Semiconductor Package Predictive Safety Guard
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Semiconductor devices in high-reliability applications often experience performance degradation or failure over time, leading to costly scheduled replacements of functional components, and existing detection methods fail to detect subtle degradation or failure modes effectively.
Innovation Solution
Incorporating additional terminals within or external to the IC package to measure dynamic electrical characteristics such as voltage, current, temperature, and impedance, which serve as indicators of the state of health (SOH) of the IC, allowing for real-time monitoring of performance degradation and early detection of potential failures.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If scheduled replacement of semiconductor components is implemented to ensure reliability, then system reliability is improved, but operational costs increase and functional components are replaced unnecessarily
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements preliminary detection of performance degradation through additional test contacts and measurement circuits that monitor electrical characteristics before actual failure occurs. This allows proactive identification of components needing replacement, avoiding both premature replacement of functional components and failure of degraded components. The measurement circuits continuously or periodically assess parameters such as voltage, current, temperature, and impedance to detect subtle changes indicating degradation trends.
2Measurement precision
If additional test contacts and measurement circuits are added to detect performance degradation, then detection capability is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent makes existing functional contacts serve dual purposes: their primary function for normal circuit operation and an additional function for health monitoring measurements. The measurement circuits utilize existing terminal structures and electrical pathways, combining diagnostic functionality with operational contacts rather than requiring entirely separate dedicated test structures. This multi-functional approach enhances detection capability while minimizing the increase in device complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The measurement circuits are integrated within the IC device itself, enabling the device to autonomously monitor its own health status. The additional test contacts and measurement circuits form a self-diagnostic system that detects performance degradation without requiring external testing equipment or complex external measurement setups, thereby reducing overall system complexity while maintaining high detection precision.
3Reliability
If stringent design and testing requirements are applied to components in high reliability applications, then reliability is improved, but component cost increases significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements continuous or periodic health monitoring during the operational lifetime of components, detecting degradation trends before failure occurs. This allows for condition-based maintenance strategies that replace components only when actual degradation thresholds are reached, rather than applying uniform stringent testing to all components regardless of their actual condition. This reduces unnecessary replacement costs while maintaining high reliability through timely intervention.
Solution Approach 2:
The measurement circuits provide real-time feedback on component health status by monitoring electrical characteristics such as voltage drops, current leakage, temperature changes, and impedance variations. This feedback enables dynamic adjustment of maintenance schedules and replacement decisions based on actual component condition rather than fixed time intervals or overly conservative assumptions, optimizing the balance between reliability and cost.
Data Source
AI summary
The disclosure describes techniques for detecting failures or performance degradation of a device including an integrated circuit (IC) components in the field by including additional contacts, i.e. terminals, along with functional contacts of the circuit used for connecting the circuit to a system in which the circuit is a part. These additional contacts may be internal external to the package surface and may be used to measure dynamic changing electrical characteristics over time e.g. voltage, current, capacity, temperature and impedance. These electrical characteristics may be representative of one or more failure modes and may be treated as indicator for device state-of-health (SOH).