the material originally posted below. It has been updated, includes references, and has been reviewed.

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SOR 1029 Thermal HALT

SOR 1029 Thermal HALT

Thermal HALT

Abstract

Kirk and Fred discuss a paper Kirk wrote about how thermal HALT can be a tool for finding marginal signal integrity issues.

Key Points

Join Kirk and Fred as they discuss Kirk’s paper on the use of thermal HALT, initially posted on Kirk’s website, acceleratedreliabilitysolutions.com, in 2018, and a re-edited version that Fred recently posted on Accendo Reliability’s website. You can find a link to the article in the show notes below.

Topics include:

  • Kirk found little when he researched for information and data about how the physical electronics, especially the PWBA (printed wiring board assemblies) in high-speed digital systems, the variations in the board layers, and the surface roughness of the wiring traces affect the quality of the signal integrity (SI).  
  • As data bus speeds increase, effects causing errors in data transmission that were not significant at the time (when bus frequencies were in the megahertz range) became dominant at the gigahertz frequencies of today’s digital systems. Interconnect resistance, capacitance, and inductance are frequency-dependent, and as bus speeds increase and geometries continue to shrink, these variables may prove difficult– if not impossible– to model accurately.  
  • Thermal HALT and varying voltage and  clock margins may simulate the lot-to-lot parametric variations in semiconductors and PWBA’s, resulting in SI errors, but since few companies disclose their most useful methodologies, published data remains scarce

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