Reliable power electronics are essential in high‑power applications, yet silicon-carbide MOSFETs remain vulnerable to thermo‑mechanical wear‑out. Accelerated power‑cycling experiments are used to replicate these stresses and reveal failure mechanisms such as bond‑wire lift‑off and solder fatigue within weeks instead of years.
The next step is not only to detect failures but to understand how devices degrade over time and to predict when a failure is likely to occur. Electrical and thermal parameters evolve throughout the degradation process and offer opportunities for early end-of-life warning indicators. Such insights enable lifetime extending actions, including adjusted operating conditions, preventive maintenance or redundant components taking over.
This talk covers accelerated power‑cycling tests and the thermo‑mechanical degradation behavior of SiC MOSFETs. It further demonstrates potential early end-of-life warning indicators to support reliable products.
Speaker: Margo Molenaar – TU Delft