The thermal impedance of new power semiconductor modules using AlN substrates

Author

Mitic, G. ; Sommer, K.-H. ; Dieci, D. ; Lefranc, G.

Author_Institution

Corp. Technol. Dept., Siemens AG, Munich, Germany

Volume

2

fYear

1998

fDate

12-15 Oct. 1998

Firstpage

1026

Abstract

Increasing operating voltages of IGBT modules result in higher dissipation heat as well as additional requirements on the insulation and partial discharge. The most important part affected here is the substrate. AlN ceramic with a thermal conductivity of typically /spl lambda/=180 W/mK is clearly superior to the conventional Al/sub 2/O/sub 3/ ceramic at /spl lambda/=27 W/mK. The thermal and thermomechanical properties of AlN substrates have been investigated in view of IGBT modules. Measurements of the thermal resistance R/sub th/ of the AlN substrates assembled with IGBTs gave values less than that of Al/sub 2/O/sub 3/ substrates by a factor greater than three. In complete IGBT power modules a factor of two is achieved. Temperature cycling test of AlN substrates and modules show a reliability similar to those of Al/sub 2/O/sub 3/ i.e. the reliability requirements are fulfilled.

Keywords

aluminium compounds; ceramics; insulated gate bipolar transistors; modules; substrates; thermal analysis; thermal conductivity; thermal resistance measurement; AlN; AlN ceramic; AlN substrates; IGBT modules; higher dissipation heat; insulation; operating voltages; partial discharge; power semiconductor modules; quality requirements; reliability requirements; temperature cycling test; thermal conductivity; thermal impedance; thermal properties; thermal resistance measurements; thermomechanical properties; Ceramics; Impedance; Insulated gate bipolar transistors; Insulation; Partial discharges; Substrates; Thermal conductivity; Thermal resistance; Thermomechanical processes; Voltage;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Industry Applications Conference, 1998. Thirty-Third IAS Annual Meeting. The 1998 IEEE

Conference_Location

St. Louis, MO, USA

ISSN

0197-2618

Print_ISBN

0-7803-4943-1

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/IAS.1998.730272

Filename

730272