Numerical simulation and optimization of heat dissipation structure for high power insulated gate bipolar transistor (IGBT)

Abstract

With the increasing integration level of IGBT components, heat dissipation capacity determines whether its working state is stable. The third-generation semiconductor chips are expected to be made of SiC or GaN materials, with lower power loss and higher thermostability. Currently, the widely used backplane heat dissipation schemes cannot meet the heat dissipation requirements of high-power IGBT modules. In this study, an aluminium alloy shell with an AlN column is proposed to replace the traditional plastic shell to further improve the heat dissipation of IGBT devices. 180°C is set as the expected maximum temperature of the module, and finite element modelling and analysis of the heat dissipation structure of the IGBT device is carried out. Four types of design schemes are compared and the heat dissipation structure is optimized. AlN heat-transfer blocks and Ag sintering are introduced to realise the novel design. The results show that traditional single-side heat dissipation can not meet the requirements. The improved double-side dissipation scheme meets the requirement when the heat sink fin height is more than 15mm. And the optimized heat sink shall have 14 fins of 20mm in height. The results of this study can provide a reference for the thermal management and design of high-power third-generation semiconductor devices.