Why Components Fail and How to Identify Them

Component failure modes offer a predictable approach to maintenance

What to Know

  • Inspect for damage, check for smoke or smells, listen for failure sounds, and test individual components.
  • Common causes of electronic component failure include overheating, corrosion, electrical stress, and manufacturing defects.
  • To reduce the risk of catastrophic failures, routinely inspect parts known to fail after a certain amount of time or use.

This article covers how to identify electronic component failures, the most common reasons that electronic components fail, and tips for preventing failure in electronic components.

How to Identify a Failed Component

When a component fails, there are a few indicators that can identify the component that failed and aid in troubleshooting the electronics.

  1. Visually inspect the component for damage. An obvious indicator that a component has failed is through a visual inspection. Failed components often have burnt or melted areas, or have bulged and expanded. Capacitors are often bulged out, especially electrolytic capacitors around the metal tops. Integrated circuit (IC) packages often have a small hole burned in where a hot spot on the component vaporized the plastic all the way through the IC package.

  2. Check for smoke or smells. When components fail, a thermal overload often occurs, causing blue smoke and other colorful smoke to be released by the offending component. The smoke has a distinct smell and varies by the type of component. This is often the first sign of a component failure beyond the device not working. Often the distinct smell of a failed component stays around the component for days or weeks, which can help identify the offending component during troubleshooting.

  3. Listen for failure sounds. Sometimes a component will make a sound when it fails. This happens more often with rapid thermal failures, over-voltages, and over-current events. When a component fails this severely, a smell often accompanies the failure. Hearing a component fail is rarer. It often means that pieces of the component are loose in the product, so identifying the component that failed may come down to finding which component is no longer on the PCB or in the system.

  4. Test individual components. Sometimes the only way to identify a failed component is to test it. This process can be challenging on a PCB because other components can influence the measurement. Because measurements involve applying a small voltage or current, the circuit will respond to it and readings may be thrown off. If a system uses several subassemblies, replacing those is often a way to narrow down where the issue with the system is located.

This article explains

Causes of Component Failure

Parts fail, and electronics break. Good design practices can avoid some component failures, but many are simply out of your hands. Identifying the offending component and why it might have failed is the first step in refining the design and increasing the reliability of a system that experiences repeated component failures.

There are numerous reasons why components fail. Some failures are slow and graceful, offering time to identify the component and replace it before it fails completely. Other failures are rapid, severe, and unexpected.

Some common reasons for components to fail include:

  • Aging
  • Bad circuit design
  • Cascading failure
  • Change in the operating environment
  • Connected incorrectly
  • Connection failures
  • Contamination
  • Corrosion
  • Electrical stress
  • Electrostatic discharge
  • Manufacturing defect
  • Mechanical shock
  • Mechanical stress
  • Overcurrent
  • Over-temperature
  • Overvoltage
  • Oxidation
  • Packaging defects
  • Radiation
  • Thermal stress

Component failures usually follow a trend. In the early life of an electronic system, component failures are more common and the chance of failure drops as the components are used. The reason for the drop in failure rates is that the components that have packaging, soldering, and manufacturing defects often fail within minutes or hours of first using the device. This is why many manufacturers include a several hour burn-in period for their products. This simple test eliminates the risk of a bad component slipping through the manufacturing process, resulting in a broken device within hours of purchase.

After the initial burn-in period, component failures typically bottom out and happen randomly. As components age, natural chemical reactions reduce the quality of the packaging, wires, and the component. Mechanical and thermal cycling also take a toll on the strength of the component. These factors cause failure rates to increase as the product ages. This is why failures are often classified by either the root cause or when it failed in the life of the component.

Technician constructing electric component part
Westend61 / Getty Images

You can reduce the risk of catastrophic error by routinely inspecting parts known to fail after a certain amount of time or usage. For example, in the aviation industry, core components are replaced after functioning for a specific number of hours, regardless of whether the component shows signs of stress or degradation.

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