The stability and reliability at high temperature of Ti3SiC2 based ohmic contacts on p-type 4H-SiC (0001) 4°-off substrates were studied. The contact was grown from Ti100-xAlx alloys annealed at high temperature (from 900 °C to 1200 °C). The Specific Contact Resistance (SCR) at room temperature and at high temperature (up to 600 °C) was in the 10−4–10−5 Ω.cm2 range. A Schottky barrier height of 0.71

This work proposes an adaptive dc-link voltage strategy applied to a double-star chopper cell-based static synchronous compensator (DSCC-STATCOM). The proposed technique aims to improve the converter reliability by controlling the cell reference voltage according to the minimum voltage required in each STATCOM operation condition. It is important to remark that the proposed strategy does not require

In this paper, we investigate the single and repetitive avalanche performance and characteristics of different SiC device technologies including SiC cascode JFETs and SiC Trench MOSFETs. SiC Cascode JFETs exhibit a different failure mode from SiC MOSFETs due to the interaction between the low-voltage (LV) silicon MOSFET and the high-voltage (HV) SiC JFET through the resistance connecting the MOSFET

The reliability data are very useful in maintenance operations since they are used to calculate the Mean Time To Failure. However, they are rarely used for the online calculation of the Remaining Useful Life (RUL). This is because the features measured in the reliability tests are not always measurable online. In this paper, the proposed solution is usage of physical knowledge of the components to

This paper discusses the edge termination design of high-voltage insulated gate bipolar transistors with large current turn-off switching operation. We discovered that the phenomena of current crowding and impact ionization act as separated heat sources and induce one local hot spot that causes thermal destruction in the edge termination during the turn-off switching period. Optimizing the backside

Gold coating is one of the choices to prevent copper circuit in PCBs from corrosion. Although galvanic replacement deposition is supposed to be a convenient method to prepare gold coating on copper circuit, compact gold coating is hard to be obtained through traditional galvanic replacement deposition. In this work, gold coatings were prepared on copper substrates through traditional and modified galvanic

Changes in both surface morphology and transient reflectance on the front facet of a diode laser are monitored during a catastrophic optical damage (COD) process in a single pulse operation. Use of a 1550 nm time-resolved micro-reflectance optical system (with time resolution of ~4 ns) allows us to monitor the creation sequences of up to four distinct COD seed points on an 808 nm laser facet within

Prior work has shown that the OFF-state breakdown voltage, VBR, of AlGaN/GaN high electron mobility transistors (HEMTs) can be raised by just extending the drain end of the gate as a field plate (FP) or a high-k passivation over the AlGaN layer. However, the two techniques have not been compared, and the VBR for which their effectiveness was demonstrated was ≥120 V. High-k passivation avoids the lithography

CTE mismatch between direct bonding copper (DBC) layers results in excessive thermal stress, causing the fatigue cracks and delamination after long time run, which deteriorate the reliability of DBC and the power module in the end. A method of designing mesh patterns on DBC is proposed in this paper to release the thermal stress. At the same time, the comprehensive analysis of the relationship between

Estimating the junction temperature of power electronic devices is of paramount importance for assuring the reliable operation of power converters. Wide bandgap devices, that allow extremely high-power density levels, make thermal management even more critical than before. Despite the efforts of the scientific community, this problem is far from being solved. Techniques based on thermo-sensitive electrical

Over the last decades, the connection of photovoltaic (PV) plants into the grid has increased. In this context, the analysis of the PV inverter reliability became a target of study for many researchers in the area. The solar irradiance and ambient temperature mission profiles are highly used in the literature to perform the PV inverter lifetime evaluation. However, the choice of the mission profile

Modelling and analysis of vibration of an IGBT power electronic module (PEM) structure were undertaken. PEM structure considered in this study was without molding compound and wirebonds. The most critical resonant frequency was identified by modal analysis. At the critical frequency of 1345 Hz, for the vertical displacement of the base excitation, subsequent stress distribution on the PEM structure

Flip chip technology has been widely used in integrated circuit packages due to its superiority of performance in various aspects. The solder joints sandwiched between chips and organic substrates, act as the mechanical and electrical connections in flip chips. However, with the trend of flip chips towards ultra-fine pitch and high density, and the new requirements of encapsulation materials, the solder

