Development of an HBM-ESD tester for power semiconductor devices

Abstract

Recently, the human body model - electrostatic discharge (HBM-ESD) test capability for power diodes was introduced among the requirements in the field of automotive include for a superior reliability. During the HBM-ESD test, the DUT works in avalanche conditions and it is still not well understood the failure modality occurring in power diodes. The available commercial HBM-ESD testers only give information about the maximum voltage rate, without any specific measurement of electrical waveforms. In this work we present a HBM - ESD tester for the characterization of power semiconductor devices up to 6 kV. In the proposed tester both the voltage and current DUT waveforms are measured, for a further gain of the failure analysis in power diodes.