Airborne electronic systems have been used virtually everywhere on board military and commercial aircraft. Since Field Effect Transistors (FETs) are building blocks for the electronic systems and their components, the diagnosis and prognosis of potential FET system failures are critical to the flight and ground crew. In this paper, we developed an advanced prognostic methodology based on the Direct Drain Quiescent Current (IDDQ) testing technique for potential Field Effect Transistors (FETs) failures. To predict the Remaining useful life (RUL) of the FET-based devices, a thorough failure mechanism study for FETs was performed in order to select a subset of failure mechanisms that cause progressive degradation and relate with IDDQ signals. With the selected failure mechanisms, we utilized the symbolic dynamics-based method to perform the fault degradation status estimation and a novel Uncertainty Adjusted Prognostics (UAP) method to predict the RUL with uncertainty management. Finally, the prognostic methodology was verified using developed 2-D/3-D simulation models.

Index Terms: Field Effect Transistors, Direct Drain Quiescent Current, Prognostics, Remaining Useful Life

Complete article is available to CALCE PHM Consortium Members.