Abstract
The high voltage temperature humidity bias test (HV-THB) has become increasingly popular for evaluating the performances of power semiconductor devices. Given the new challenges of the power semiconductor industry, several applications and devices need to be designed to withstand harsh environments during working operations, with a remarkable focus on high-humidity conditions. The HV-THB test allows one to activate and study different failure mechanisms which were not highlighted by the standard low voltage THB test, enabling new designs in several energy conversion fields, such as energy harvesting, industry and automotive applications. After a brief introduction of current test standards, this work goes through the current methodologies and state-of-the-art of the HV-THB test. The following sections are then dedicated to the knowledge about the failure mechanisms and the models for accelerated testing. Eventually, there is a section devoted to the main passivation materials in order to understand their effects on the HV-THB capabilities of the devices.
Highlights
The last few years have seen a remarkable drive toward the use of alternative energy sources, and the transition from fossil fuels to electric energy in several fields
The presence of humidity is one of the most critical factors for the reliability of power semiconductor devices and circuits [3], and each component has its own sensitivity to this stressor, especially when high-voltage designs are considered [4,5], so that proper design rules must be implemented to avoid failure
Common power semiconductor devices are generally deployed in either plastic packages, where usually one or two devices are encapsulated in molding compound, or power modules, in which several power devices with a given topology are integrated into a single case filled with gel
Summary
The last few years have seen a remarkable drive toward the use of alternative energy sources, and the transition from fossil fuels to electric energy in several fields. In the case of plastic packages, the current normative for discrete active electronic components is the AEC-Q101 [11] by the Automotive Electronics Council, entitled “Failure mechanism based stress test qualification for discrete semiconductors in automotive applications,” defining the minimum stress test requirements and conditions for automotive applications This normative defines several tests in both static and dynamic environmental and electric conditions, including the humidity bias testing, named the high humidity high temperature reverse bias, or H3TRB. 60749-5 [14], on which the latter regulations were based, in order to avoid unwanted self-heating that would drive away moisture [15] or the additional failure modes which are instead investigated by the HV-THB version of the test For both power modules and plastic packages, the DUTs must be electrically characterized before and after each test iteration until the 1000 h requirement is satisfied, and they need to be DC biased in blocking conditions for the whole duration of the test. The HV-THB is not limited in voltage, while the standard H3TRB has a maximum reverse bias voltage of 100 V
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