Investigation of Low-Profile, High-Performance 62-mm SiC Power Module Package

Abstract

Silicon carbide (SiC) power devices possess many beneficial properties for power electronics applications, but commercial 62-mm SiC power module packages with the direct drop-in replacement of Si devices limit many benefits of these SiC power devices. To fully utilize the advantages of the SiC power devices, this article presents a low-profile and high power density packaging solution of a 62-mm 1200-V/300-A SiC power module with enhanced electrical and thermal performance. The design optimizations on layout, chip placement, and terminal structure are compatible with the conventional module fabrication processes. An increase of power density by threefold is achieved with a low-profile package by reducing the height of the terminal connectors. Moreover, lower voltage overshoots of gate-source and drain-source of the proposed module are demonstrated due to low inductance in both gate and power loops. Thermal simulations show that the proposed module has a lower peak junction temperature and a more balanced temperature distribution among paralleled devices. Finally, the commercial and fabricated modules are characterized experimentally under the same conditions. Both simulation and experimental results show that the gate and power loop inductances of the proposed module are reduced by 96% and 76%, respectively. Moreover, the total switching loss and drain-source voltage overshoot are reduced by 44% and 54%, respectively, at 300 A using a 2- Ω external gate resistor.