Current trends in electronic development show a strong need towards higher integration, an increased functionality, smaller devices with generally higher frequencies, reduces package sizes and therefore higher power densities for more compact and integrated designs.
This requires an intensified testing for the reliability of components and systems and includes the major fields such as investigation and characterization of electronic systems, thermal and power cycling of components, creating of automated setups for multi-physical measurements and integration of mechanical excitation and toxic environmental gases into test procedures.
Research scope
The research here on a university level focus on the analysis and understanding of the complex behaviour of electronic systems either over the full application range in terms of environmental conditions or the degradation processes in electronic systems for a particular application over time. This leads to main areas such as:
- Electronic properties of components and systems under a wide range of environmental conditions
- Failure investigation and analysis and understanding physics and chemistry of failures
- Lifetime investigation and modelling
- Advanced materials for power electronic components and their characterization
Research topics
In terms of science and industrial services, core setups and characterization equipment is required, covering solutions for an increasing reliability expectation beyond standard tests for compliance or certification. Typical applications areas are in the field of the development of active and passive components, power modules, the automotive and maritime sector, electronic drives or the development of integrated devices and the industrial electronics.
Main equipment and services are:
- Automated electrical characterization to investigate long term stability and reliability.
- Thermal and Power Cycling of modules and devices (including individual mission profiles), Integration of thermal and humid test conditions.
- Mechanical excitation and modal analysis.
- Contactless measurement of mechanical vibrations.
- Sophisticated data acquisition and analysis of electronic and physical properties.
- Testing of modules under toxic environmental gases.
- Steffen Chemnitz (Assoc. Prof., Group leader)
Projects
Find selected projects here:
- Capacitor long term characterization and modelling
- Power cycling qualification by automotive AQG324 standard
- Contactless vibration sensing by laser scanning