Packaging of a 10-kV Double-Side Cooled Silicon Carbide Diode Module With Thin Substrates Coated by a Nonlinear Resistive Polymer-Nanoparticle Composite

Abstract

Medium-voltage silicon carbide (SiC) power modules are a critical component in grid-bound power conversion systems, and the packaging of these modules dictates the performance and reliability of the systems. One of the key issues for packaging the modules is managing the tradeoff between heat dissipation and insulation. To improve thermal performance without sacrificing insulation, a 10-kV SiC full-wave diode rectifier was designed and fabricated by incorporating double-sided cooling and wirebond-less interconnection and by utilizing thin alumina direct-bond copper substrates. To ensure that the substrates met insulation requirement, triple points on the substrates were coated by a nonlinear resistive polymer-nanoparticle composite to reduce electric field concentration. The nonlinear resistive coating increased the partial discharge inception voltage of the substrate with 0.5-mm thick alumina to 17.3 kV, an 84% improvement over that of the substrate without the coating. Electrical and thermal simulations of the module showed a low power loop inductance of 3.51 nH and a low junction-to-case thermal resistance of 0.114°C/W. The feasibility of the packaging techniques was demonstrated from successful fabrication and functional testing of the packagedmodule.