Holistic Approach to Maximize Lifetime and Power Density in High Power Semiconductor Modules

Abstract:
The challenge in power electronics is, to achieve higher power throughput in smaller housings using less resources while increasing efficiency and reduce cost. As these targets have contradicting solutions, compromises need to be chosen. Higher currents increase the thermal stress in a given device, reducing its lifetime. To counteract, exchanging IGBTs using wide band gap SiC-MOSFETs is considered. However, the solution becomes more expensive in turn. Adapting an approach as done in presspack- devices and allow electrically active heat sinks opens the path to massive improvement. The present work shows how this can be done in IGBT-based designs.