5 Product Safety Contents 5.1 Safety Philosophy 5.2 Main Required Performance Characteristics for Product Safety i 5- 1 5- 2 5 5. Product Safety Product Safety 5.1 Safety Philosophy Ensuring the desired safety as well as the desired functions, performance, quality, and reliability of the various electrical and electronic equipment developed and manufactured by customers first becomes possible through both Panasonic, as a company offering and supplying semiconductor devices, and our customers, who utilize semiconductor devices, advancing their activities according to their respective roles. The matters that our company should execute in order to do this include devising measures in design and manufacturing that improve the quality, reliability, and safety of semiconductor devices, clearly displaying cautions and limitations during use on products or their various documents, recommending products that match the application, etc. so that the various activities for the quality assurance described in “1. Quality Assurance” are carried out in the development, manufacturing, and sales of semiconductor devices. The common information for customers who use our semiconductor devices is stated in the following 6 requests or precautions. Request for your special attention and precautions in using the technical information and semiconductors described in this book (1) If any of the products or technical information described in this book is to be exported or provided to non-residents, the laws and regulations of the exporting country, especially, those with regard to security export control, must be observed. (2) The technical information described in this book is intended only to show the main characteristics and application circuit examples of the products. No license is granted in and to any intellectual property right or other right owned by Panasonic Corporation or any other company. Therefore, no responsibility is assumed by our company as to the infringement upon any such right owned by any other company which may arise as a result of the use of technical information described in this book. (3) The products described in this book are intended to be used for general application (such as office equipment, communications equipment, measuring instruments and household appliances), or for specific applications as expressly stated in this book. Consult our sales staff in advance for information on the following applications: ・ Special applications (such as for airplanes, aerospace, automotive equipment, traffic signaling equipment, combustion equipment, life support systems and safety devices) in which exceptional quality and reliability are required, or if the failure or malfunction of the products may directly jeopardize life or harm the human body. It is to be understood that our company shall not be held responsible for any damage incurred as a result of or in connection with your using the products described in this book for any special application, unless our company agrees to your using the products in this book for any special application. (4) When designing your equipment, comply with the range of absolute maximum rating and the guaranteed operating conditions (operating power supply voltage and operating environment etc.). Especially, please be careful not to exceed the range of absolute maximum rating on the transient state, such as power-on, power-off and mode-switching. Otherwise, we will not be liable for any defect which may arise later in your equipment. Even when the products are used within the guaranteed values, take into the consideration of incidence of break down and failure mode, possible to occur to semiconductor products. Measures on the systems such as redundant design, arresting the spread of fire or preventing glitch are recommended in order to prevent physical injury, fire, social damages, for example, by using the products. (5) Comply with the instructions for use in order to prevent breakdown and characteristics change due to external factors (ESD, EOS, thermal stress and mechanical stress) at the time of handling, mounting or at customer’s process. When using products for which damp-proof packing is required, satisfy the conditions, such as shelf life and the elapsed time since first opening the packages. (6) This book may be not reprinted or reproduced whether wholly or partially, without the prior written permission of our company. T04007CE-5 2011.3 5-1 5 Product Safety The matters that the customer should execute in the development, manufacturing, and sales of electrical and electronic equipment include selecting semiconductor devices that possess the functions, performance, quality, and reliability to meet the requirements for the equipment, preventing the application of stress during use that exceeds the capability of the semiconductor device, implementing safe design and safety measures for the equipment, and evaluating and verifying the functions, performance, quality, reliability, and safety of the equipment before use and sales. Precautions regarding using semiconductor devices necessary to ensure the quality, reliability, and safety of electrical and electronic equipment are described in “6. Precautions on Use of Semiconductor Devices”. Furthermore, the mechanisms by which semiconductor devices break down are described in “3. Failure Mechanism of Semiconductor Devices”. When using each individual semiconductor device, the specific precautions that should be taken include not only understanding these general precautions but also referring the product documents, specifications, manuals, etc. of the respective devices. 