Impact of voids on the solder joint integrity and fatigue life of IGBT power module

Insulated gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) power module is a key component of actuator devices in many systems which include electric vehicles (EVs). However, as the deployment of IGBT modules penetrates several mission-critical systems operating in harsher ambient, process voids in the solder joints...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Sunday E. Nebo, Emeka H. Amalu, David J. Hughes
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2025-06-01
Series:Power Electronic Devices and Components
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2772370425000239
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1850127397195612160
author Sunday E. Nebo
Emeka H. Amalu
David J. Hughes
author_facet Sunday E. Nebo
Emeka H. Amalu
David J. Hughes
author_sort Sunday E. Nebo
collection DOAJ
description Insulated gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) power module is a key component of actuator devices in many systems which include electric vehicles (EVs). However, as the deployment of IGBT modules penetrates several mission-critical systems operating in harsher ambient, process voids in the solder joints challenge their reliability and fatigue life. This investigation quantifies the impact of presence of 10% voids in critical solder joints on the integrity and fatigue-life of IGBT module for reliable field operation. Computational modelling utilising python programming algorithm deployed in Monte-Carlo technique is used to generate realist distributions of spatial random voids on three representative volume elements (RVEs) of critical solder joints in three IGBT modules. The three modules have elliptical voids, spherical voids and a combination of elliptical and spherical voids, respectively. A fourth control module has no void. Solder joints in the models comprises 96.5% tin, 3.0% silver, and 0.5% copper (SAC305). The IEC 60068-2-14 temperature load cycle and Anand’s visco-plastic model are employed as the load and constitutive model, respectively. Other component materials are modelled with appropriate time and temperature dependent models and material properties. Combined elliptical and spherical voids induced the highest damage while elliptical voids induced the highest plastic strain of 0.045 µm/µm magnitude in the joints. Accumulated stress and strain energy have magnitudes of 74.05 MPa and 2.63 × 105 pJ, respectively. Ten percent elliptical voids in the joints reduced the fatigue life of the module by 59.5%.
format Article
id doaj-art-9db3d3ef4f104ca2bb58773b4d1c8d63
institution OA Journals
issn 2772-3704
language English
publishDate 2025-06-01
publisher Elsevier
record_format Article
series Power Electronic Devices and Components
spelling doaj-art-9db3d3ef4f104ca2bb58773b4d1c8d632025-08-20T02:33:42ZengElsevierPower Electronic Devices and Components2772-37042025-06-011110009810.1016/j.pedc.2025.100098Impact of voids on the solder joint integrity and fatigue life of IGBT power moduleSunday E. Nebo0Emeka H. Amalu1David J. Hughes2Corresponding author.; Department of Engineering, School of Computing, Engineering and Digital Technologies, Teesside University, Middlesbrough, Cleveland, TS1 3BA, UKDepartment of Engineering, School of Computing, Engineering and Digital Technologies, Teesside University, Middlesbrough, Cleveland, TS1 3BA, UKDepartment of Engineering, School of Computing, Engineering and Digital Technologies, Teesside University, Middlesbrough, Cleveland, TS1 3BA, UKInsulated gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) power module is a key component of actuator devices in many systems which include electric vehicles (EVs). However, as the deployment of IGBT modules penetrates several mission-critical systems operating in harsher ambient, process voids in the solder joints challenge their reliability and fatigue life. This investigation quantifies the impact of presence of 10% voids in critical solder joints on the integrity and fatigue-life of IGBT module for reliable field operation. Computational modelling utilising python programming algorithm deployed in Monte-Carlo technique is used to generate realist distributions of spatial random voids on three representative volume elements (RVEs) of critical solder joints in three IGBT modules. The three modules have elliptical voids, spherical voids and a combination of elliptical and spherical voids, respectively. A fourth control module has no void. Solder joints in the models comprises 96.5% tin, 3.0% silver, and 0.5% copper (SAC305). The IEC 60068-2-14 temperature load cycle and Anand’s visco-plastic model are employed as the load and constitutive model, respectively. Other component materials are modelled with appropriate time and temperature dependent models and material properties. Combined elliptical and spherical voids induced the highest damage while elliptical voids induced the highest plastic strain of 0.045 µm/µm magnitude in the joints. Accumulated stress and strain energy have magnitudes of 74.05 MPa and 2.63 × 105 pJ, respectively. Ten percent elliptical voids in the joints reduced the fatigue life of the module by 59.5%.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2772370425000239Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor (IGBT)Poly-shape VoidsPower electronics moduleThermo-mechanical reliabilityVoid morphologyPython programming algorithm
spellingShingle Sunday E. Nebo
Emeka H. Amalu
David J. Hughes
Impact of voids on the solder joint integrity and fatigue life of IGBT power module
Power Electronic Devices and Components
Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor (IGBT)
Poly-shape Voids
Power electronics module
Thermo-mechanical reliability
Void morphology
Python programming algorithm
title Impact of voids on the solder joint integrity and fatigue life of IGBT power module
title_full Impact of voids on the solder joint integrity and fatigue life of IGBT power module
title_fullStr Impact of voids on the solder joint integrity and fatigue life of IGBT power module
title_full_unstemmed Impact of voids on the solder joint integrity and fatigue life of IGBT power module
title_short Impact of voids on the solder joint integrity and fatigue life of IGBT power module
title_sort impact of voids on the solder joint integrity and fatigue life of igbt power module
topic Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor (IGBT)
Poly-shape Voids
Power electronics module
Thermo-mechanical reliability
Void morphology
Python programming algorithm
url http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2772370425000239
work_keys_str_mv AT sundayenebo impactofvoidsonthesolderjointintegrityandfatiguelifeofigbtpowermodule
AT emekahamalu impactofvoidsonthesolderjointintegrityandfatiguelifeofigbtpowermodule
AT davidjhughes impactofvoidsonthesolderjointintegrityandfatiguelifeofigbtpowermodule