Chip inductors are widely used in electronics applications including information, automotive and aerospace. In particular, the chip inductor is an integral fundamental component of antenna fabrication and at the same time, it is the main component of RF oscillator circuits such as low noise or power amplifiers and voltage-controlled oscillators.
So far, research on chip inductors has been active for a long time, and recently, the need for miniaturization and high-speed electronics has urgently led to the improvements in their reliability and performance.
Most chip inductors are made of copper electrodes and BaTiO3. During manufacture, especially during service, parts of the chip inductor are exposed to the stress by mechanical, thermal and electrical loads. Therefore, multiple reliability tests including thermal shock, substrate bending and temperature cycling tests are typically required to ensure the reliability of the chip inductor when applied to some high-tech applications.
Kim Mi Gyong, a researcher at the Faculty of Electronics, conducted fatigue life prediction, on the basis of the observation of the region of maximum stress and the extent of cross-section deformation occurring during the operation of the chip inductor.
She constructed a 3D model similar to the real device and obtained the results by finite element analysis under the bending load with four-point bending conditions. The simulation results show that the stress distribution inside the chip inductor will be different with the increase in the number of turns of the chip inductor, which will affect the lifetime of the device.
The proposed method enables more detailed and more practical fatigue life prediction of devices including multilayer ceramic capacitors (MLCC) and chip resistors with similar structures as well as multilayer chip inductors.
For more information, you can refer to her paper “Fatigue life prediction of chip inductor using finite element analysis” in “International Journal of Applied Research” (SCI).