Tailoring Electric Field Distortion in High-Voltage Power Modules Utilizing Epoxy Resin/Silicon Carbide Whisker Composites with Field-Dependent Conductivity

Abstract

This paper reports the performance of an epoxy resin/silicon carbide whisker (EP/SiCw) composite (1–5 wt %) as the field-dependent conductivity (FDC) layer for electric field reduction in the high-voltage power module. The experiments consist of a field emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM), thermal conductivity, Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy, thermally stimulated discharge current (TSDC), space charge, DC conductivity, and dielectric spectroscopy. The DC conductivity and dielectric spectroscopy are used for DC and AC stationary electric field simulations, respectively. The electric field reduction of EP/SiCw composites in the power module is analyzed, and the void defect in the FDC layer is also identified. The observed percolation threshold of the EP/SiCw composites is 3 wt %, and the DC electric field near the triple point decreases significantly by 74.8% under 10 kV when a 5 wt % EP/SiCw composite is applied for the FDC layer. It was found that the efficient threshold operating frequency of the FDC layer is around 10 kHz. The FDC layer can significantly reduce the electric field under AC voltage below 10 kHz. Although the power loss with the FDC layer increases obviously without the FDC layer, it is still lower than 1 W at 1 MHz, which is negligible for industrial applications. Notably, the void in the FDC layer is identified by the slowly increased dielectric loss with the increase of frequency through dielectric spectroscopy simulation.