HALT Testing Services: Find Product Weaknesses Before They Reach Customers
HALT testing (Highly Accelerated Life Testing) exposes hidden design flaws, component vulnerabilities, and manufacturing defects before your product ships. At Reliant Labs, we operate the world's largest HALT testing facility, helping companies like Microsoft, Juniper Networks, Johnson & Johnson, and Arista strengthen product reliability in just 7-10 days.
What Is HALT Testing and Why Does It Matter?
Highly Accelerated Life Testing (HALT) is the most effective method for exposing latent defects hiding in your product design, component selection and manufacturing processes. Unlike traditional qualification testing that simply checks boxes, HALT deliberately subjects your device to extreme thermal stress, intense vibration and rapid environmental transitions, far beyond normal operating conditions.
The goal? Force failures fast, identify exactly where your design is vulnerable and fix problems while they're still cheap to solve. It's not about passing or failing a test. It's about discovering your product's true operating margins and understanding precisely how much safety buffer you have before things go wrong.
The Reliant Labs HALT Testing Process
Phase 1: Planning and Preparation
Before any hardware sees extreme stress, we collaborate with your engineering team to define clear objectives. What failure modes concern you most? What are your expected field environments? What constitutes a failure for your specific application?
We'll help you develop a physics-of-failure-based test plan that targets the right stresses at the right levels. If needed, we design and build custom fixtures to ensure proper vibration transmissibility and accurate sensor placement. Good preparation makes the difference between useful insights and wasted time.
Phase 2: Thermal Step Stress Testing
Temperature extremes reveal material incompatibilities, component tolerances and thermal design issues that might take months to surface naturally.
We start by connecting power and functional test equipment to your device under test (DUT). Beginning with cold step stress, we drop temperatures incrementally, first in 10°C steps, then switching to 5°C intervals as we approach limits. Each temperature plateau holds for at least 10 minutes plus functional test time, with timing starting once your device actually reaches the target temperature.
After mapping cold limits, we transition to hot step stress using the same methodology. We continue until we've identified both your operating limits (where functionality degrades) and destruct limits (where permanent damage occurs). This gives you a complete picture of your thermal operating envelope.
Phase 3: Thermal Shock Cycling
Knowing your temperature limits is one thing. Understanding how your product handles rapid transitions between those extremes is another.
Using the operating limits discovered during step stress testing, we cycle your device through aggressive thermal transitions, often at 60°C per minute or faster, depending on what the hardware can tolerate. We run five complete cycles between hot and cold extremes, holding at each temperature long enough for stabilization and functional verification.
This phase exposes failures related to coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) mismatches, solder joint fatigue and other issues that only appear when components expand and contract rapidly.
Phase 4: Vibration Step Stress Testing
Real-world products don't sit still. Shipping, installation, operation, vibration is everywhere. We need to know how much your device can handle.
With your DUT mounted in its normal operating orientation, we apply incremental vibration levels measured in Grms (gravity root mean square). Starting at baseline levels appropriate for your product type (typically 3-5 Grms), we step up the intensity at regular intervals.
Here's a technique that sets professional HALT apart: once vibration reaches 75 Grms or higher, we perform "tickle" tests between high-level runs. These low-amplitude (5 Grms) vibration checks reveal failure modes that only manifest under moderate vibration or static conditions, issues you'd completely miss if you only tested at peak stress levels.
We continue stepping up vibration until we reach both operating and destruct limits, giving you quantitative data about your product's mechanical robustness.
Phase 5: Combined Environmental Stress
Here's where HALT testing gets real. In the field, your product won't experience temperature shifts OR vibration in isolation, it'll face both simultaneously. And that's when the interesting failures happen.
We merge findings from previous test phases to create a combined stress profile. Taking your vibration destruct limit and dividing by five, we calculate progressive vibration levels to apply during five thermal shock cycles. The thermal parameters come from your earlier shock testing, rapid transitions between temperature extremes.
This combined environment often precipitates failure modes that remained hidden during single-stress testing. Solder joints behave differently when hot and vibrating. PCB traces respond differently to thermal expansion under mechanical load. Materials that seemed fine under separate stress conditions might crack, fatigue or delaminate when facing multiple stressors.
Phase 6: Analysis, Reporting and Recommendations
Once testing concludes, our work shifts to helping you understand and act on what we've learned. You'll receive comprehensive documentation including:
- Detailed failure mode descriptions with timestamps
- High-resolution thermal imaging showing hot spots
- Real-time data captures of functional test results
- Root cause analysis for each observed failure
- Specific recommendations for corrective actions
But we don't just hand you a report and walk away. We collaborate with your engineering team to interpret results, prioritize fixes and develop verification test plans. Many clients bring us back for verification HALT after implementing changes, confirming that corrective actions actually solved the problems.
Why Partner with Reliant Labs for HALT Testing?
Industry-Leading Capacity and Speed
With more HALT chambers than any other testing service provider worldwide, we offer scheduling flexibility that's hard to beat. Most projects move from initial quote to completed testing in just 7-10 days. When your time-to-market is measured in weeks, that responsiveness matters.
Deep Technical Expertise
Our team doesn't just run equipment, we guide you through the entire process. From test planning and fixture design to failure analysis and corrective action recommendations, we bring decades of collective experience to every project. Companies trust us because we understand both the physics of failure and the practical realities of product development.
Complete Testing Infrastructure
Unlike labs that require you to source your own support equipment, our Santa Clara facility stocks everything needed for comprehensive reliability testing. From custom-built HALT fixtures to the smallest components, we keep your testing moving forward without delays.
Proven Track Record
Since 2002, we've helped hundreds of companies improve product reliability and reduce field failure rates. Our clients become long-term partners because we deliver measurable results, detailed reporting and honest guidance throughout the process.
Industries We Serve
Our Santa Clara facility has tested products across virtually every electronics sector:
Networking and Telecommunications: Routers, switches, base stations, optical equipment
Medical Devices: Diagnostic equipment, patient monitoring, surgical instruments
Computing and Storage: Servers, storage arrays, embedded systems
Industrial Controls: PLCs, motor drives, sensor systems, HMI panels
Consumer Electronics: Wearables, IoT devices, smart home products
Automotive Electronics: ECUs, sensors, infotainment, ADAS components
Aerospace and Defense: Avionics, communications equipment, ruggedized electronics
Ready to Strengthen Your Product Design?
Don't wait for field failures to teach you expensive lessons. Reliant Labs HALT testing reveals design weaknesses during development, when fixes are fast, cheap and won't damage your brand reputation.
With over 20 years of experience, industry-leading capacity and a commitment to genuine customer partnership, we've helped hundreds of companies build more reliable products. Whether you're developing your first prototype or troubleshooting field issues on a mature product, our team brings the technical depth and practical guidance to help you succeed
Contact Reliant Labs today:
Phone: (408) 737-7500
Email: info@reliantlabs.com
Location: 3312 Woodward Avenue, Santa Clara, CA 95054
Hours: Monday-Friday, 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM PT
Get your quote in 1-2 days. Complete testing in 7-10 days. Ship reliable products with confidence.