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This paper investigates the influence of load pulse duration t on on the failure mode and mechanism of high power IGBT modules under power cycling condition. 3300V1500A IGBT modules from different manufacturers are tested under the same thermal stress but in different load pulse durations, 1s and 2s respectively. The on-state voltage drop V CE and quasi-thermal resistance R th in each cycle are monitored in real time during the test, the former can reflect the aging state of the bond wire, and the latter can reflect the aging state of the solder. Furthermore, direct observation through Scanning Acoustic Microscope (SAM) is performed for analysis. The experimental results show that when t on =1s, all the modules are bond wire lift-off and chip solder intact, but when t on =2s, the main failure mode changes to the chip solder fatigue. In order to understand the difference caused by different load pulse duration, an electro-thermal transient finite element model is established for analyses. The simulation reveals that the temperature distribution in different layers will be affected by load pulse duration, which will affect the thermal-mechanical stress distribution. This paper provides guidance for the lifetime prediction and aging monitoring of high power IGBT modules.
Inspec keywords: finite element analysis; ageing; integrated circuit reliability; thermal stresses; semiconductor device reliability; fatigue; solders; soldering; thermal resistance; insulated gate bipolar transistors; failure (mechanical); temperature distribution; failure analysis
Subjects: Reliability; Product packaging; Numerical analysis; Finite element analysis; Bipolar transistors; Power semiconductor devices