Preliminary failure-mode characterization of emerging direct-lead-bonding power module. Comparison with standard wire-bonding interconnection

Abstract Direct-lead-bonding (DLB) and wire-bonding, in epoxy-moulded package, are compared in terms of functional characteristics, failure-mode and post-fault high-current capability of a dual-chip power module (PM), with respect to I 2 T and critical energy. Wire-bonding power modules have shown poor thermal behaviour, a high and unstable R CE (the chip fault residual resistance), and sometimes a fuse-effect when used in gel-filled power modules. However, DLB power modules demonstrated a very good thermal and electrical behaviour, a very low and stable R CE under high energy failure. After non-destructive defect localization thanks to Lock-In Thermography coupled to RX tomography, the authors were able to confirm the formation of a metallic bridge under wire-bondings and through the chips and solder in DLB, which explains low R CE values for this technology. The DLB interconnection appears to be a promising technology for power module. Nevertheless, the absence of wire-fuse-effect in case of extreme failure, compared to classical wire-bonding, leads the authors to rethink fail-safe and fault-tolerant strategies for critical converter.

[1]  Rudolf Schlangen,et al.  Non-destructive defect depth determination at fully packaged and stacked die devices using Lock-in Thermography , 2010, 2010 17th IEEE International Symposium on the Physical and Failure Analysis of Integrated Circuits.

[2]  D. Schneider,et al.  On the operation of a press pack IGBT module under short circuit conditions , 2006, IEEE Transactions on Advanced Packaging.

[3]  Franck Mosser,et al.  Complete short-circuit failure mode properties and comparison based on IGBT standard packaging. Application to new fault-tolerant inverter and interleaved chopper with reduced parts count , 2011, Proceedings of the 2011 14th European Conference on Power Electronics and Applications.

[4]  Hsueh-Rong Chang,et al.  300A 650V 70 um thin IGBTs with double-sided cooling , 2011, 2011 IEEE 23rd International Symposium on Power Semiconductor Devices and ICs.

[5]  C. Conilh,et al.  Fault-tolerant inverter for subsea applications , 2009, 2009 13th European Conference on Power Electronics and Applications.

[6]  Rudolf Schlangen,et al.  Dynamic lock-in thermography for operation mode-dependent thermally active fault localization , 2010, Microelectron. Reliab..

[7]  Frank Altmann,et al.  Lock-in-Thermography for 3- dimensional localization of electrical defects inside complex packaged devices , 2008 .

[8]  Dai Nakajima,et al.  Simple, compact, robust and high-performance power module T-PM (transfer-molded power module) , 2010, 2010 22nd International Symposium on Power Semiconductor Devices & IC's (ISPSD).