The prices of automotive electronic products are generally quite high, one of the main reasons being the use of automotive-grade electronic components. But what kind of electronic components are considered automotive-grade?   Let's first take a look at the application of electronic components in automobiles and how it differs from general consumer electronics.

Environmental Requirements

    Temperature: Automotive electronics have a relatively wide range of operating temperature requirements, which vary based on different installation locations, but generally exceed the requirements for consumer products (it is said that AEC Q100  removed the requirement for the temperature range of 0℃-70℃ in version H, as no automotive product requires such a low temperature).

    Other environmental requirements such as humidity, mold, dust, water, EMC   and corrosion from harmful gases are often higher than those for consumer electronic products.

    Automobiles operate in a moving environment, which exposes them to much more vibration and impact compared to many other products. This requirement may be significantly higher than that for products used at home.

    To illustrate the automotive reliability requirements, let me explain it in another way:

   1.  Design life: The typical design life of an automobile is around 15 years or 200,000 kilometers, which is much greater than the lifespan requirements for consumer electronic products.

   2.  Under the same reliability requirements, the more components and links that make up the system, the higher the reliability requirements for those components. Currently, the level of electronic integration in vehicles is very high, with a large number of electronic devices installed from the powertrain to the braking system, each device consisting of many electronic components. If we simply consider them as a series connection, then to ensure that the entire vehicle achieves a certain level of reliability, the requirements for each part of the system are very high. This is also why the requirements for automotive components are often described using PPM (parts per million).

    Modern automobiles have entered a stage of mass production, with a single model capable of producing hundreds of thousands of units per year, so the consistency requirements for product quality are very high. This was quite a challenge for semiconductor materials in earlier years.

    After all, the consistency of processes such as diffusion in semiconductor production is difficult to control, leading to discrete performance in the products produced. Initially, aging and screening were relied upon to complete this, but with continuous improvements in processes, consistency has greatly improved. The consistency of quality is also the biggest difference between many local suppliers and internationally renowned suppliers. For complex automotive products, components with poor consistency leading to safety hazards in the entire vehicle are certainly unacceptable. Let's look at a few other requirements:

    The requirements for the manufacturing process of automotive products, although automotive parts are continuously evolving towards miniaturization and lightweighting, can still be relatively relaxed in terms of size and power consumption compared to consumer products. Generally, larger packages are used to ensure sufficient mechanical strength and to meet the manufacturing processes of major automotive suppliers.

    Although automotive products have been continuously decreasing in price in recent years, automobiles are still durable, large-ticket items that must maintain a considerable supply capability for after-sales parts over a long period. Additionally, developing an automotive part requires a significant amount of validation work, and the validation work brought about by replacing components is also substantial, so vehicle manufacturers and parts suppliers need to maintain a stable supply for a long time.

    In this light, meeting the requirements for automotive products is indeed complex, and the above requirements are aimed at automotive parts (for electronic components, it is the system). How to translate these into requirements for electronic components becomes very difficult. To address this issue, some normative standards have naturally emerged, with the AEC standards being widely recognized:

    Of course, I suspect many people will also mention that there are many enterprise standards from complete vehicle manufacturers. But I would like to share my understanding on this point. In the complete vehicle manufacturers I worked for, there were indeed relevant general reliability requirement standards, but they assessed a complete automotive component (a system composed of electronic components), rather than directly targeting the requirements for the electronic components that make up these components (resistors, capacitors, transistors, chips, etc.). Although their requirements can be referenced for selecting lower-level components, they are still very inappropriate for testing electronic components.

    In my previous work, it was inevitable to use some electronic components that did not have AEC Q100/200  certification. Many automotive personnel would hope to conduct some reliability verification to determine whether they meet automotive standards.

    My personal view is that this method is not very effective because these tests can only be necessary but not sufficient. They can only be used to negate the usability of the device, but cannot determine its usability.

    The reason is simple: the sample size is too small, and the test items are insufficient. For semiconductor components manufactured in large quantities, determining their reliability through a small number of sample tests is, in my opinion, very unreliable. Here we can also take a look at the main certification test items conducted by AEC Q100  to see the differences.

    Automotive standards and industrial standards, which has higher requirements? The general consensus is that the order of standards from high to low is:Military  >  Automotive  >  Industrial  >  Consumer ElectronicsHowever, individuals cannot fully accept this order. Industry is a broad field, and the environments and reliability requirements encountered can vary greatly. It can be imagined that the reliability requirements for a large industrial device will definitely not be lower than those for a car (for example, the key equipment of a large power plant), while the harshness of the environment may far exceed the requirements of a car, so it cannot simply be said that industrial standards are lower than those of cars.

    No choice can be without drawbacks. What are the shortcomings of using automotive-grade electronic components?

    First of all, they are expensive, and the system requirements are high.The development and verification costs are high, and the low yield leads to costs significantly higher than consumer electronics. The relatively high threshold also results in a considerable sales premium.

    Secondly,difficulties in selection. Anyone involved in electronics knows that as of today, electronic components are quite abundant, and there can be multiple solutions for products with the same functionality, with potentially huge differences in complexity. However, sometimes to meet automotive standards, it is necessary to give up some highly integrated solutions.

    Another obvious point is that some products have outdated technology,A large amount of verification work affects the speed of new product launches.At the same time, chip manufacturers generally hope to apply the product to the automotive market only after it has matured in the consumer electronics market.

    This question is quite complex and needs to be judged from multiple aspects:

    1.   It is merely that the relevant certification has not been obtained, but the product's performance and reliability meet the requirements and have been validated through extensive application. If this is the case, the risk is relatively small.

    2.   This point is very important, which is the relationship between components and systems. The performance and reliability of the system are constituted by the lower-level electronic components, so under the same design, using non-automotive-grade components will definitely be inferior. However, a good design can lower the performance requirements of the components. A well-designed protective measure that minimizes the impact of component failure on the system may allow for better products using non-automotive-grade components.

    Due to the limitations of current technology and processes, not every electronic component needed for automotive use can meet the so-called automotive-grade requirements. However, to achieve certain functions in cars, these components must be used. This situation can be divided into two categories:

    Example:   The emergency call E-CALL function requires a backup battery to ensure its operation. This function is related to life safety, and according to the ASILI (ISO26262) rating of certain companies, it must reach level B.

    As we know, it is very difficult for batteries to maintain high performance at -40 degrees. Therefore, some companies' solutions involve wrapping heating resistance wires around the battery to heat it in low temperatures to ensure performance. At this time, using a single component's standards would be considered unqualified, but as a component assembly, it can meet the standards required by car manufacturers. This also illustrates the relationship between the standards of vehicle manufacturers and component standards.

    For example, the LCD screen of the entertainment system may have reduced response and optical performance at low temperatures. However, this situation is generally accepted by most engineers.

    3.   Some "daring" individuals, due to certain ideas, such as reducing costs or obtaining better performance, may only want to validate performance and reliability through a small number of samples in a short time. In this case, I can only say that the future depends on luck; no one knows what will happen.