Novel Polymer Substrate-Based 1.2 kV/40 A Double-Sided Intelligent Power Module

Advanced power module packaging technology is currently being heavily investigated to take full advantage of Wide Band Gap (WBG) power semiconductor devices. As one of most widely applied power module technologies, intelligent power modules, typically for automotive industries, work well to achieve higher operating frequencies with lower losses by integrating gate driver circuits with power semiconductor devices. In this paper, a novel flexible polymer substrate-based intelligent power module is developed and characterized. By applying 80 mu m-thick epoxy-resin based flexible dielectric as a substrate, the overall weight and volume of the power module is reduced, as well as the cost, compared with traditional direct bonded copper ceramic-based modules. The performance of the epoxy-resin based dielectric is investigated, and shows that the leakage current of the dielectric at >1.5 kV is less than 20 mu A at 250 degrees C. Double-sided solderable 1.2 kV SiC MOSFETs and Schottky diodes are fabricated and applied in the module without bonding wires, significantly reducing the overall parasitic inductance to <1 nH from simulation. A module is designed to integrate not only power devices and gate driver circuits, but also isolation circuits. The overall size of the module is within 15.5 mm x 35 mm x 3mm. Electrical measurements under static conditions indicate the SiC devices in the double-sided module fully exhibits performance better than data shown on the manufacturers' datasheets.