On Thu, 10 Feb 2005 10:34:32 -0800, Jim Stewart wrote:
I went back and reread your post and I don't
disagree in principle. The failure rate may
indeed be exponential with temperature. The
*practical* issue is "where are we on the knee
of the curve"? If, at 80 deg c, we are still
way down on the flat part of the curve, the
temperature effects on reliability are very
small-to-nonexistant. I maintain that this
is the case with modern power semiconductors
in decent metal-and-glass packages, operated
within their specifications.

Yeah, the question is what the vendor's data specs are. Some vendors
publish lifetime vs temperature data on their parts that will tell you
right off if your design is in a safe area. Now if the vendors specs on
lifetime were for 20C and the part had a max temp rating of 100C you could
run into a lifetime issue running at 80-90C continuously. It just all
tempeds on how the vendor has rated/tested the part.

--
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