• PhD Position: Exploring self-healing solutions for Al source layers in Power Devices

    Supervision: Marc Legros (marc.legros[at]cemes.fr), Julio Cesar Brandelero (Mitsubishi Electric)

    Location: CEMES (Toulouse)

    Financial support: CIFRE Grant (starting on October 1th, 2020 ; 3 years duration).
    Keywords : Al microstructure, oxidation, grain boundaries, thermal & electrical cycling, electron &ion microscopy.

     

    Power devices, such as MOSFETs and IGBTs, are key components of the continuous growth of power electronics applications ranging from domotics to energy conversion. Their reliability becomes critical in transportation and off-shore applications. Anticipating or even preventing their failure is a key technical issue.

    In recent years, several weak spots have been identified in the structure of modern Si-based power devices, and some solutions (packaging) have already been found to increase their resistance to disruption. However, the aging of the top metal source and wire bondings, mainly made of Al or Al alloy has persisted as an intrinsic weak link, degrading the electrical performance of the device over time. This occurs through mechanisms that involve grain boundary diffusion, crack formation and surface/interface oxidation, also driven by stresses arising from thermal mismatch between the metal and the silicon. The goal of this thesis is to find methods (fresh devices processing, circuitry modification) favoring the self-healing or the non propagation of these cracks.

     

    More details HERE

     

    On the Mitsubishi Electric Research site


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