Date of Graduation

7-2021

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science in Microelectronics-Photonics (MS)

Degree Level

Graduate

Department

Microelectronics-Photonics

Advisor/Mentor

David Huitink

Committee Member

Greg Salamo

Second Committee Member

Rick Wise

Third Committee Member

Robert Coridan

Keywords

Gallium Nitride, Mechanical Engineering, Microelectronics, Reliability, Wide-bandgap Semiconductors

Abstract

This research focuses on understanding the effects of accelerated aging through temperature and environment on novel gallium nitride-based Hall effect magnetic field sensors and determining device reliability under electric vehicle operating conditions. The device reliability was modeled using accelerated aging for the temperatures of 200 °C, 350 °C, 450 °C, and 600 °C under various time steps unique to each temperature and either air, which is identical to operating circumstances, or argon, which would model the hermetic packaging environment. Using a high temperature furnace and oven, devices underwent high temperature storage tests at a chosen temperature and time step. Afterwards, device electrical response as well as surface imaging was used to determine the degree to which devices had degraded. This data was then used to create accelerated aging models used to predict the lifetime of the gallium nitride devices under the target operating conditions of 150 °C in air. This thesis explores the enabling aspect of the development of novel wide-bandgap devices for use under industry-relevant conditions.

Download

Share

COinS