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

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...

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Main Authors: Musallam, Mahera, Yin, Chunyan, Bailey, Chris, Johnson, C. Mark
Format: Article
Published: Elsevier 2014
Online Access:https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/49287/
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author Musallam, Mahera
Yin, Chunyan
Bailey, Chris
Johnson, C. Mark
author_facet Musallam, Mahera
Yin, Chunyan
Bailey, Chris
Johnson, C. Mark
author_sort Musallam, Mahera
building Nottingham Research Data Repository
collection Online Access
description 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.
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spelling nottingham-492872020-05-04T20:15:47Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/49287/ 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 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. Elsevier 2014-01 Article PeerReviewed Musallam, Mahera, Yin, Chunyan, Bailey, Chris and Johnson, C. Mark (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). pp. 172-181. ISSN 0026-2714 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0026271413003284 doi:10.1016/j.microrel.2013.08.017 doi:10.1016/j.microrel.2013.08.017
spellingShingle 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
title Application of coupled electro-thermal and physics-of-failure-based analysis to the design of accelerated life tests for power modules
title_full Application of coupled electro-thermal and physics-of-failure-based analysis to the design of accelerated life tests for power modules
title_fullStr Application of coupled electro-thermal and physics-of-failure-based analysis to the design of accelerated life tests for power modules
title_full_unstemmed Application of coupled electro-thermal and physics-of-failure-based analysis to the design of accelerated life tests for power modules
title_short Application of coupled electro-thermal and physics-of-failure-based analysis to the design of accelerated life tests for power modules
title_sort application of coupled electro-thermal and physics-of-failure-based analysis to the design of accelerated life tests for power modules
url https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/49287/
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/49287/
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/49287/