Reliability Assessment of Power MOSFETs Working in Avalanche Mode Based on a Thermal Strain Direct Measurement Approach

• Published in: IEEE transactions on industry applications Vol. 52; no. 2; pp. 1688 - 1697
• Main Authors: Russo, Sebastiano, Testa, Antonio, De Caro, Salvatore, Scimone, Tommaso, Panarello, Saverio, Patane, Salvatore, Scelba, Giacomo, Scarcella, Giuseppe
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York IEEE 01.03.2016; The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE)
• Subjects: Aluminum; Automotive components; Avalanches; Design analysis; Devices; Durability; failure analysis; Metals; MOSFET; MOSFETs; power MOSFET; Reliability; Reliability analysis; remaining life assessment; Resistance; semiconductor device reliability; Strain; Strain measurement; Temperature measurement; Thermal strain; power MOSFET; failure analysis; semiconductor device reliability; Automotive components; remaining life assessment
• ISSN: 0093-9994; 1939-9367
• DOI: 10.1109/TIA.2015.2500890

A strong demand for even more compact and reliable power electronic devices has powered the development of advanced design techniques. A key role is played in these techniques by the reliability assessment, a procedure that estimates the expected lifetime according to given mission profiles. The reliability assessment of a low voltage MOSFET working in avalanche mode is considered in this paper through an experimental approach based on the Coffin-Manson law. Differently from previously proposed techniques, based on a thermodynamic analysis, a direct measurement of the thermal strain over the source aluminum layer is instead exploited. The consistence of the proposed technique is evaluated by comparing estimation of the progressive increment of the on-state resistance with results of endurance tests and estimation obtained from previously presented reliability models. The described technique can be applied to assess the reliability of MOSFETs in applications typical of the automotive field, where they are tasked to power inductive loads in unclamped mode. More in general, the method can be exploited to characterize the front metal of MOSFET devices subjected to power cycling, or short-circuit stress tests.