Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor Reliability Study Based on Electro-Thermal Coupling Simulation

Abstract

This paper presents a new electro-thermal coupling simulation method for evaluating the reliability of IGBT modules, which combines a numerical power loss model and a finite element model. To illustrate the method, a specific case of the Infineon FF50R12RT4 module operated with an SPWM signal is considered. Temperature and stress data are obtained and analyzed via electro-thermal simulation, and the service life of modules is calculated accordingly. The influence of ambient temperature and gate signal characteristics on power loss and service life of IGBT modules is discussed, which can be used for the optimization of work points. In this method, the effect of junction temperature on power loss is considered, and a more accurate electro-thermal simulation is achieved. The proposed method can be used to analyze the thermal and mechanical stresses of IGBT modules, predict the failure location, and assess the service life.