Reliability aspects of semiconductor devices in high temperature applications

A growing demand for semiconductor devices capable of operating at higher temperatures can be observed in automotive electronics. Reliability aspects concerning silicon and package are considered. On the silicon side, the effect of different hot carrier degradation modes and the negative bias temperature instability are found to severely influence device lifetime. On the packaging side, challenges arise due to not only high temperatures but also increased temperature cycling loads. For plastic packages, material degradation of the mould compound occurs at high temperatures and significant delaminations due to cycling stress lead to package induced damage. Key steps for a reliable high temperature plastic package are the choice of an optimised combination of mould compound and adhesion promoter and the development of a suitable lead-free die attach system. (C) 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.