3D electro-thermal simulations of wide area power devices operating in avalanche condition

Abstract

In this paper a novel 3D electro-thermal simulator for high power devices operating in avalanche condition will be presented. The proposed solution is based on two coupled systems: a 3D-FEM thermal simulator and a 2D electrical solver. The simulator has been implemented in MATLAB language. It is capable of simulating a large number of macro-cells composing a wide-area power devices operating in avalanche condition. The electrical solver uses a SPICE-like algorithm with a look-up-table description for every cell. The thermal problem is solved by a finite element method (FEM) in an iterative scheme with the electrical simulator. In order to prove the effectiveness of the simulator, we will present electro-thermal simulations in Unclamped Inductive Switching (UIS) conditions for a high power Trench-IGBT.