Implementation and Validation of a Long-Term Measurement System for Single Event Burnout at High Altitude

In electrified aircraft, cosmic radiation can be a potential hazard to power electronic systems like drive train inverters and dc/dc converters. As the increased failure rate at high altitudes usually requires a voltage derating, a detailed knowledge on the failure rate of the individual power semiconductors is necessary to enable an optimal compromise between failure rate and power density. This data is usually gained by accelerated measurements, which could omit certain influences of the high altitude. Therefore, this paper presents the implementation of a fully automatic long-term measurement system for the determination of the failure rate due to single event burnout under real conditions for power semiconductors.