Modeling the thermal transients in automotive power ICs

Author

Shekar, M.S. ; Hartular, Alex ; Wrathall, B. ; Williams, Ryan

Author_Institution

Siliconix Inc., Santa Clara, CA, USA

fYear

1996

fDate

20-23 May 1996

Firstpage

223

Lastpage

226

Abstract

This paper discusses the modeling of the thermal transient at the proximity of a dominant heat source in a 5 V Low Drop Out (LDO) regulator used in an automotive environment. The LDO regulator is designed using a 60 V BCD technology having a 2 μm-linewidth and dual layer metal interconnect. A SPICE circuit model using spherical spreading of heat through silicon is developed to predict the transient thermal behavior of the LDO regulator. Simulations indicate a 65 mV drop in the output regulated voltage for a power pulse of 1.4 W through the output power transistor and are in excellent agreement with that obtained from experiments. The design of the thermal generator and the effect of the thermal resistance and capacitance on the output regulated voltage are also discussed

Keywords

SPICE; automotive electronics; capacitance; circuit analysis computing; equivalent circuits; integrated circuit modelling; power integrated circuits; thermal analysis; thermal resistance; transient analysis; voltage regulators; 1.4 W; 2 micron; 5 V; 60 V; BCD technology; SPICE circuit model; Si; automotive power ICs; capacitance; dual layer metal interconnect; low drop out regulator; modeling; output power transistor; output regulated voltage; thermal resistance; thermal transients; transient thermal behavior; Automotive engineering; Circuit simulation; Integrated circuit interconnections; Power integrated circuits; Predictive models; Regulators; SPICE; Silicon; Thermal resistance; Voltage;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Power Semiconductor Devices and ICs, 1996. ISPSD '96 Proceedings., 8th International Symposium on

Conference_Location

Maui, HI

ISSN

1063-6854

Print_ISBN

0-7803-3106-0

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/ISPSD.1996.509486

Filename

509486