What is the reason why electronic components are not resistant to low temperatures?

乱世煮酒论天下

What is the reason why electronic components are not resistant to low temperatures? [Copy link]

 

Electronic components on circuit boards, passive devices such as capacitors, resistors, and inductors, active devices such as diodes, triodes, op amps, and ICs, will generate a lot of heat and affect their electrical performance if the temperature is relatively high. But why do these devices also have a lower low temperature limit? For example, the lower temperature limit for the use of electrolytic capacitors is the reason for this. Will it reduce the activity of internal atomic ions?

maychang

There are many materials that are not resistant to low temperatures, and the reasons are different.

Not to mention resistor components, even steel structures will change their performance when the temperature is too low. For example, during World War II, the Soviet Union imported a batch of trucks from Ford in the United States. After arriving in the Soviet Union, the axles were often cut (axle breakage). Ford analyzed and believed that it was because the Soviet Union was relatively cold and the steel became brittle. After switching to low-temperature resistant steel, this problem was solved.

Everyone knows that the capacity of batteries decreases significantly at low temperatures. The reason is that the activity of electrolytes decreases at low temperatures. The same is true for electrolytic capacitors.

When the temperature is very low, solder will be converted from β-tin to α-tin. α-tin is in powder form and has no conductivity. However, lead wire can become as elastic as steel wire at very low temperatures.

maychang

Physicist Feynman was asked to investigate the cause of the Apollo 13 crash. The result of Feynman's investigation was that a rubber seal became hard and brittle at low temperatures and lost its sealing properties. At a congressional hearing, he put the rubber seal into a glass of ice water, and then took it out. It broke when squeezed, which convinced the congressmen. The electrolytic capacitor you mentioned may be sealed with rubber.

maychang

When I was playing with microcontrollers, I used EPROM as program memory. Calculations showed that I should use an EPROM with a delay time of less than 100ns. I bought an EPROM with a delay time of 150ns, and it worked perfectly. However, when I put the board in the refrigerator, something went wrong. The program could still be executed, but it flew everywhere. After taking it out of the refrigerator and letting it cool down, everything was normal again.

maychang

Later I bought an EPROM with a delay of 90ns, which is of course more expensive. The 90ns EPROM was inserted into the board and worked fine even in the refrigerator.

hellokitty_bean

Teacher maychang’s explanation is insightful, fascinating, well-reasoned and convincing. . . . . Thumbs up! ! ! !

led2015

For semiconductor devices such as diodes and triodes, their performance is highly dependent on the band structure and carrier concentration of semiconductor materials. At low temperatures, the band structure of semiconductor materials will change, the mobility of carriers (electrons and holes) will decrease, and the conductivity will decrease.

lanhua

EPROM, plugged in and it worked perfectly. But when I put the board in the freezer, it failed. The program still worked, but it was flying all over the place. After I took it out of the freezer and let it cool down, everything worked again.

qwqwqw2088

There are not just one or two reasons why electronic devices are not resistant to low temperatures.
In addition to the reasons mentioned by the original poster, there are also mechanical stress, packaging process, etc.

qwqwqw2088

Could you tell me what kind of electronic device it is?

乱世煮酒论天下

qwqwqw2088 posted on 2024-9-16 08:31 Can you tell me what kind of electronic device it is?

Aluminum electrolytic capacitors, switching devices IGBT and high-frequency transformers

振动试验仪器

All electronic products produced in a formal manner are required to undergo environmental reliability tests. The test standard is GB/T2423, which has more than 50 sub-standards. The most common tests for electronic products are high and low temperature cycles, high and low humidity alternating cycle tests. High and low temperature tests are climate tests, and vibration, impact and drop tests are mechanical tests, including salt spray, sunlight exposure, sand and dust, etc.