It is expected that more and more complex (integrated) automotive electronics will be adopted in systems. These advanced electronics are critical for passenger safety. Documenting the in-situ loading is, thus, very important for accurate reliability prognostics. In this study, we propose a piezoresistive stress sensor to detect the in-situ loading of an automotive electronic control unit (ECU). A load

In this work, multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) reinforced Sn-5Sb/Cu composite solder joints were synthesized and the effects of MWCNTs addition on the microstructure evolution and hardness of the Sn-5Sb solder alloy during various thermal aging conditions were investigated. After conducting a thorough microstructural analysis, the SbSn and Cu6Sn5 intermetallic compounds (IMCs) were observed in

Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) models are widely implemented on Graphic Processing Units (GPUs) due to their computational powers, particularly, in object classification and detection. In safety-critical environments, reliability issues of these models induced by soft errors are a major concern. In this paper, we analyze the reliability of VGG model, a well-known CNN architecture, through two

Load cycle counting is an important tool for estimating the fatigue life of structures. Rainflow counting methods have been developed to count load reversals and extract load cycles from load time histories. Rainflow counting methods were originally developed to assess fatigue damage associated with mechanical cycling where time-dependent factors such as dwell time and loading rate were not considered

The increasing complexity of the Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) is making more difficult to perform the Hazard Analysis and Risk Assessment (HARA). These items require high-performance Electronic Control Units (ECU) with extensive software functionalities. To correctly operate they interact with the driver, environment and other vehicle functions through high-speed in-vehicle networks, as

The chemical bonding of zirconium silicate films were examined by FTIR. The capacitance-voltage (C-V) measurements before and after irradiation were performed at high frequency. Furthermore, significant changes were observed depending on the radiation dose of the oxide traps and the intensity of the interface state. The sensitivity of this MOS capacitor is 4.3, 31.3 and 15.6 times less sensitive compared

A combined experimental and simulation analysis of the degradation mechanisms induced by hot carriers in a silicon-based split-gate n-channel LDMOS transistor featuring an STI structure is reported. In this regime, electrons can gain sufficient kinetic energy necessary to create charged traps at the silicon/oxide interface, thus inducing device degradation and causing the shift of the electrical parameters

In some cases of the failure analysis of semiconductor devices, package state analysis without decapsulation of mold resin is required. The ultrasonic beam induced resistance change (SOBIRCH) method has been proposed as an alternative without need for the decapsulation. The sensitivity of SOBIRCH depends on the quality of the equipment of its measurement system. After a system is fixed, its sensitivity

General Purpose Graphics Processing Units (GPGPUs) have been extensively used in the last decade as accelerators in high demanding applications, such as multimedia processing and high-performance computing. Nowadays, these devices are becoming popular even in safety-critical applications, such as in autonomous and semi-autonomous vehicles. However, these devices can suffer from the effects of transient

Invisible Ag-grid transparent electrode at a grid line width of 5 μm, spacing between the grid lines of 200 μm and a grid line thickness of 0.6 μm have been prepared on a 50 μm-thick flexible epoxy film substrate by a conventional gravure offset printing using our developed Ag nanoparticle ink. Furthermore, the Ag-grid were laminated with a poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene): poly(styrenesulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS)

This paper focuses on the formation of solder voids in the large-area die-attach (DA) in power modules. The finite volume simulation method was used to study the motion behaviors of bubbles in molten liquid solder. The experiments were carried out by changing the reflow atmosphere. The voids distribution in DA was characterized by X-Ray detection. Results suggest that vacuuming the molten solder can

Based on the fretting test system, the contact resistance of contact pairs with gold-plated PCB sample and different metal probe, under the different fretting conditions are investigated to evaluate the fretting characteristics. The environmental reliability assessment of the contact pairs after fretting is carried out through the thermal humidity experiment and salt spray experiment. The influence

