Accurate thermal characterization of power semiconductor packages by thermal simulation and measurements

In this paper the possibility of generating a compact thermal model based on thermal transient measurements is discussed and evaluated. A case study of a power diode in a cylindrical-shaped copper package is shown. The detailed model of the package is built and simulated in a CFD based thermal simulator software. The measurement results are compared to the results of the simulations and after some model refinement we found good agreement. The compact model of the package is also identified based on the structure functions generated from the real measurement. The case-node is determined using the standard dual-interface method. The resulting compact model has proven to be a perfect representation of the real package as the structure functions generated based on measurements and corresponding simulation results match perfectly.