The intention of this tutorial is to communicate the basics of reliability assurance and confirmation by simulation and test for the application of power devices at system design.
The methodology is based on the planned application profile (mission profile) and the “Physics-of-Failure”- concept concerning the effects of the loads implied by the mission profile.
Also the requirements trends to lower system volumes, application in harsher environments and increasing reliability demands are considered.

The “mission profile” incorporates the combination of loads and their duration to which the electronic system will be subjected. They determine depending on the construction (design) the physical processes and thus the life-time of the system.

Essential are therefore:

• knowledge / identification of the load profiles,
• system design with respect to the loads acting on power devices,
• understanding / investigating the degrading physical processes, their modeling and application,
• application related confirmation of life-time / reliability including appropriate accelerating “End-of-Life”- test methods to implement the required life-time (“Building-in Reliability”- concept) including a safety margin (“Robustness Margin).

Appropriate procedures are discussed for system design, simulation and test referring to the “Robustness Validation Process” and explained by examples.
Besides the very successful ECPE Seminar and Workshop series, ECPE offers a tutorial program focusing more on education of young engineers and engineers from neighbouring disciplines.

All presentations and discussions will be in English.