Double-sided cooling for high power IGBT modules using flip chip technology

A new technique for the packaging of IGBT modules has been developed. The components are sandwiched between two DBC (direct bond copper) substrates with aluminum nitride. Wire bonds are replaced with flip chip solder bumps, which allows to cool components on both sides. Microchannel heat sinks are directly integrated in the package to decrease the thermal resistance of the module. Thus, a very compact module with high thermal performance is obtained. A prototype with two IGBTs (insulated gate bipolar transistor) and four diodes associated in parallel was realised and tested. In this paper, the innovative packaging technique is described, and results of thermal tests are presented.