1700 V full-SiC half-bridge power module with low switching loss

Abstract

A 1700 V/200 A half-bridge power module with silicon carbide (SiC)-based metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors (MOSFETs) and Schottky barrier diodes (SBDs) was researched and developed. Two direct bonded copper (DBC) substrates are interconnected by copper-based clips with width of 6 mm and thickness of 0.8 mm. The DBC substrate and terminals are interconnected by lead free solder alloy. Static and switching characteristics of the power module were tested. The measured turn-on and turn-off switching energies were 20.15 mJ and 3.98 mJ, respectively. We designed and implemented the evaluation circuit board to measure and extract the stray inductance of the module. The extracted stray inductance of the power module was 13.4 nH. Three reliability tests such as high-temperature storage life (HTSL) of 150°C, temperature humidity bias (THB) of 85°C / 85% RH and thermal cycling (TC) of −65~150°C were evaluated. After the reliability tests, the rate of changes of forward current at the same condition was less than 11.98%.