Power Devices Health Condition Monitoring: A Review of Recent Papers

Abstract

Power semiconductor devices with adjacent interconnection structures are recognized as the most fragile components of power electronic systems. Condition monitoring addresses this fragility by developing methods and technologies for assessing the component’s state of the health. This paper aims to provide entry points to comprehensive, state of the art references on this complex subject, which has been the subject of an extensive research over the last two decades. An overview of the current state of the art in condition monitoring of power devices (IGBT, MOSFETs) is given with focus on current induced degradation  (active thermal cycling). Degradation indicators and temperature sensitive parameters are discussed, as well as their sensibilities to different parameters. Important practical aspects for the use of these indicators in monitoring system are pointed out. The conclusion provides discussion on industrial application perspective of the presented methods.