Warpage Evaluation of High-Temperature Sandwich-Structured Power Module for SiC Power Semiconductor Devices

Abstract

This article presents a sandwich-structured SiC power module that can be operated at 225°C. The proposed power module has two ceramic substrates that are made of different materials (Si3N4 and Al2O3). The SiC devices are sandwiched between these ceramic substrates. The module also has a baseplate soldered onto the ceramic substrate. Conventional power modules use baseplate materials with a large coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE), for example, Cu (17–18 ppm/°C and Al (23–24 ppm/°C). In the fabrication process, the soldering temperature reaches 450°C because Au-Ge eutectic solder is used. A problem was found in the fabrication process of the module because of the high soldering temperature and CTE mismatches of the components. Furthermore, for high-temperature operation, a thermal cycle of −40°C to 250°C will be needed to ensure reliability and it is important to decrease the warpage of the module during the thermal cycle. By using stainless steel (CTE: 10 ppm/°C) for the baseplate, the warp-age measured at room temperature was reduced to one-third that of a module using a Cu baseplate. Further, the warpage displacement from 50°C to 250°C was also reduced.