Modelling the self-heating of power devices

This paper describes how the self4eating effect is included in power device models which are used for circuit simulations. As examples the thermal characteristics of the power MOSFET and the reverse diode are presented. Self-heating is determined by the power dissipation and by the thermal resistance and capacitance of device and package. These parameters are extracted from the observed thermal behavior of the device. The thermal and electrical device characteristics are mathematidy formulated and implemented in the circuit simulator SABER.. Results show the significance of the self-heating effect.