A Review of SiC Power Module Packaging Technologies: Challenges, Advances, and Emerging Issues
01 Mar 2020-IEEE Journal of Emerging and Selected Topics in Power Electronics (IEEE)-Vol. 8, Iss: 1, pp 239-255
TL;DR: The standard power module structure is reviewed, the reasons why novel packaging technologies should be developed are described, and the packaging challenges associated with high-speed switching, thermal management, high-temperature operation, and high-voltage isolation are explained in detail.
Abstract: Power module packaging technologies have been experiencing extensive changes as the novel silicon carbide (SiC) power devices with superior performance become commercially available. This article presents an overview of power module packaging technologies in this transition, with an emphasis on the challenges that current standard packaging face, requirements that future power module packaging needs to fulfill, and recent advances on packaging technologies. The standard power module structure, which is a widely used current practice to package SiC devices, is reviewed, and the reasons why novel packaging technologies should be developed are described in this article. The packaging challenges associated with high-speed switching, thermal management, high-temperature operation, and high-voltage isolation are explained in detail. Recent advances on technologies, which try to address the limitations of standard packaging, both in packaging elements and package structure are summarized. The trend toward novel soft-switching power converters gave rise to problems regarding package designs of unconventional module configuration. Potential applications areas, such as aerospace applications, introduce low-temperature challenges to SiC packaging. Key issues in these emerging areas are highlighted.
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01 Jun 2021
TL;DR: This article introduces the reliability requirements and challenges given for the power electronics applied in EV/HEV applications, and the advances in power electronic components to address the reliability challenges are introduced as they individually contribute to the overall system reliability.
Abstract: The electrification of the transportation sector is moving on at a fast pace. All car manufacturers have strong programs to electrify their car fleet to fulfill the demands of society and customers by offering carbon-neutral technologies to bring goods and persons from one location to another. Power electronics technology is, in this evolution, essential and also in a rapid development technology-wise. Some of the introduced technologies are quite mature, and the systems designed must have high reliability as they can be quite complicated from an electrical perspective. Therefore, this article focuses on the reliability of the used power electronic systems applied in electric vehicles (EVs) and hybrid EVs (HEVs). It introduces the reliability requirements and challenges given for the power electronics applied in EV/HEV applications. Then, the advances in power electronic components to address the reliability challenges are introduced as they individually contribute to the overall system reliability. The reliability-oriented design methodology is also discussed, including two examples: an EV onboard charger and the drive train inverter. Finally, an outlook in terms of research opportunities in power electronics reliability related to EV/HEVs is provided. It can be concluded that many topics are already well handled in terms of reliability, but issues related to complete new technology introduction are important to keep the focus on.
44 citations
Cites background from "A Review of SiC Power Module Packag..."
...6 shows the respective advances in packaging elements for interconnection, substrate, and die attach of power modules, as presented in [18]....
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...Using wide bandgap devices and new packaging technologies [17], [18], which are being adapted to the transportation sector and their reliability requirements, is also important....
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...Advances in packaging elements for power modules [18]....
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...Various advanced packaging concepts are proposed as surveyed in [18] to overcome the challenges...
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...6 shows the advances in packaging structures, as presented in [18]....
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01 Jan 1996
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present an exaustive description of the symptoms and a simple qualitative model for the time-dependent lift-off of aluminium bond wires in IGBT modules.
Abstract: Catastrophic burn-out occurring during power-cycling of insulated gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) multichip modules has been observed to arise as a secondary failure mechanism caused by the lifting of the emitter aluminium bonding wires. In fact, the successive lift-off of the aluminium wires turns in a current crowding through few IGBT cells with consequent triggering of the internal parasitic thyristor-structure. Based on failure analysis data, this paper presents an exaustive description of the symptoms and a simple qualitative model for the time-dependent lift-off of aluminium bond wires in IGBT modules. This power-cycling induced failure mechanism (occurring in the field and during accelerated tests) is described in terms of plastic deformation of the aluminium interconnections (bond wires and chip-metallization) during pulsed operation. Some practical conclusions are finally drawn for power cycle testing and for optimal thermal design.
43 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, a porous interposer made of low-temperature sintered silver is introduced to reduce the thermomechanical stresses in the power module and a double-side cooled half-bridge module consisting of two 1200 V, 149 A SiC MOSFETs was designed, fabricated, and characterized.
