Re: possible HighPoint RocketRAID 2720SGL failure

[Wols Lists <antlists@youngman.org.uk>]

On 23/09/17 15:49, Phil Turmel wrote:
> If thermal stress doesn't kill them, then dopant diffusion within the
> semiconductors eventually will.  This occurs even when turned off, but
> proceeds much faster at elevated temperatures.  Dopant concentrations
> are engineered to not suffer from diffusion effects well beyond the
> expected life of the components (at rated operating temps), but that
> doesn't mean there aren't marginal production runs.  Which can be hard
> to discover before parts start failing years later.  If that happens
> after the warranty period, the manufacturer has dodged a big bullet.
> With a bit of tarnish on their name, of course.

And as manufacturers shrink their die sizes, dopant diffusion and
quantum leakage become much bigger problems :-( If your transistor is
only four or five atoms deep, it won't have many dopant atoms, and they
only have to diffuse a short distance before your transistor is toast.

Cheers,
Wol