Reliability Considerations of High Power IGBT Modules under High Temperature/Humidity/Bias (HTHB) Condition

Inhalt:
High power IGBT modules are widely used in applications such as traction and renewables that suffer from harsh operation conditions, it poses a great challenge on reliability of the power modules. This paper describes the investigation of failure mechanisms and reliability considerations of high power IGBT modules in harsh conditions such as high humidity, high temperature and high voltage bias. Two 3.3 kV high power IGBT modules that were made of different configurations have been tested in conditions of 85 % humidity, 85 ºC and 80 % of the rated voltage (i.e. 2640V). Leakage current was monitored during the tests and the blocking curves were measured. The failure mechanisms were analyzed based on both experimental and simulation results, both packaging materials and chips could be stressed by the test. The experimental results indicate that High Temperature/Humidity/Bias (HTHB) has the potential to replace the traditional H3TRB standard test for high power IGBT modules. In addition, for the first time, this paper presents the detail leakage current response at the failure stage of IGBT in HTHB test.