Accelerated Tests on Si and SiC Power Transistors with Thermal, Fastand Ultra-Fast Neutrons

Sensors

Saverio Altieri¹  Fabio Principato²  Leonardo Abbene²  Francesco Pintacuda³ 

[1] Department of Physics - University of Pavia and National Institute of Nuclear Physics (INFN), Via Bassi, 6, 27100 Pavia, Italy;Department of Physics and Chemistry - Emilio Segrè (DiFC), University of Palermo, Viale delle Scienze, Ed. 18, 90128 Palermo, Italy;STMicroelectronics, Stradale Primosole 50, 95121 Catania, Italy;

关键词: failure in time;    power device reliability;    silicon carbide;    neutron beams;    single-event burnout;   

DOI  :  10.3390/s20113021

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

Neutron test campaigns on silicon (Si) and silicon carbide (SiC) power MOSFETs and IGBTs were conducted at the TRIGA (Training, Research, Isotopes, General Atomics) Mark II (Pavia, Italy) nuclear reactor and ChipIr-ISIS Neutron and Muon Source (Didcot, U.K.) facility. About 2000 power transistors made by STMicroelectronics were tested in all the experiments. Tests with thermal and fast neutrons (up to about 10 MeV) at the TRIGA Mark II reactor showed that single-event burnout (SEB) failures only occurred at voltages close to the rated drain-source voltage. Thermal neutrons did not induce SEB, nor degradation in the electrical parameters of the devices. SEB failures during testing at ChipIr with ultra-fast neutrons (1-800 MeV) were evaluated in terms of failure in time (FIT) versus derating voltage curves according to the JEP151 procedure of the Joint Electron Device Engineering Council (JEDEC). These curves, even if scaled with die size and avalanche voltage, were strongly linked to the technological processes of the devices, although a common trend was observed that highlighted commonalities among the failures of different types of MOSFETs. In both experiments, we observed only SEB failures without single-event gate rupture (SEGR) during the tests. None of the power devices that survived the neutron tests were degraded in their electrical performances. A study of the worst-case bias condition (gate and/or drain) during irradiation was performed.

【 授权许可】

Unknown