A temperature-dependent thermal model of IGBT modules suitable for circuit-level simulations

Thermal impedance of IGBT modules may vary with operating conditions due to that the thermal conductivity and heat capacity of materials are temperature dependent. This paper proposes a Cauer thermal model for a 1700 V/1000 A IGBT module with temperature-dependent thermal resistances and thermal capacitances. The temperature effect is investigated by Finite Element Method (FEM) simulation based on the geometry and material information of the IGBT module. The developed model is ready for circuit-level simulation to achieve an improved accuracy of the estimation on IGBT junction temperature and its relevant reliability aspect performance. A test bench is built up with an ultra-fast infrared (IR) camera to validate the proposed thermal impedance model.

[1]  Frede Blaabjerg,et al.  Catastrophic failure and fault-tolerant design of IGBT power electronic converters - an overview , 2013, IECON 2013 - 39th Annual Conference of the IEEE Industrial Electronics Society.

[2]  J. Lutz,et al.  Semiconductor Power Devices: Physics, Characteristics, Reliability , 2011 .

[3]  Bo Wang,et al.  Test of IGBT Junction-Case Steady State Thermal Resistance and Experimental Analysis , 2010, 2010 International Conference on Intelligent System Design and Engineering Application.

[4]  Andrea Irace,et al.  Modeling of highly anisotropic microstructures for electro-thermal simulations of power semiconductor devices , 2012, Microelectron. Reliab..

[5]  Nadarajah Narendran,et al.  Characterization of thermal resistance coefficient of high-power LEDs , 2006, SPIE Optics + Photonics.

[6]  Mark Johnson,et al.  New technology and tool for enhanced packaging of semiconductor power devices , 2009, 2009 IEEE International Symposium on Industrial Electronics.

[7]  Tao Wang,et al.  Transient Thermal Performance of IGBT Power Modules Attached by Low-Temperature Sintered Nanosilver , 2012, IEEE Transactions on Device and Materials Reliability.

[8]  M. Liserre,et al.  Toward Reliable Power Electronics: Challenges, Design Tools, and Opportunities , 2013, IEEE Industrial Electronics Magazine.

[9]  O. A. Mohammed,et al.  A physics-based, dynamic electro-thermal model of silicon carbide power IGBT devices , 2013, 2013 Twenty-Eighth Annual IEEE Applied Power Electronics Conference and Exposition (APEC).

[10]  Xiangyu Liu,et al.  Power-CAD: A novel methodology for design, analysis and optimization of Power Electronic Module layouts , 2010, 2010 IEEE Energy Conversion Congress and Exposition.

[11]  I. Omura,et al.  Role of Simulation Technology for the Progress in Power Devices and Their Applications , 2013, IEEE Transactions on Electron Devices.

[12]  Stig Munk-Nielsen,et al.  A review on real time physical measurement techniques and their attempt to predict wear-out status of IGBT , 2013, 2013 15th European Conference on Power Electronics and Applications (EPE).

[13]  Andrea Irace.  Infrared Thermography application to functional and failure analysis of electron devices and circuits , 2012, Microelectron. Reliab..

[14]  J.C.J. Paasschens,et al.  Dependence of thermal resistance on ambient and actual temperature , 2004, Bipolar/BiCMOS Circuits and Technology, 2004. Proceedings of the 2004 Meeting.