Online Condition Monitoring Methodology for Power Electronics Package Reliability Assessment

Journal Article (2024)
Author(s)

H.A. Martin (TU Delft - Electronic Components, Technology and Materials, Chip Integration Technology Center (CITC))

Edsger C.P. Smits (Chip Integration Technology Center (CITC))

R.H. Poelma (TU Delft - Electronic Components, Technology and Materials, Nexperia B.V.)

Willem van Driel (Signify, TU Delft - Electronic Components, Technology and Materials)

G. Zhang (TU Delft - Electronic Components, Technology and Materials)

Research Group
Electronic Components, Technology and Materials
Copyright
© 2024 H.A. Martin, Edsger C.P. Smits, René H. Poelma, W.D. van Driel, Kouchi Zhang
DOI related publication
https://doi.org/10.1109/TPEL.2024.3352747
More Info
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Publication Year
2024
Language
English
Copyright
© 2024 H.A. Martin, Edsger C.P. Smits, René H. Poelma, W.D. van Driel, Kouchi Zhang
Research Group
Electronic Components, Technology and Materials
Issue number
4
Volume number
39
Pages (from-to)
4725-4734
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Abstract

This article introduces an online condition monitoring strategy that utilizes a transient heat pulse to detect package thermal performance degradation. The metric employed is the temperature-dependent transient thermal impedance "Zth(t, Tamb)."The proposed methodology offers quantitative insights into package thermal performance degradation and effectively pinpoints the presence of multiple failure mechanisms. A thermal test chip assembled in a power quad flat no-lead package is used in this study to demonstrate the methodology. The packaged devices are first characterized to determine the transient pulse duration, a critical parameter to monitor a specific region of interest. Subsequently, package thermal performance degradation is continuously monitored online during thermomechanical cycling lifetime experiments. The validity of the measurement results is later confirmed through acoustic imaging and cross-sectional analysis. The changes observed in Zth(t, Tamb) over thermal cycling correspond to the delamination of the active metal layers on the die and cohesive failure on the die attach. This article further includes a comparative summary, highlighting the distinctions between the proposed and industry-standard test methods. In conclusion, the importance of online condition monitoring to detect early signs of failure is emphasized, and the proposed methodology s practical applicability in real-life scenarios is briefly discussed.

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