Abstract: Planar, double-side cooled power modules are emerging in electric-drive inverters because of their low profile, better heat extraction, and lower package parasitic inductances However, there is still a concern about their reliability due to the rigid interconnection between the device chips and two substrates of the power module In this article, a porous interposer made of low-temperature sintered silver is introduced to reduce the thermomechanical stresses in the module A double-side cooled half-bridge module consisting of two 1200 V, 149 A SiC MOSFETs was designed, fabricated, and characterized By using the sintered-Ag instead of solid copper interposers, our simulation results showed that, at a total power loss of 200 W, the thermomechanical stress at the most vulnerable interfaces (interposer-attach layer) was reduced by 42% and in the SiC MOSFET by 50% with a tradeoff of only 36% increase in junction temperature The sintered-Ag interposers were readily fabricated into the desired dimensions without postmachining and did not require any surface finishing for die bonding and substrate interconnection by silver sintering The porous interposers were also deformable under a low force or pressure, which helped to accommodate chip thickness and/or substrate-to-substrate gap variations in the planar module structure, thus simplifying module fabrication The experimental results on the electrical performance of the fabricated SiC modules validated the success of using the porous silver interposers for fabricating planar, double-side cooled power modules
38 citations
TL;DR: In this article, a detailed comparison of SM topologies regarding their structural properties, design and control complexity, voltage capability, losses, and fault handling is given, and Alternatives to state-of-the-art SMs with Si insulated-gate bipolar transistors are proposed, and several promising design approaches are discussed.
Abstract: Recent advancements in silicon carbide (SiC) power semiconductor technology enable developments in the high-power sector, e.g., high-voltage-direct-current (HVdc) converters for transmission, where today silicon (Si) devices are state-of-the-art. New submodule (SM) topologies for modular multilevel converters offer benefits in combination with these new SiC semiconductors. This article reviews developments in both fields, SiC power semiconductor devices and SM topologies, and evaluates their combined performance in relation to core requirements for HVdc converters: grid code compliance, reliability, and cost. A detailed comparison of SM topologies regarding their structural properties, design and control complexity, voltage capability, losses, and fault handling is given. Alternatives to state-of-the-art SMs with Si insulated-gate bipolar transistors (IGBTs) are proposed, and several promising design approaches are discussed. Most advantages can be gained from three technology features. First, SM bipolar capability enables dc fault handling and reduced the energy storage requirements. Second, SM topologies with parallel conduction paths in combination with SiC metal–oxide–semiconductor field-effect transistors offer reduced losses. Third, a higher SM voltage enabled by a higher blocking voltage of SiC devices results in a reduced converter complexity. For the latter, ultrahigh-voltage bipolar devices, such as SiC IGBTs and SiC gate turn- off thyristors, are envisioned.
29 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors proposed a double-sided cooling based on planar packaging method, which can get rid of the thermal and electrical challenges in multichip SiC power modules.
Abstract: Double-sided cooling based on planar packaging method features better thermal performance than traditional single-sided cooling based on wire bonds. However, this method still faces thermal and electrical challenges in multichip SiC power modules. Specifically, one is severe thermal coupling among parallel bare dies, and the other is unbalanced current sharing due to unreasonable layout design. This article aims to explore the potentials of SiC power devices in power module, which are higher current capability and reliability. The proposed packaging method is called interleaved planar packaging and can get rid of the optimizing contradiction between thermal and electrical performance. In this packaging method, there are two functional units: interleaved switch unit and current commutator structure. Benefited from the two units’ electromagnetic and thermal decoupling effects, the interleaved power module features low loop inductance, balanced current, low coupling thermal resistance, and even thermal distributions. A 1200 V 3.25 mΩ half-bridge SiC power module based on interleaved planar packaging is fabricated and tested to verify this method's superiority.
26 citations
References
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07 Nov 2002
TL;DR: It appears unlikely that wide bandgap semiconductor devices will find much use in low-power transistor applications until the ambient temperature exceeds approximately 300/spl deg/C, as commercially available silicon and silicon-on-insulator technologies are already satisfying requirements for digital and analog VLSI in this temperature range.
