Application of solderable devices for assembling three-dimensional power electronics modules

Power semiconductor bond wires are known to cause high interconnection resistance, switching noise, parasitic oscillations, nonuniform current distribution, and fatigue failure. The wire-bonded device and modules are also limited to unidirectional heat dissipation that limits packaging density. Consequently, they are difficult to integrate into three-dimensional multichip packages that are expected to offer improved system performance. Our research and development efforts aim to investigate three-dimensional packaging of integrated power electronics modules (IPEMs) where interconnections are provided via bond-wireless techniques. This paper presents the application of solderable power devices for building 30 kW, 3-D bond-wireless IPEMs. Experimental results show that the solder interconnection of power devices in the modules significantly lowers resistance, parasitics, and noise.