Investigation on intermittent life testing program for IGBT

Abstract

The reliability issue of IGBT is a concern for researchers given the critical role the device plays in the safety of operations of the converter system. The reliability of power devices can be estimated from the intermittent life test, which aims to simulate typical applications in power electronics in an accelerated manner to obtain lifetime data. However, the test is time-consuming, as testing conditions are not well considered and only rough provisions have been made in the current standards. Acceleration of the test by changing critical test conditions is controversial due to the activation of unexpected failure mechanisms. Therefore, full investigations were conducted on critical test conditions of intermittent life test. A design optimization process for IGBT intermittent life testing program was developed to save on test times without imposing additional failure mechanisms. The applicability of the process has been supported by a number of tests and failure analysis of the test results. The process proposed in this paper can guide the test process for other power semiconductors.