5.2 Main Required Performance Characteristics for Product Safety For semiconductor devices, although there is normally no danger (of ignition, smoke, generation of toxic gas, etc.) from the semiconductor device itself, the items considered from a safety aspect are increasing the resistance to ignition of the semiconductor device itself, having the semiconductor devices used safely under the actual use conditions of the customer’s electrical and electronic equipment, and further, minimizing the environmental impact upon disposal when the equipment use has been completed. For increasing the resistance to ignition under actual use, for semiconductor devices with resin-sealed packages, resins whose flammability has been checked according to UL standards are used. UL standards include regulations regarding ranges for general-purpose applications (higher than UL94V-2 grade) and ranges for power supply component applications (UL94V-2 to V-0). In general, our company’s semiconductor devices with resin-sealed packages utilize UL94V-0 recognized materials, the highest flammability grade, so that they can be used for applications in the general-purpose ranges and the powersupply-component ranges under UL standards. The standards for flammability grades according to UL94 standards are shown in Tables 5.1 and 5.2. T04007CE-5 2011.3 5-2 5 Table 5.1 Vertical Method 94V-0 94V-1 94V-2 A. Burn time after removal of flame Less than 10 seconds Less than 30 seconds Less than 30 seconds B. Sample burn time (total time for 5 samples at 2 times each) Less than 50 seconds Less than 250 seconds Less than 250 seconds C. Burning or glowing up to clamp position Unacceptable Unacceptable Unacceptable D. Ignition of medical cotton by flaming particles dropped from sample E. Glowing time after second application of flame Table 5.2 Product Safety None None Present Less than 30 seconds Less than 60 seconds Less than 60 seconds Horizontal Method 94HB A. Degree of burning of 75 mm section: 1) For material thickness of 3 mm to 13 mm: Less than 40 mm/min. 2) For material thickness of less than 3 mm: Less than 75 mm/min. B. Flames are extinguished before reaching 100 mm standard line. a) Safety standards Ensuring product safety is a responsibility to society that companies must fulfill. In order to ensure safety sufficiently and fully protect consumers, various regulations have been set up by legal and thirdparty organizations, but as trading becomes more borderless, the harmonization and unification of the laws and standards of the various countries are progressing with the IEC at the center. In this section, typical safety standards will be introduced. (1) Electrical Appliance and Material Safety Law (PSE Law) Law regarding standards for the safety of electrical products in Japan (often called the “PSE Law”), it includes regulations on the manufacture, sales, and use of electrical products. This law is the result of revisions made in 1999 to the Electrical Appliance and Material Control Law (“Dentori Law” for short), and contains regulations regarding specified electrical products and other electrical products. Specified electrical products: Product types for which the degree of danger is high in the case of an accident (115 product types). These types were previously classified as “Grade A” electrical parts under the previous Dentori Law; the classification was changed when the law was revised. These products must be taken to testing facilities registered with the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, undergo the appropriate testing, and then be labeled with the PSE mark and the name of the testing facility. T04007CE-5 2011.3 5-3 5 Product Safety [Registered testing facilities in Japan and corresponding test product types] Japan Electrical Testing Laboratories (JET): Electrical wiring, electrical distribution equipment, and electrical equipment, etc. Japan Quality Assurance Organization (JQA): General equipment using electronic components Japan Electric Cable Technology Center, Inc.: Electrical wiring, electrical distribution equipment, etc. and 3 other facilities. Other electrical products: Product types classified as “Grade B” under the previous Dentori Law fit in this category, and reporting by product type is required. The category of other electrical products includes 338 product types. (2) UL standards (Underwriters Laboratories, Inc.) Standards defined by a civilian organization in the US. In fact, certification of UL approval has become required for all products for US sales. UL carries out research and inspection to protect lives and property from fire, theft, and other accidents. (3) IEC standards (International Electrotechnical Commission) Standards defined by the IEC, the international standardization organization formed with the purpose of harmonizing and unifying international standards in the fields of electrical and electronic technology. The IEC also operates the IECEE (the IEC System for Conformity Testing and Certification of Electrotechnical Equipment and Components). Main safety standards: IEC 60065: Audio, video and similar electronic apparatus − Safety requirements IEC/TR 60355: Environmental testing − Electrical/electronic − An appraisal of the problems of accelerated testing for atmospheric corrosion IEC 60695: Fire hazard testing − Part 1-1: Guidance for assessing the fire hazard of electrotechnical products IEC 60707: Flammability of solid non-metallic materials when exposed to flame sources − List of test methods IEC 60950: Information technology equipment − Safety − Part 1: General requirements T04007CE-5 2011.3 5-4