Stacked Control Substrates for Compact Power Modules
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional semiconductor devices with upper and lower arm configurations face challenges in reducing size while maintaining insulation breakdown voltage and ensuring insulation performance between control substrates, restricting the reduction of the device's surface area.
Innovation Solution
The semiconductor device incorporates first and second control substrates with main regions and protrusion regions, where an insulation material is inserted between the substrates to overlap the main regions, allowing for a reduction in device size while maintaining excellent insulation performance between the control circuits.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If control substrates are arranged side by side on the same base, then insulation property between upper and lower arms is ensured, but device size cannot be reduced in plane direction
Solution Approach 1:
The patent transitions from a planar arrangement of control substrates to a three-dimensional stacked configuration. By placing control substrates in the vertical direction (stacking them above each other) rather than arranging them side by side in the plane, the invention achieves both insulation between upper and lower arms and reduction of device footprint area.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements a nested structure where control substrates are stacked vertically within the same base area. The first control substrate for the upper arm and the second control substrate for the lower arm are positioned at different vertical levels, with insulation substrates separating them, creating a compact nested arrangement that reduces overall device size.
2Reliability
If insulation area is provided between control substrates, then insulation breakdown voltage is ensured, but reduction of base size is restricted
Solution Approach 1:
The patent moves the insulation function from the planar dimension to the vertical dimension. Instead of providing insulation area between control substrates arranged side by side, the invention stacks control substrates vertically and provides insulation substrates in the vertical spacing between them, thereby ensuring insulation breakdown voltage while minimizing base area.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent employs composite material structures where insulation substrates with specific dielectric properties are integrated into the stacked configuration. These insulation substrates are positioned between control substrates in the vertical direction, providing the necessary insulation breakdown voltage while maintaining a compact base area.
Data Source
AI summary
In the present invention, a lower arm control substrate, an insulation material and an upper arm control substrate are layered to be arranged in this order on a top surface of a small-sized power module. An upper arm main region and a lower arm main region are arranged to overlap the insulation material in plan view, and large parts of the upper arm main region and the lower arm main region overlap each other in plan view. The upper arm control substrate and the upper arm control substrate are configured with substrates of the same structure and the lower arm control substrate has a positional relation with the upper arm control substrate so as to be rotated by 180° from the upper arm control substrate in a horizontal direction.