{"id":30,"date":"2025-06-18T20:33:20","date_gmt":"2025-06-18T20:33:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/admin.acceleratingscience.com\/semiconductors\/2021\/07\/13\/physical-electrical-failure-analysis-power-semiconductor-devices\/"},"modified":"2026-03-02T22:25:47","modified_gmt":"2026-03-02T22:25:47","slug":"physical-electrical-failure-analysis-power-semiconductor-devices","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thermofisher.com\/blog\/semiconductors\/physical-electrical-failure-analysis-power-semiconductor-devices\/","title":{"rendered":"Physical and Electrical Failure Analysis of Power Semiconductor Devices"},"content":{"rendered":"

World energy consumption is expected to grow by nearly 50% between 2018 and 2050. As much of our power shifts over to electricity, higher-efficiency, compact power semiconductor devices, such as diodes, IGBTs, MOSFETs and HEMTs are needed to run everything from smart phones and electric vehicles to industrial robots.<\/p>\n

Today, the semiconductor industry is moving beyond silicon to develop the next generation of power devices. Wide bandgap power devices<\/a> make it possible to build higher performance, more reliable components that improve power efficiency and operate at higher temperatures. Unfortunately, these materials can introduce new failure modes\u2014and using traditional electrical failure analysis to identify root cause can be challenging, potentially impacting operational reliability and manufacturing yields.<\/p>\n

Take silicon metal-oxide semiconductor field-effect transistors (MOSFETs), for example. These transistors, designed to handle high power requirements, are the workhorse for a majority of switching power applications. Yet as higher voltages and frequencies are packaged into ever smaller form factors, the performance of these power MOSFETs is reaching its limit.<\/p>\n

By redesigning power MOSFETs using new semiconductor materials such as silicon carbide and gallium nitride, engineers can develop cost-effective solutions for power switching that meet the needs for highly efficient and compact power semiconductor devices.<\/p>\n

The limits of traditional <\/strong>electrical failure analysis methods<\/strong><\/h2>\n

As engineers design these devices, the main challenge is eliminating circuit shorts. Unlike integrated circuits made up of billions of tiny transistors connected by layers of thin wires, power devices are composed of one transistor with one thin wire that\u2019s completely covered by a single sheet of metal. This design makes it difficult to isolate and characterize small leakage paths\u2014and requires different electrical failure analysis methodologies than were used in the past.<\/p>\n

Emission microscopy and optical beam induced resistivity change (OBIRCH) are the traditional methods for pinpointing power MOSFET failure modes. Yet these methods are hampered by the thick sheet of metal covering the surface. To overcome this limitation, engineers sometimes use reactive ions or wet chemicals to open windows into the metal to better access the failure. The downside of this method is reproducibility is low and the likelihood of completely disabling the device is high.<\/p>\n

\"Thermo<\/p>\n

New methods are needed as engineers work to design state-of-the-art power devices that include wide bandgap materials<\/em><\/p>\n

A robust workflow for next-generation power semiconductor devices<\/strong><\/h2>\n

To address these issues, Thermo Fisher Scientific developed a robust workflow<\/a> that combines electrical failure analysis (EFA) to isolate faults and physical failure analysis (PFA) to characterize the microstructure\u2014helping engineers to pinpoint anomalous electrical behavior at the microstructural level. Not only is this workflow faster and more accurate, but it generates repeatable results with little to no destruction of the device.<\/p>\n

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Read our latest application note: <\/em>Transforming failure analysis of wide bandgap power MOS devices >><\/a>
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The workflow involves the following steps:<\/p>\n

Electrical failure analysis of power semiconductor devices<\/strong><\/h2>\n