Bond Wire Damage Detection Method on Discrete MOSFETs Based on Two-Port Network Measurement.

Area of Science:

• Electrical Engineering
• Materials Science
• Semiconductor Physics

Background:

• Bond wire damage is a primary failure mode in metal-oxide semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET) power devices.
• Reliable detection methods are essential for ensuring device longevity and performance.

Purpose of the Study:

• To propose and validate a novel approach for detecting bond wire damage in MOSFETs.
• To utilize source parasitic inductance (Ls) as a precursor for bond wire faults.

Main Methods:

• Characterizing MOSFETs as two-port networks.
• Extracting source parasitic inductance (Ls) from Z-parameters using a vector network analyzer under zero bias.
• Conducting bond wire cutoff experiments for validation.

Main Results:

• Ls increases with the severity of bond wire damage, accurately quantifying liftoffs.
• The method demonstrates high sensitivity, detecting even minor faults.
• Source parasitic resistance (Rs) is also identified as a useful parameter for silicon carbide MOSFETs.

Conclusions:

• The proposed two-port network measurement accurately detects and quantifies bond wire damage in discrete MOSFETs.
• This technique provides an effective, non-invasive quality screening method without requiring power-on testing.