Micro Electro Mechanical System (MEMS) gyroscope sensors are used in different underwater vehicles to determine their attitude as the input of the controller system to adjust the attitude to the desired value. Fault detection and elimination are necessary for MEMS gyroscope sensors to avoid disruption of the system performance. In this paper, it is tried to study different types of gyroscope sensor

In electronic assemblies, quad flat package (QFP) is a widely used packaging method and its interconnection structure degradation is an important field in electronic reliability research. Although degradation processes and failure modes of QFP are various, presently, there are few researching articles on the degradation regularity and mechanism under the same failure mode. In this paper, QFP degradation

Single-event multiple transients (SEMTs) are measured in a combinational circuit based on standard cells under pulsed laser irradiation. A circuit simulation is performed to explain the experiment results and investigate the SEMTs mitigation strategy. Pulsed laser exposures of different rows show that the single-event double transients (SEDTs) may be merged into single-event single transients due to

Large size commercially available plastic ball grid array chip packaging was tested and analyzed under random vibration to access its application feasibility on satellite electronics. Two types of the PBGA of 16 mm × 16 mm and 10 mm × 10 mm were chosen, and the chips were surface mounted without underfill on a daisy chained polyimide printed circuit boards. Then the boards were installed to an aluminum

In this study, Cu wire-Al bond pad (CuAl) samples were produced by means of Thermosonic wire bonding technique. Both IMC and ball shear strength were assessed for samples produced with different bonding temperatures, HTS duration and forming gas supply. The experiments were carried out using Taguchi and conventional “one parameter at a time” approaches. For Taguchi method, experiment was managed with

The aim of the present work was to investigate the absolute luminescence efficiency (AE) of a lutetium aluminum Lu3Al5O12:Ce (LuAG:Ce) garnet, doped with cerium, combined with various microelectronic optical sensors. Two LuAG:Ce samples, with dimensions of 5 × 5 × 10 and 10 × 10 × 10 mm3 were examined. The light emitted by the crystals, was evaluated by performing measurements of the AE using X-rays

In this article, the effect of voids on thermomechanically-induced failure in the lead-free solder interconnections of power amplifier (PA) modules is investigated. The interconnection of interest is between the module's flange and substrate (baseplate) initially having a large contact area, and whose cracking has strong detrimental effects on the RF performance and reliability of the PA. PA modules

Lead free (LF) solders such as tin silver copper (SAC) and its variations have been used in microelectronic products for the past decade due the Restriction of Hazardous Substances regulation. In use, temperature cycling is a major contributor to the wear-out failure mechanisms of solder joints during the life span of electronics. To predict the reliability of electronic solder joints, a fatigue life

Fatigue of die-attach solder joints is quite critical to reliability of IGBT modules. In the present work, physics of failure of die-attach joints in IGBTs was discussed based on the evolution of micro-defects in materials under accelerated aging through experiments and Finite element (FE) simulations. It shows that voids, cracks of Sn-Ag-Cu (SAC) alloys and detachment of Si/SAC interfaces are three

This work focuses on the positive bias temperature instability of SiC-based MOSFETs under different stress voltages and temperatures. Stress experiments demonstrate that the threshold voltage shift (∆Vth) does not follow a conventional power law for long stress time, but exhibits a saturating log- time dependence attributed to the charge trapping in the pre-existing defects at the SiC/SiO2 interface

This paper presents the study of various charge neutralization methods to prevent copper corrosion on post-FIB wet stained sample. Conventional fast and economic wet staining on post-FIB copper processed sample can sometimes cause unwanted artifact such as copper corrosion due to build-up of charges on non-grounded, long copper interconnect structures during FIB milling. Some charge neutralization

The best way to produce silicon-based Ge infrared detectors with lower dark current density is to develop high-quality buffer layers with low dislocation density and high relaxation degree. In this paper, we grew both Ge/Si and Si1 − xGex/Si heterostructures and studied the effects of Ge composition, annealing-influenced dislocation density, and strain relaxation. Using high-resolution X-ray diffraction

This paper is the 10th anniversary update of a previous paper published in 2006 on the topics of ceramic column grid array (CCGA or CGA) packages and assembly reliability. CGAs are commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) area array packaging technologies that are now widely used in numerous high reliability applications including National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) electronic systems. Key