Selection of power semiconductor devices for parallel connection

Abstract

The method of selecting power semiconductor devices for group parallel connection on the basis of models developed on the basis of the measured electrical and thermal parameters and characteristics of certain devices are considered. Experimental data are obtained using the ADIP-6 test equipment. The electrical part of the model is constructed on the basis of the electrical parameters of the volt–ampere characteristic in a high-conductivity condition, and the thermal part is developed on the basis of the electrothermalanalogy method. The parameters of the thermal model are determined on the basis of the measured value of the thermal junction-to-case resistance in the steady-state thermal mode. The electrical and thermal parts of the model are connected through the temperature dependences of the volt–ampere characteristic parameters. A sample of ten power diodes is considered as an example, parallel connections consisting of two diodes are constructed of them, and the electrical and thermal processes are analyzed in this group using the simulation method for all possible combination of the diodes. The potentially reliable and unreliable diode combinations were specified on the basis of the simulation results. The temperature of the semiconductor structure is used as a criterion for determining reliability. A connection in which the temperature of the semiconductor structures of the devices included in the connection did not exceed the admissible limit value was considered as potentially reliable. Two connections, referred to as “potentially reliable” and “potentially unreliable” connections, are considered as an example.