Effects on power transistors of Terrestrial Cosmic Rays: Study, experimental results and analysis

Author

Consentino, G. ; Laudani, M. ; Privitera, Giuseppe ; Pace, Calogero ; Giordano, C. ; Hernandez, Jaime ; Mazzeo, M.

Author_Institution

Power Transistor Div., STMicroelectron., Catania, Italy

fYear

2014

fDate

16-20 March 2014

Firstpage

2582

Lastpage

2587

Abstract

High voltage power transistors used in inverters for photovoltaic panels and avionic applications are naturally exposed to Terrestrial Cosmic Rays, or Atmospheric Neutrons, which are known to induce catastrophic failures such as burnouts or gate ruptures. Accelerated tests on different power MOSFETs and IGBTs technologies were performed in ANITA neutron facility, at Uppsala, Sweden. Experimental details and results will be presented and discussed.

Keywords

avionics; cosmic ray interactions; cosmic ray neutrons; insulated gate bipolar transistors; invertors; power MOSFET; solar cells; ANITA neutron facility; IGBT; Sweden; Uppsala; atmospheric neutrons; avionic applications; catastrophic failures; high voltage power transistors; inverters; photovoltaic panels; power MOSFET; terrestrial cosmic rays; Cosmic rays; Insulated gate bipolar transistors; MOSFET; Neutrons; Power transistors; Standards; Threshold voltage;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Applied Power Electronics Conference and Exposition (APEC), 2014 Twenty-Ninth Annual IEEE

Conference_Location

Fort Worth, TX

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/APEC.2014.6803667

Filename

6803667