Numerical and Experimental Study on Improving the Surge Current Capability of IGBT Power Modules

摘要

Surge current capability is one of the most important characteristics of the power module. This paper investigates the effect of top metallization on the surge current capability ( I2t). The finite element simulation shows that sintered copper pad can reduce the maximum junction temperature by 1.9 times, thus improving the module’s I2t capability. Four samples with/without copper pad were made by adopting different connections on both sides of the FRD chips. Their I2t capability was tested by experiments to verify the simulation results. The failure analysis after surge current experiments proves that the weak points are in different locations for modules with/without copper pad.