Efficient Power Conversion (EPC) publishes Phase-14 Reliability Report, which adds to the extensive knowledge and demonstrates a robustness capability unmatched by silicon power devices.

EL SEGUNDO, Calif.— February 2022 — EPC announces its Phase-14 Reliability Report, documenting the strategy used to achieve a remarkable field reliability record. The rapid adoption of GaN devices in many diverse applications calls for the continued accumulation of reliability statistics and research into the fundamental physics of failure in GaN devices. The Phase-14 Reliability Report presents the strategy used to measure and predict lifetime based upon tests that force devices to fail under various conditions. This information can be used to create more robust and and higher performance products for applications such as lidar for autonomous cars, robotics, security, and drones, high power density computing, and satellites, to name just a few.

Standard qualification testing for semiconductors typically involves stressing devices at-or-near the limits specified in their data sheets for a prolonged period of time, or for a certain number of cycles. The goal of qualification testing is to have zero failures out of a large group of parts tested. By testing parts to the point of failure, an understanding of the amount of margin between the data sheet limits can be developed, but more importantly, an understanding of the intrinsic failure mechanisms of the semiconductor can be found.

IEEE Power Electronics Magazine
December, 2020
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EPC’s Phase Ten Reliability Report adds to the growing knowledge base published in the first nine reports. With this report, EPC has stress-tested over 30,000 parts for a total of over 18 million hours without failure.  There have been no field failures in over two years despite shipping millions of parts.

EL SEGUNDO, Calif.— February 2019 — EPC announces its Phase Ten Reliability Report, documenting the test results leading to the successful completion of automotive AEC-Q101 qualification. AEC-Q101 demands the highest level of reliability standards for power FETs, requiring not only zero datasheet failures, but also low parametric drift during stress testing.  Of note is that EPC’s WLCS packaging passed all the same testing standards created for conventional packaged parts, demonstrating that the superior performance of chip-scale packaging does not compromise ruggedness or reliability.

The previous installment in this series focused on the physics of failure surrounding thermo-mechanical reliability of EPC eGaN wafer level chip-scale packages. A fundamental understanding of the potential failure modes under voltage bias is also important. This installment will provide an overview of the physics of failure associated with voltage bias at the gate electrode of gallium nitride (GaN) field effect transistors (FETs). Here we look at the case of taking the gate control voltage to the specified limit and beyond to investigate how eGaN FETs behave over a projected lifetime.

Planet Analog
Chris Jakubiec
November 29, 2016
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The first three installments in this series covered field reliability experience and stress test qualification of EPC’s enhancement-mode gallium nitride (eGaN) field effect transistors (FETs) and integrated circuits (ICs). Excellent field reliability that was documented is the result of applying stress tests covering the intended operating conditions the devices will experience within applications. Of equal importance is understanding the underlying physics of how eGaN devices will fail when stressed beyond intended operating conditions (e.g. datasheet parameters and safe operating area). This installment will take a deeper dive into the physics of failure centered around thermo-mechanical reliability of eGaN wafer level chip-scale packages (WLCSP).

Planet Analog
Chris Jakubiec
September 7, 2016
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The first two installments in this series reported in detail on field reliability experience of Efficient Power Conversion (EPC) Corporation’s enhancement-mode gallium nitride (eGaN^®) FETs and integrated circuits (ICs). The excellent field reliability of eGaN devices demonstrates stress-based qualification testing is capable of ensuring reliability in customer applications. In this installment we will examine the stress tests that EPC devices are subjected to prior to being considered qualified products.

Planet Analog
Chris Jakubiec
July 9, 2016
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Efficient Power Conversion (EPC) Corporation’s enhancement-mode gallium nitride (eGaN^®) FETs and integrated circuits (ICs) are finding their way into many end user applications such as LIDAR, wireless charging, DC-DC conversion, RF base station transmission, satellite systems, and audio amplifiers.

Field reliability is the ultimate metric that corroborates the quality level of eGaN^® FETs and ICs that have been deployed in customer applications. In our first installment we provided an overview of eGaN FET field reliability which included 6 years of volume production shipment, and greater than 17 billion total device hours recorded. A subsequent calculated Failure In Time (FIT – failures in 109 hours) of approximately 0.24 FITs shows excellent field reliability performance to date.

Plant Analog
Chris Jakubiec
May 1, 2016
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