A comprehensive analytical and experimental investigation of wire bond life for IGBT modules

This paper presents a comprehensive study on the wire bond life for Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistors (IGBT). The main elements are as follows: 1) Substantial non-uniformity in temperature distribution across the chip area was revealed; 2) Additional electrical resistance at the wire bonds was discovered, which can elevate the local temperature and shorten the wire bond life; 3) Thermo-structural simulation exhibited a characteristic failure sequence of the wire bonds, and the overall bond life is determined by a critical bond; 4) By incorporating the above findings, the predicted IGBT life showed good agreement with the life testing results. At the end of the paper, suggestions are outlined to improve the design of wire bonds for IGBTs and other power semiconductor modules.