Thermal and Mechanical Design of a High-Voltage Power Electronics Package: Preprint

Thermal and mechanical design aspects of a power electronic package with 5-kV GaN devices are presented. Through finite element analyses, the impact of different cooling configurations and device location on the thermal performance and reliability of the package was investigated. It was found that placing the devices closer to the direct-bond-copper substrate as opposed to a centered approach in the proposed double-sided-cooling configuration resulted in improved heat dissipation. This approach also reduced the total number of attachment layers, thereby likely improving the reliability of the package. Furthermore, simulations revealed that the device location had a negligible impact on the thermomechanical behavior of the attachment layers, as they are more prone to the local coefficient of thermal expansion mismatch.