Experimental investigations on the effects of load sequence on degradations of bond-wire contacts of Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistors power modules are reported in this paper. Both the junction temperature swing… Click to show full abstract
Experimental investigations on the effects of load sequence on degradations of bond-wire contacts of Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistors power modules are reported in this paper. Both the junction temperature swing ([Formula: see text]) and the heating duration ([Formula: see text]) are investigated. First, power cycling tests with single conditions (in [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text]), are performed in order to serve as test references. Then, combined power cycling tests with two-level stress conditions have been done sequentially. These tests are carried-out in the two sequences: low stress/high stress (LH) and high stress/low stress (HL) for both [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text]. The tests conducted show that a sequencing in [Formula: see text] regardless of the direction "high-low" or "low-high" leads to an acceleration of degradations and so, to shorter lifetimes. This is more pronounced when the difference between the stress levels is large. With regard to the heating duration ([Formula: see text]), the effect seems insignificant. However, it is necessary to confirm the effect of this last parameter by additional tests.
               
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