Modeling and Tracking Degradation in Electronic Component

This dissertation develops models for electrical components that are useful for describing or predicting their behavior in certain applications. The three models presented are physics-based models that not only describe the behavior, but provide valuable insight as to how the component design relates to the electrical behavior.;In the first chapter of this dissertation, ringing in a power inverter circuit is analyzed and used to track degradation that occurs to the inverter transistors. This is accomplished via the Matrix Pencil Method, which extracts frequency and damping information from the complex poles of a system response. A shift in the pole location of a system response is indicative of transistor degradation.;The second chapter explores modeling multi-layer ceramic capacitors (MLCCs). A simple, accurate model is developed which is based on the physical construction of the capacitor. This model utilizes frequency-dependent resistance terms and mutual inductance to model the frequency-dependent behavior of the capacitor impedance and equivalent series resistance (ESR).;The final chapter studies the contribution of non-linear behavior of MLCCs to the ESR of the capacitor. MLCCs are known to exhibit non-linear behavior in which their capacitance varies with the applied voltage. This causes distortion in the time domain and harmonics in the frequency domain. Power is shifted from the fundamental frequency to harmonics of the fundamental frequency, which will appear as a loss at the fundamental under most circumstances. In some cases, the apparent loss at the fundamental may be comparable to the ESR of the capacitor.