Fault Tree Analysis To Understand And Improve Reliability Of Memory Modules Used In Data Center Server Racks

摘要

This research focuses on understanding the reliability of an important component of data servers and cloud computing, namely, Dual Data Rate (DDR4) devices in a Dual In-line Memory Module (DIMM) format. Data centres have thousands of DIMMs installed causing large failure rate. A failure to any component of these DDR4 DIMMs can cause operating issues for servers. A DIMM is a Printed Circuit Board Assembly (PCBA) with DDR4 devices that are surface mounted along with resistors, capacitors, a register, and an EEPROM chip. A literature review has shown that Fault Tree Analysis (FTA) does not appear to have been utilized to analyse DIMM failures. As such, this paper proposes an FTA methodology for use in DDR4 DIMM failure analysis. In an effort to validate this methodology, it is demonstrated by Fault Tress developed for three major failure modes observed. For identifying the root causes for these failure modes, various testing tools and techniques have been utilized to perform Root Cause Analysis (RCA) on 809 DDR4 DIMMS. Based on these RCA data, qualitative and quantitative analyses have been performed. Though this RCA/FTA approach is utilized to analyse memory modules found in data centres, the approach can be applied to analyse and predict failures and defect causes for highly automated manufacturing systems.