A Method for Separation of Power Semiconductor Packaging-Related Wear-Out Mechanisms Under Converter Operation

This article proposes a new method to separate the package-related wear-out failure mechanisms of wire-bonded silicon-based power semiconductor switches: bond-wires lift-off and solder layer degradation. The proposed method takes the on-state voltages of power semiconductor device during the start-up transient and steady state of power converters only, respectively, to realize the separation. It overcomes the challenges faced by existing separation methods that have complex offline implementation process or are applicable to the devices with specific bond-wires connection and operational characteristic. The proposed method has the features of easy-of-implementation, online implementation, and relatively general application compared to existing methods. A case study with a single-phase inverter is demonstrated to prove the effectiveness of the proposed method.