Abstract
One of the most important advantages of wide-bandgap (WBG) devices is high operating temperature (>200°C). Power modules have been recognized as an enabling technology for many industries, such as automotive, deep-well drilling, and on-engine aircraft controls. These applications are all required to operate under some form of extreme environmental conditions. Silicone gels are the most popular solution for the encapsulation of power modules due to mechanical stress relief enabled by a low Young's modulus, electrical isolation achieved due to high dielectric strength, and a dense material structure that protects encapsulated devices against moisture, chemicals, contaminants, etc. Currently, investigations are focused on development of silicone gels with long-term high-temperature operational capability. The target is to elevate the temperature beyond 200°C to bolster adoption of power modules in the aforementioned applications. WACKER has developed silicone gels with ultra-high purity levels of < 2ppm of total residual ions combined with > 200°C thermal stability. In this work, leakage currents through a group of WACKER Chemie encapsulant silicone gels (A, B, C) are measured and compared for an array of test modules after exposure to a 12kV voltage sweep at room temperature up to 275°C, and thermal aging at 150°C for up to more than 700 hours. High temperature encapsulants capable of producing leakage currents less than 1μA, are deemed acceptable at the given applied blocking voltage and thermal aging soak temperature.
To fully characterize the high temperature encapsulants, silicone gel A, B, and C, an entire high temperature module is used as a common test vehicle. The power module test vehicle includes: 12mil/40mil/12mil Direct Bonded Copper (DBC) substrates, gel under test (GUT), power and Kelvin connected measurement terminals, thermistor thermal sensor to sense real-time temperature, and 12mil Al bonding wires to manage localized high E-Fields around wires. It was ultimately observed that silicone gels B and C were capable of maintaining low leakage current capabilities under 12kV and 275°C conditions, and thus present themselves as strong candidates for high-temperature WBG device power modules and packaging.
