IEEE Workshop on Wide Bandgap Power Devices and Applications in Asia (WiPDA Asia 2018)

302 / 2017-12-08 08:48:28

Transient Thermal Characteristics of Power Modules under Extreme Operation Conditions

Plenary track > Device characterization and modeling

In this paper, the typical operation conditions are identified for a half bridge power module. Then based on an improved temperature-dependent Cauer-type thermal model, the thermal dynamics can be captured analytically. It is found that the junction temperature would increase dramatically after the operation condition changes. During some extreme conditions, the junction temperature would be danger for a semiconductor device. A high power Si IGBT module and a low power GaN MOSFET module are taken as examples to perform our analytical method. Finally, the power modules are built in a finite element analysis (FEA) software. The current transients are applied to the FEA models and the results show that the junction temperature is raising as predicted. Therefore, the safety operation areas can be further redefined according to the dynamic operation conditions and the junction temperature.