Failure analysis of P-N junction degradation by high temperature reverse bias operating condition

Failures of degradation of BJT(Bipolar Junction Transistor) are continuously and frequently reported. Most popular failure mechanism is electrical over stress including high voltage or high current. But unfortunately, most failure is not visible because of enclosing packaging. Furthermore decapsulation process is not perfectly free from damage problem during the handling. Consequently, electrical characteristic analysis for failure analysis is very important. In this work, BJT specimen which failed during HTRB(High Temperature Reverse Bias) test was analyzed through the electrical characteristic analysis.