Integrated thermal management for a high-power-density silicon carbide power module with die-level heat flux over 1000 W/cm2

As the continuously miniaturization of SiC devices promotes the die-level heat flux up to 1 kW/cm
²
, efficient thermal management is critical for the current load and reliability of power electronics. This work describes the design, fabrication, and performance of an integrated cooling strategy for power electronics. The strategy includes low thermal resistance package (directly bonded heat sinks by nano-silver sintering) and an integrated convective cooling approach (manifold microchannels). After carefully numerical optimization, three prototypes of SiC power modules were then fabricated to characterize their performance. The final design has demonstrated a six-chip compact package (~30-cm
³
including heat sink and power devices), and heat fluxes over 1000 W/cm2 (total heat loss 1500 W) was dissipated with an ultra-low thermal resistance of 9.85 mm
²
K W
^-1
at a flowrate of 2.16 L/min. A further benchmark comparison indicated that the microchannel cooling could simultaneously provide 80% and 83% lower thermal resistance and pumping power, respectively, than the conventional liquid-cooled power modules. Besides, this integrated-cooling architecture could enable two times higher output current through a fully compatible packaging process, which could provide a promising solution for the reliable compact integration of SiC devices.