LDO regulator DC characteristic and susceptibility prediction after electrical stress ageing

• This paper has presented an original study on the ageing impact to a LDO regulator.
• The ageing leads to a general decrease of the DC characteristic.
• The ageing leads to susceptibility increase to EMI conducted along the power supply.
• CAD simulations analyses are proposed to explain the experimental observations.
• LDO performance reduction is activated by degradation mechanisms at transistor level.

Analog circuits such as linear voltage regulators are crucial for electrical system operational stability. But they are very sensitive to electromagnetic interferences which induce voltage offset on their outputs. In harsh environments, the ageing of this component can be accelerated and could lead to twofold effects: decrease of the output voltage and increase of the effect of electromagnetic interferences. This paper proposes an original study about the drift of the DC characteristic and susceptibility level of a low dropout voltage regulator submitted to electrical stresses. Some analyses based on CAD simulations are proposed to explain the experimental observations.