Failure Precursor Identification and Degradation Modeling for Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistors Subjected to Electrical Stress

##plugins.themes.bootstrap3.article.main##

##plugins.themes.bootstrap3.article.sidebar##

Published Oct 3, 2016
Junmin Lee Hyunseok Oh Chan Hee Park Byeng D. Youn Deog Hyeon Kim Byung Hwa Kim Yong Un Cho

Abstract

In driving equipment of smart factories, unexpected failures of insulated gate bipolar transistors (IGBTs) are often observed. Electrical stresses are one of the dominant causes for the IGBT failures in the field. However, there is little study about the effect of electrical stresses on the degradation of IGBTs. In this paper, we attempt to identify a key failure precursor for IGBTs subjected to electrical stresses and to model the evolution of the failure precursor. To achieve the goals, first, the main causes of IGBT failures are identified based on maintenance history, filed failure data, and experts’ opinions. Second, an artificial fault injection method, i.e., electrostatic discharge (ESD), is employed to produce partially degraded (but not failed) IGBTs. The proper levels of the intensity of electrical loads (i.e., magnitude and number of the ESDs) are also determined. Finally, artificial ESD faults are seeded to IGBTs and potential candidates of failure precursors are measured. The steps are repeated until the failure of the IGBTs is observed. A relevant failure precursor is determined based on the results. A degradation model for the precursor is then built. It is expected that the key failure precursor determined in this study and the proposed degradation model can help avoid unexpected failure of IGBTs in driving equipment of smart factories.

How to Cite

Lee, J., Oh, H., Park, C. H., Youn, B. D., Kim, D. H., Kim, B. H., & Cho, Y. U. (2016). Failure Precursor Identification and Degradation Modeling for Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistors Subjected to Electrical Stress. Annual Conference of the PHM Society, 8(1). https://doi.org/10.36001/phmconf.2016.v8i1.2541
Abstract 166 | PDF Downloads 284

##plugins.themes.bootstrap3.article.details##

Keywords

Degradation Model, Failure precursor, Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor (IGBT), Electrostatic Discharge (ESD)

References
Baliga, B. J., Adler, M. S., Love, R.P., Gray, P. V., & Zommer, N. D. (1984). The insulated gate transistor: A new three-terminal MOS-controlled bipolar power device. IEEE Transactions on Electron Devices, 31 (6), 821-828. Doi:10.1109/T-ED.1984.21614
Celnikier Y., Benabou, L., Dupont, L., & Coquery, G. (2011). Investigation of the heel crack mechanism in Al connections for power electronics modules. Microelectronics Reliability, 51 (5), 965-974. doi:10.1016/j.microrel.2011.01.001
Jeong, J.-S., Hong, S.-H., & Park, S.-D. (2007). Field failure mechanism and improvement of EOS failure of integrated IGBT inverter modules. Microelectronics Reliability, 47 (9-11), 1795-1799. doi:10.1016/j.microrel.2007.07.087
Lee, J., Oh, H., Park, C. H., Youn, B. D., Kim, D. H., Kim, B. H., & Cho, Y. U. (2016). Fault injection to insulated gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) using electrostatic discharge. Proceeding of Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers (8), April 27-29, Busan, Korea.
Oh, H., Han, B., McCluskey, P., Han, C., & Youn, B. D. (2015). Physics-of-failure, condition monitoring, and prognostics of insulated gate bipolar transistor modules: A review. IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics, 30 (5), 2413-2426. doi:10.1109/TPEL.2014.2346485
Patil, N., Celaya, J., Das, D., Goebel, K., & Pecht, M. (2009). Precursor parameter identification for insulated gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) prognostics. IEEE Transactions on Reliability, 58 (2), 271-276. doi:10.1109/TR.2009.2020134
Shringarpure, R., Venugopal, S., Li, Z., Clark, L. T., Allee, D. R., Bawolek, E., & Toy, D. (2007). Circuit simulation of threshold-voltage degradation in a-Si: H TFTs fabricated at 175℃. IEEE Transactions on Electron Devices, 54 (7), 1781-1783. doi:10.1109/TED.2007.899667
Wysocki, P., Vashchenko, V., Celaya, J., Saha, S., & Goebel, K. (2009). Effect of electrostatic discharge on electrical characteristics of discrete electronic components. Annual Conference of the Prognostics and Health Management Society (1-10), September 27-October 1, San Diego.
Yang, S., Bryant, A., Mawby, P., Xiang, D., Ran, L., & Tavner, P. (2011). An industry-based survey of reliability in power electronic converters. IEEE Transactions on Industry Applications, 47 (3), 1441-1451. Doi:10.1109/TIA.2011.2124436
Zhou, L., Zhou, S., and Xu, M. (2013). Investigation of gate voltage oscillations in an IGBT module after partial bond wires lift-off. Microelectronics Reliability, 53 (2), 282-287. doi:10.1016/j.microrel.2012.08.024
Zhou, S., Zhou, L., and Sun, P. (2013). Monitoring potential defects in an IGBT module based on dynamic changes of the gate current. IEEE Transactions Power Electronics, 28 (3), 1479-1487. doi:10.1109/TPEL.2012.2210249
Section
Technical Research Papers