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Application of coupled electro-thermal and physics-of-failure-based analysis to the design of accelerated life tests for power modules

Musallam, Mahera; Yin, Chunyan; Bailey, Chris; Johnson, C. Mark

Application of coupled electro-thermal and physics-of-failure-based analysis to the design of accelerated life tests for power modules Thumbnail


Authors

Mahera Musallam

Chunyan Yin

Chris Bailey

C. Mark Johnson



Abstract

In the reliability theme a central activity is to investigate, characterize and understand the contributory wear-out and overstress mechanisms to meet through-life reliability targets. For power modules, it is critical to understand the response of typical wear-out mechanisms, for example wire-bond lifting and solder degradation, to in-service environmental and load-induced thermal cycling. This paper presents the use of a reduced-order thermal model coupled with physics-of-failure-based life models to quantify the wear-out rates and life consumption for the dominant failure mechanisms under prospective in-service and qualification test conditions. When applied in the design of accelerated life and qualification tests it can be used to design tests that separate the failure mechanisms (e.g. wire-bond and substrate-solder) and provide predictions of conditions that yield a minimum elapsed test time. The combined approach provides a useful tool for reliability assessment and estimation of remaining useful life which can be used at the design stage or in-service. An example case study shows that it is possible to determine the actual power cycling frequency for which failure occurs in the shortest elapsed time. The results demonstrate that bond-wire degradation is the dominant failure mechanism for all power cycling conditions whereas substrate-solder failure dominates for externally applied (ambient or passive) thermal cycling.

Citation

Musallam, M., Yin, C., Bailey, C., & Johnson, C. M. (2014). Application of coupled electro-thermal and physics-of-failure-based analysis to the design of accelerated life tests for power modules. Microelectronics Reliability, 54(1), https://doi.org/10.1016/j.microrel.2013.08.017

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Aug 26, 2013
Online Publication Date Sep 27, 2013
Publication Date Jan 1, 2014
Deposit Date Jan 23, 2018
Publicly Available Date Jan 23, 2018
Journal Microelectronics Reliability
Print ISSN 0026-2714
Electronic ISSN 0026-2714
Publisher Elsevier
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 54
Issue 1
DOI https://doi.org/10.1016/j.microrel.2013.08.017
Public URL https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/997542
Publisher URL https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0026271413003284
Contract Date Jan 23, 2018

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