Automotive qualified DC/DCs
DC/DC converters for use in automotive applications must be qualified to AEC-Q specifications for stress testing, performance and production process control, to reflect the harsh environment and to establish the reliability of the parts in their end application. For molded DC/DCs that integrate all components including magnetics, the appropriate standard is AEC-Q100, intended for ‘integrated circuits’. Manufacturers such as RECOM selling into the automotive market are also required to have a quality system compliant with ISO/TS 16949, including a Product Part Approval Process (PPAP), which ensures continuing quality of manufactured parts. The AEC-Q standards are a ‘base’ level and automotive customers can also require compliance with their own internal specifications, and a common one is that solder joints of modules such as molded DC/DCs should be ‘inspectable’ by automated optical equipment. Latest RECOM products using ‘3D Power Packaging’ technology include land grid array terminations which would normally require X-ray techniques for inspection. However, RECOM can now add the feature of ‘wettable’ flanks to their automotive qualified DC/DCs in a QFN package, which allows solder to flow up metallization on the edges of the package so that a good solder joint is verifiable.
