Non-Linear Conductivity Epoxy/SiC Composites for Emerging Power Module Packaging: Fabrication, Characterization and Application.

Rui Li,Boxue Du,Hucheng Liang,Yufan Wang,Cheng Zhang,Jin Li

doi:10.3390/ma13153278

Abstract

In this paper, SiC/epoxy resin composites containing different amounts of micro-sized SiC with different crystal morphologies were fabricated to study the effects of crystal morphology and temperature on non-linear conductivity characteristics. The research results illustrate that the β-SiC particles can provide a higher non-linear conductivity, compared with the α-SiC particles. The presence of temperature also affected the non-linear conductivity behaviors of the epoxy/SiC composites. When the α-SiC content was low, the non-linear conductivity coefficient of the composites increased rapidly as the temperature increased, but the non-linear conductivity decreased slightly as the temperature increased when the filler concentration was large enough. To reduce the influence of the electric field concentration effect by the increase in power density on the power module packaging, the voltage sharing application of the SiC/epoxy composites was simulated by COMSOL Multiphysics (v5.2a, COMSOL Inc., Stockholm, Sweden). The results show that the composites with non-linear conductivity can reduce the electric field stress. The emerging insulation material obtained by the SiC-modified epoxy resin can effectively promote electric field distribution uniformity, and ensure the safe operation of the power module.

Highlights

In recent years, epoxy resin composites have been widely applied in insulation equipment and module packaging, due to their exceptional performance including good heat resistance properties, excellent mechanical properties, and great insulating properties [1,2,3]
Many studies have shown that the above-mentioned composites can intelligently regulate conductivity characteristics to make the electric field uniformly distributed, because the conductivity of materials is highly dependent on the electric field strength as the electric field exceeds a certain value [5,6,7,8]
The results indicate that the electric field reduction method employing the non-linear field-dependent conductivity (FDC) layer is almost temperature-independent

Summary

Introduction

Epoxy resin composites have been widely applied in insulation equipment and module packaging, due to their exceptional performance including good heat resistance properties, excellent mechanical properties, and great insulating properties [1,2,3]. As the basic material of electronic packaging, epoxy resin composites affect the performance of the packaging. The current power module packaging requires good insulating properties of epoxy resin composites under a high electric field and at a high temperature. The non-linear conductivity enables composites to suppress space charge accumulation and electric branch growth, thereby effectively improving the insulation performance of the equipment [9,10]

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion