Thermal modelling and management for increasing the power density in high current power electronic systems

A good thermal management is the key for a reliable and compact design of high current integrated power electronics. Different thermal models are required to compute the heating of the system at the nominal operating point or for a complete load cycle. This paper presents the development of thermal models for a high current MOSFET with a finite - element - method (FEM) tool, the model simplification and verification as well as the development of design guidelines for high current power electronics. With the developed thermal models it is possible to design and optimize the thermal management.