Members of SAE,ZVEI, AEC, and JSAE formed a joint task force to settle a new Approach in Qualification – the Robustness Validation process.

The new "test to fail" qualification approach (instead of a “test-to-pass”), is a paradigm shift from "Fit for Standard" to "Fit for Application". It generates knowledge on the relevant component failure mechanisms that may occur at the boundaries of the specification limits. 

The first handbook was published in 2006. Since then 13 other documents were developed which cover semiconductor components, electric and electronic modules (ECUs) and systems. These documents are available from the ZVEI website  www.zvei.org

2008 a joint ZVEI-ECPE power electronics working group was formed which works on the knowledge matrix for power semiconductor modules. So far interconnects and substrates were studied. Recently work on adequate reliability tests was started.

The ECPE-ZVEI workshop on “Robustness validation in Power Electronics” is aiming for:

• Describing the status of the RV process
• Success stories (case studies)
• Describing challenges
• General exchange of experiences
• Collection of needs for action

The workshop is chaired by Prof. Eckhard Wolfgang (ECPE), Helmut Keller (ZVEI), Dr. Martin Rittner (Robert Bosch) and Thomas Harder (ECPE).

All presentations and discussions will be in English.