Electronic Power Supplies Prognosis Using Material Modeling and Simulation

Power supply systems are – compared to other electronic systems – highly susceptible to failure due to the high voltage and current conditions they routinely operate in. JSF operational reliability could be greatly enhanced by ensuring power supply performance in fielded systems. A power supply system is made up of various devices, all of which are interconnected with solder welds. During Phase I, VEXTEC demonstrated that failure physics combined with material-based simulation, allowing for real world variability, can be used to predict solder joint reliability. It was also shown that individual joint reliability can be used to predict overall power supply failure using system reliability approaches. This SBIR Phase II will more fully develop this technology for a specific OEM power supply considering variability in real world operating conditions as well as in electrical, mechanical and structural behavior. Also it will be shown that this technology, combined with other synergistic approaches, can be used for JSF readiness prognosis. The by-product of this project will be the development of on-board E-MICRO prognosis technology.