High temperature, high power density packaging for automotive applications

The automotive industry is pushing power electronic packaging to higher operating and heatsink temperatures while still requiring very high power densities due to limited space. Currently, the power electronics that is implemented within the engine compartment of the vehicle must operate with heatsink temperatures of approximately 85/spl deg/C and this temperature can be expected to increase to 125/spl deg/C in the near future. The high temperature operation of the power electronic structure is fundamentally limited by the employed materials maximum temperatures. A packaging concept is introduced that describes a structure realisation that enables the materials to operate at high ambient temperatures without exceeding their individual maximum temperatures. This in turn allows the complete power electronic structure to operate at a higher system temperature. In this paper, the packaging concept that can be used to meet these difficult requirements of high temperature and high power-density is introduced, discussed and implemented. Two case studies are considered and implemented to illustrate the packaging concept.