Abstract: The fact that wide bandgap semiconductors are capable of electronic functionality at much higher temperatures than silicon has partially fueled their development, particularly in the case of SiC. It appears unlikely that wide bandgap semiconductor devices will find much use in low-power transistor applications until the ambient temperature exceeds approximately 300/spl deg/C, as commercially available silicon and silicon-on-insulator technologies are already satisfying requirements for digital and analog VLSI in this temperature range. However practical operation of silicon power devices at ambient temperatures above 200/spl deg/C appears problematic, as self-heating at higher power levels results in high internal junction temperatures and leakages. Thus, most electronic subsystems that simultaneously require high-temperature and high-power operation will necessarily be realized using wide bandgap devices, once they become widely available. Technological challenges impeding the realization of beneficial wide bandgap high ambient temperature electronics, including material growth, contacts, and packaging, are briefly discussed.
863 citations
TL;DR: The technology progress of SiC power devices and their emerging applications are reviewed and the design challenges and future trends are summarized.
Abstract: Silicon carbide (SiC) power devices have been investigated extensively in the past two decades, and there are many devices commercially available now. Owing to the intrinsic material advantages of SiC over silicon (Si), SiC power devices can operate at higher voltage, higher switching frequency, and higher temperature. This paper reviews the technology progress of SiC power devices and their emerging applications. The design challenges and future trends are summarized at the end of the paper.
806 citations
"A Review of SiC Power Module Packag..." refers background in this paper
...manufacturing processes need to be improved to make the cost of SiC devices more justifiable [5], [11]....
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...one of the main causes of slow penetration of SiC devices into the power electronics market [5], [10]....
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...packaging approaches [5], which takes time to be resolved....
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...However, as Si-based power devices have been approaching to its physical limit, further improving their performance is becoming a great challenge [4], [5]....
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...5 kV and 175 ◦C, respectively, and the switching speed is relatively slow [5]....
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TL;DR: In this paper, a resonant DC-link inverter was proposed and realized with the addition of only one small inductor and capacitor to a conventional voltage source inverter circuit.
Abstract: A novel approach to realizing efficient high-performance power converters is presented. The concept of a resonant DC link inverter has been proposed and realized with the addition of only one small inductor and capacitor to a conventional voltage source inverter circuit. The proposed technology is capable of switching almost an order of magnitude faster than state-of-the-art voltage source inverters at significantly improved efficiencies using the same family of devices. The topology is especially suitable for high-power applications using gate turn-off devices. A 4.5 kW inverter has been fabricated and tested extensively in the laboratory, and the superior characteristics of the resonant DC link topology have been verified. >
790 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the tradeoff between switching losses and the high-frequency spectral amplitude of the device switching waveforms is quantified experimentally for all-Si, Si-SiC, and allSiC device combinations.
Abstract: Silicon carbide (SiC) switching power devices (MOSFETs, JFETs) of 1200 V rating are now commercially available, and in conjunction with SiC diodes, they offer substantially reduced switching losses relative to silicon (Si) insulated gate bipolar transistors (IGBTs) paired with fast-recovery diodes. Low-voltage industrial variable-speed drives are a key application for 1200 V devices, and there is great interest in the replacement of the Si IGBTs and diodes that presently dominate in this application with SiC-based devices. However, much of the performance benefit of SiC-based devices is due to their increased switching speeds ( di/dt, dv/ dt), which raises the issues of increased electromagnetic interference (EMI) generation and detrimental effects on the reliability of inverter-fed electrical machines. In this paper, the tradeoff between switching losses and the high-frequency spectral amplitude of the device switching waveforms is quantified experimentally for all-Si, Si-SiC, and all-SiC device combinations. While exploiting the full switching-speed capability of SiC-based devices results in significantly increased EMI generation, the all-SiC combination provides a 70% reduction in switching losses relative to all-Si when operated at comparable dv/dt. It is also shown that the loss-EMI tradeoff obtained with the Si-SiC device combination can be significantly improved by driving the IGBT with a modified gate voltage profile.
380 citations
01 Oct 1989
TL;DR: In this paper, a lossless resonant snubberber is proposed to avoid trapping energy in a converter circuit where high dynamic stresses at both turn-on and turn-off are normally encountered.
Abstract: A resonant snubber is described for voltage-source inverters, current-source inverters, and self-commutated frequency changers. The main self-turn-off devices have shunt capacitors directly across them. The lossless resonant snubber described avoids trapping energy in a converter circuit where high dynamic stresses at both turn-on and turn-off are normally encountered. This is achieved by providing a temporary parallel path through a small ordinary thyristor (or other device operating in a similar node) to take over the high-stress turn-on duty from the main gate turn-off (GTO) or power transistor, in a manner that leaves no energy trapped after switching. >
339 citations