Investigation of power silicon devices failure under extreme operating conditions

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Project objective

The applicant has specialised in high power device development for many years and this project will allow the medium /low power device research undertaken at Liverpool University to benefit from that knowledge to investigate extended operation outside the normally accepted limits for silicon devices. The technology transfer will include chip passivation, mounting and encapsulation methods, failure analysis techniques related to defective power silicon devices and modules after their operation at high junction temperature and methods of localization of the damaged region on the silicon structure. Because faulty power devices/modules encountered in practice are the result of various manufacturing technologies, a reference manufacturing technology for small volume (laboratory level) will be implemented in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Electronics of The Liverpool University. This technology will provide a means for comparison and correlation of the experimental results. The laboratory level manufacturing technology will consist of all necessary process flow starting with the silicon wafer up to experimental packaged devices/modules. PN junction diodes, bipolar transistors and thyristors will be realized. Device high temperature operation above 200°C will be investigated by means of suitable mounted experimental setup. Operation in the device breakdown region will be investigated by means of a special devised experimental setup leading to device heating and subsequent failure. A better understanding of the involved mechanisms may lead to higher performance.

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Participants

• THE UNIVERSITY OF LIVERPOOL · LIVERPOOLCoordinatorUnited Kingdom

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