Press-Pack Semiconductor Housing With Adaptive O-Ring Sealing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing press-pack power semiconductor devices require different housing geometries for varying wafer thicknesses and diameters, leading to inefficiencies and increased costs, and are vulnerable to damage from excessive fault currents and arcing due to their fixed designs.
Innovation Solution
A power semiconductor device design featuring a disc-shaped electrode configuration with an outer and inner insulating ring, a ring-shaped flange portion, and an oval-shaped O-ring that is resiliently deformable, allowing for high reactive force across different assembly heights and diameters, and utilizing materials like ceramic, copper, and steel for enhanced protection against arcing.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If different housing geometries are used for varying wafer thicknesses and diameters, then the device can accommodate different wafer specifications, but the device complexity and manufacturing costs increase
Solution Approach 1:
The housing is designed with a universal geometry that can accommodate multiple wafer thicknesses and diameters through adjustable components. The electrode blocks and insulating rings are configured to work with various wafer specifications without requiring different housing designs, thereby reducing device complexity while maintaining adaptability.
Solution Approach 2:
The housing design incorporates adjustable parameters such as electrode block positioning and insulating ring dimensions that can be modified to accommodate different wafer specifications. This allows a single housing geometry to adapt to varying wafer thicknesses and diameters through parameter adjustment rather than requiring entirely different housing designs.
2Reliability
If thick flanges are used to ensure resistance to are plasma, then the housing explosion resistance improves, but the device dimensions and weight increase
Solution Approach 1:
The flange structure employs composite material construction combining ceramic and metal components. The ceramic portion provides high-temperature plasma resistance while the metal portion provides structural strength. This composite approach achieves the required explosion resistance with reduced flange thickness compared to using metal alone, thereby reducing overall device dimensions and weight.
Solution Approach 2:
The housing design features nested protective structures where an inner ceramic insulating ring is positioned within the metal housing. This nested configuration provides multiple layers of protection against arc plasma, with the ceramic layer absorbing the primary thermal and chemical attack while the metal housing provides structural containment, achieving high explosion resistance with optimized flange dimensions.
3Productivity
If a single housing design is used for various wafer sizes, then the manufacturing efficiency improves, but the precision of fit for different wafer dimensions decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The housing is segmented into modular components including electrode blocks, insulating rings, and flange sections that can be independently adjusted or replaced. This segmentation allows a single housing design to be configured for different wafer sizes by adjusting individual components rather than requiring custom housings, maintaining both manufacturing efficiency and fit precision.
Solution Approach 2:
The housing incorporates dynamic adjustment mechanisms that allow the electrode blocks and insulating rings to be repositioned or reconfigured for different wafer dimensions. This dynamic capability enables a single housing design to precisely accommodate various wafer sizes through adjustment rather than requiring multiple fixed housing designs, balancing manufacturing efficiency with fit precision.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The design enables the use of a single housing for various wafer sizes, providing effective protection against arcing and fault currents while maintaining a gas-tight seal, thus preventing housing rupture and improving the device's non-rupture capabilities.
Implementation Method 1
the O-ring is resiliently reversibly deformable. The O-ring has in a relaxed state a cross-section being elongated in a vertical direction perpendicular to the radial direction, such that in a relaxed state, a height of the O-ring in the vertical direction is greater than a width of the O-ring in the radial direction
Implementation Method 2
a housing design that will not rupture under the expected short-circuit current interval may provide further protection
Data Source
AI summary
A power semiconductor device includes first and second disc-shaped electrodes and a wafer sandwiched between the electrodes. An outer insulating ring is attached to the first and second electrodes and surrounds the wafer. An inner insulating ring is located inside of the outer insulating ring and surrounds the wafer and a ring-shaped first flange portion laterally surrounds a main portion of the first electrode. An O-ring radially surrounds the main portion of the first electrode and is sandwiched in a vertical direction between the inner insulating ring and the first flange portion. In a relaxed state the O-ring has a cross-section that is elongated in the vertical direction such that, in the relaxed state, a height of the O-ring in the vertical direction is greater than a width of the O-ring in a radial direction that is parallel to the first contact face.