Tutorials: Monday full day

Tutorial Objectives

Wide bandgap devices are increasingly penetrating the automotive market and are becoming prime candidates for implementation in applications like traction inverters or battery chargers. The mission profile of the traction inverter is a particularly aggressive one since the electrothermal stresses on the power devices vary significantly in amplitude and frequency as the motor drive goes through various stages of the drive cycle including acceleration, deceleration, stalling etc. Historically, the traction converter has been implemented using silicon devices where the performance and reliability is well known and understood. Application of WBG devices like SiC MOSFETs and GaN power devices in automotive applications requires understanding of the reliability and qualification procedures especially according to the automotive standard. SiC and GaN power devices have varying internal physics and modes of operation with vastly varying robustness and reliability performance compared to silicon devices. Given the sensitive nature of the application, these devices must pass stringent automotive reliability tests and guidelines defined by the Automotive Electronics Council (AEC), the Joint Electron Device Engineering Council (JEDEC-JC70) and the European Centre of power electronics (AQG). The objectives of this tutorial are

1. Introduce the reliability and robustness requirements of automotive power devices.
2. Understand the role of packaging and how it affects electrothermal and thermo-mechanical performance.
3. Understand the physics of degradation and failure of power devices.
4. Understand the peculiarities of robustness and reliability in WBG devices (SiC and GaN).
5. Understand test methods and circuits used in assessing the reliability and robustness of power devices.