Failure Analysis and Material Characterization in Power Electronics Packaging

Failure analysis and material characterization for power electronics packaging is critical, yet extremely challenging due to the large variety of technologies and materials employed. The current paper presents two case studies describing how defects at the nano-and microscale can greatly impact the performance and functionality of the entire power module. The first example correlates the microstructure of glass-fiber reinforced thermoplastics to their macroscopic behavior as power module housing. The second example demonstrates how thin oxide layers and contaminants on substrate metallizations at the nanoscale can result in significant layer-delamination and adhesion problems of silver-sinter joints.