Electrically assisted stereolithography 3D printing of graded permittivity composites for in-situ encapsulation of insulated gate bipolar transistors (IGBTs)

Abstract

Insulated gate bipolar transistors (IGBTs) find applications in diverse fields, such as integrated motor drives, controllable power systems, and electric vehicles. However, traditional IGBT encapsulation materials are unsuitable for high-voltage applications due to the excessive electric field stress generated at the triple junction; an insulation-enhanced encapsulation material is therefore necessary. Here, using an electrically assisted stereolithography (SLA) 3D printing strategy, we fabricate an encapsulation material with graded permittivity that can uniform the electric field stress distribution in IGBTs. Compared with pure resin and uniform-dispersed BaTiO3-resin composite encapsulation, the graded BaTiO3-resin composite reduces the generated maximum electric field stress (Emax) from 190.2 to 108.3 kV/mm (nearly a 50% decrease). Regarding the partial discharge inception voltage, the devices packaged with graded BaTiO3-resin composite (4.07 kV) also performed better than devices packaged with resin (1.96 kV) and uniform-dispersed BaTiO3-resin composite (2.51 kV). This novel electrically assisted SLA 3D printing strategy will open a new window for the in-situ encapsulation of IGBTs and other microelectronics.