Transistor reliability voltage dependence (πU) formulas & tables
SN29500-3 specifies the following relationship for the voltage a transistor is used at:
\[ \pi_U = \exp \left\{ C_3 \times \left( \left( \frac{U}{U_{\text{max}}} \right)^{C_2} - \left( \frac{U_{\text{ref}}}{U_{\text{max}}} \right)^{C_2} \right) \right\} \]where:
- $U$ is the (maximum) voltage the transistor is actually used at in the circuit
- $U_{\text{max}}$ is the maximum voltage rating of the transistor, according to the manufacturer’s datasheet
- $U_{\text{ref}}/U_{\text{max}}$ is the reference voltage ratio, which defines at what percentage of the maximum voltage the reference FIT rate has been
- $C_2 = 8$ according to table 4 of SN29500-3
- $C_3 = 1.4$ according to table 4 of SN295
Since the constants are the same for all transistors, the formula can be simplified to:
\[ \pi_U = \exp \left\{ 1.4 \times \left( \left( \frac{U}{U_{\text{max}}} \right)^8 - \frac{1}{256} \right) \right\} \]Plotting $π_U$ using Python
example.py
#!/usr/bin/env python3
import numpy as np
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
# Constants from the formula
C2 = 8
C3 = 1.4
U_ref = 0.5 # 50% of U_max (as a fraction)
# Voltage range from 1% to 100% of U_max
voltage_percent = np.linspace(1, 100, 1000)
voltage_fraction = voltage_percent / 100
# Calculate pi_U
pi_U = np.exp(C3 * ((voltage_fraction)**C2 - (U_ref)**C2))
# Create the plot
plt.figure(figsize=(10, 6))
plt.plot(voltage_percent, pi_U, 'b-', linewidth=2)
plt.title('Voltage Dependence Factor $\pi_U$')
plt.xlabel('Operating Voltage (% of $U_{\max}$)')
plt.ylabel('$\pi_U$')
plt.grid(True, linestyle='--', alpha=0.7)
plt.xlim(1, 100)
plt.xticks(np.arange(0, 101, 10)) # Percentage ticks every 10%
# Mark the reference voltage (50%)
plt.axvline(x=50, color='r', linestyle='--', label=f'$U_{{ref}} = 50\%$ of $U_{{max}}$')
plt.legend()
plt.savefig('pi_U_voltage_dependence.svg')Table of $π_U$ values at specific voltage percentages:
Voltage Dependence Factor (π_U) for 60V Transistor
| Voltage (% of U_max) | π_U |
|---|---|
| 1% | 0.994546 |
| 2% | 0.994546 |
| 3% | 0.994546 |
| 4% | 0.994546 |
| 5% | 0.994546 |
| 6% | 0.994546 |
| 7% | 0.994546 |
| 8% | 0.994546 |
| 9% | 0.994546 |
| 10% | 0.994546 |
| 11% | 0.994546 |
| 12% | 0.994546 |
| 13% | 0.994546 |
| 14% | 0.994546 |
| 15% | 0.994547 |
| 16% | 0.994547 |
| 17% | 0.994547 |
| 18% | 0.994548 |
| 19% | 0.994549 |
| 20% | 0.994550 |
| 21% | 0.994551 |
| 22% | 0.994554 |
| 23% | 0.994557 |
| 24% | 0.994562 |
| 25% | 0.994567 |
| 26% | 0.994575 |
| 27% | 0.994586 |
| 28% | 0.994599 |
| 29% | 0.994616 |
| 30% | 0.994638 |
| 31% | 0.994665 |
| 32% | 0.994699 |
| 33% | 0.994742 |
| 34% | 0.994795 |
| 35% | 0.994860 |
| 36% | 0.994939 |
| 37% | 0.995035 |
| 38% | 0.995152 |
| 39% | 0.995292 |
| 40% | 0.995459 |
| 41% | 0.995659 |
| 42% | 0.995895 |
| 43% | 0.996175 |
| 44% | 0.996504 |
| 45% | 0.996890 |
| 46% | 0.997341 |
| 47% | 0.997867 |
| 48% | 0.998478 |
| 49% | 0.999184 |
| 50% | 1.000000 |
| 51% | 1.000939 |
| 52% | 1.002018 |
| 53% | 1.003253 |
| 54% | 1.004664 |
| 55% | 1.006274 |
| 56% | 1.008104 |
| 57% | 1.010183 |
| 58% | 1.012538 |
| 59% | 1.015202 |
| 60% | 1.018210 |
| 61% | 1.021600 |
| 62% | 1.025416 |
| 63% | 1.029706 |
| 64% | 1.034520 |
| 65% | 1.039918 |
| 66% | 1.045962 |
| 67% | 1.052724 |
| 68% | 1.060281 |
| 69% | 1.068721 |
| 70% | 1.078141 |
| 71% | 1.088648 |
| 72% | 1.100363 |
| 73% | 1.113419 |
| 74% | 1.127969 |
| 75% | 1.144181 |
| 76% | 1.162248 |
| 77% | 1.182386 |
| 78% | 1.204841 |
| 79% | 1.229892 |
| 80% | 1.257861 |
| 81% | 1.289113 |
| 82% | 1.324071 |
| 83% | 1.363224 |
| 84% | 1.407137 |
| 85% | 1.456473 |
| 86% | 1.512005 |
| 87% | 1.574641 |
| 88% | 1.645459 |
| 89% | 1.725736 |
| 90% | 1.816997 |
| 91% | 1.921075 |
| 92% | 2.040179 |
| 93% | 2.176996 |
| 94% | 2.334804 |
| 95% | 2.517635 |
| 96% | 2.730478 |
| 97% | 2.979549 |
| 98% | 3.272648 |
| 99% | 3.619637 |
| 100% | 4.033084 |
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Functional Safety, Reliability, Electronics, Components
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