Comment by fwipsy
1 hour ago
Honest question. Does silicon wear out due to high temperatures, or is it more like lightbulbs where it wears out from thermal cycles? Does it really wear out at all?
1 hour ago
Honest question. Does silicon wear out due to high temperatures, or is it more like lightbulbs where it wears out from thermal cycles? Does it really wear out at all?
It’s mostly due to higher temps resulting in faster ion migration, which can cause a breakdown in the structure of transistors, as well as increased wear on the conductors (though this is rarely a dominating factor). Thermal cycling can also cause cracking, which is also a problem. Though there are lots of reason chips fail due to heat, from the wire bonds on pads getting too hot to increased leakage current at high temps.