Investigation of thermal performance of various power-device packages

• Published in: EuroSimE 2008 - International Conference on Thermal, Mechanical and Multi-Physics Simulation and Experiments in Microelectronics and Micro-Systems pp. 1 - 8
• Main Authors: Fan, X., Aung, K.T., Li, X.
• Format: Conference Proceeding
• Language: English
• Published: IEEE 01.04.2008
• Subjects: Cooling; Electric resistance; Manufacturing industries; Power conversion; Semiconductor device manufacture; Semiconductor device packaging; Silicon; Switching frequency; Thermal resistance; Wafer scale integration
• ISBN: 1424421276; 9781424421275
• DOI: 10.1109/ESIME.2008.4525042

Continuing trends of miniaturization, rising switching frequencies and increasing packaging densities require increased current handling capability of packaged devices in applications related to power conversion. Traditionally, these ever-increasing demands are met by improvements in silicon efficiency. Nevertheless, with silicon efficiency pushed to the limit, major semiconductor power-device manufacturers are now looking for innovative packaging options for power devices to achieve the next level of breakthroughs in electrical and thermal performance. This paper presents a comprehensive study of thermal behaviors of various power-device packages. CFD-based FLOTHERM has been applied to calculate the junction- to-ambient thermal resistance with the industry standard- specified board attachment. Fundamental cooling mechanisms associated with different packaging technologies, including wire-bond, strap bonding, flip chip and ball grid array (BGA), and wafer-level packaging are investigated. The impact of internal package design on the thermal performance of various packages is discussed in detail. A thermal analysis of multichip module for leadless and BGA technologies is also presented.