In this paper, the failure mechanism of PTC heater were examined closely by failure analysis and based on it, accelerated life test were conducted. Finally, life distribution and acceleration model were established. The failure mechanism of PTC heater such as crack, increase of resistance due to heating were identified. Two acceleration factors such as temperature, humidity were chosen with two levels each and accelerated life test were done. Life distribution were identified as Weibull distribution with shape parameter 5.4 and Temperature-Humidity model was fitted as an acceleration model.

In this paper, EPR (ethylene propylene rubber) insulation material was accelerated degradation test at 121℃, 136℃, 151℃, and experiment the typical EAB (elongation at break) at mechanical characteristics analysis. It is shown that the failure-time at the point of 50% of the initial value of Elongation rate to obtain the activation energy. The failure-time was shown each 5,219 hr, 3,165 hr, and 668 hr at three temperatures. In order to derive the activation energy, Arrhenius methodology was applied. Also, we got the Arrhenius plot from three accelerated temperatures. The activation energy values got 0.98 eV from EAB test. The experimental data were evaluated for estimating the probability density, and the suitable distribution by using statistical program MINITAB. It is shown that EAB data by the acceleration thermal degradation is most suitable for the Weibull distribution.

Abstract: The devices based on electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM) structure are proposed for the detection of external electric charges. A large size charge contact window (CCW) extended from the floating gate is employed to immobilize external charges, and a control gate with stacked metal-insulator-metal (MIM) capacitor is adapted for a standard single polysilicon CMOS process. When positive voltage is applied to the capacitor of CCW of an n-channel EEPROM, the drain current increases due to the negative shift of its threshold voltage. Also when a pre-charged external capacitor is directly connected to the floating gate metal of CCW, the positive charges of the external capacitor make the drain current increase for n-channel, whereas the negative charges cause it to decrease. For an p-channel, however, the opposite behaviors are observed by the external voltage and charges. With the attachment of external charges to the CCW of EEPROM inverter, the characteristic inverter voltage behavior shifts from the reference curve dependent on external charge polarity. Therefore, we have demonstrated that the EEPROM inverter is capable of detecting external immobilized charges on the floating gate. and these devices are applicable to sensing the pH`s or biomolecular reactions.