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.
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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.
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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.
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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
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