Method and device for determining the temperature calibration characteristic curve of a semiconductor component appertaining to power electronics

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9927483-B2
Application number	US-201314385936-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 16, 2013
Priority date	Mar 17, 2012
Publication date	Mar 27, 2018
Grant date	Mar 27, 2018

Abstract

The temperature calibration characteristic curve of a semiconductor component can be readily determined by interconnecting the power connections of the semiconductor component with a first current source for a load current, a second current source for a measurement current and a voltmeter for measuring the voltage drop across the power connections. Furthermore, the semiconductor component is connected to a data processing system and heated by the dissipated power at time intervals when the first current source is connected, and the voltage drop across the power or auxiliary connections is measured when the first current source disconnected and the second current source is connected between the intervals after a time duration determined by the thermal main time constant of the semiconductor component. The temperature of the semiconductor component is separately measured and the temperature calibration characteristic curve is obtained by correlating the measured temperature with the voltage drop.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An improved method for determining a temperature calibration characteristic curve of a power semiconductor component of power electronics using a data processing system, comprising the steps of:
interconnecting power connections of the power semiconductor component with a first current source adapted to provide a load current, with a second current source adapted to provide a measurement current, and with a voltmeter adapted to measure a voltage drop either across the power connections or across auxiliary connections connected to said power connections,
heating the power semiconductor component during specified time intervals by dissipating power provided by the first current source in the power semiconductor component,
measuring the voltage drop across the power connections or across said auxiliary connections between said specified time intervals with the first current source disconnected and the second current source connected, and simultaneously measuring a temperature of the power semiconductor component using at least one temperature sensor connected to the data processing system after a period of time determined by a main thermal time constant of the power semiconductor component has elapsed since the last specified time interval, as a measured temperature value corresponding to a voltage drop of the power semiconductor component, and
providing the simultaneously measured voltage drop and temperature to the data processing system, said data processing system assigning the temperature of the at least one temperature sensor to the corresponding voltage drop, and a temperature calibration characteristic curve of the power semiconductor component using a plurality of measured voltage drops and a plurality of corresponding simultaneously measured temperatures.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the specified time intervals determine heating of the power semiconductor component and the period of time between the specified time intervals determines a cool-down and the measurement of the value representing the temperature, wherein heating of the power semiconductor component occurs in stages, wherein the period of time for the cool-down is sufficiently long so that the temperature is higher than the temperature of a measurement point resulting from a preceding interval.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein a chip and a heat sink of the power semiconductor component during cool-down between the specified time intervals after an integer multiple of the thermal main time constant are largely at an identical temperature level, at which time the voltage drop across the power connections or the auxiliary connections and the temperature are measured.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the integer multiple of the thermal main constant is four times the thermal main constant.

5. The method of claim 3 , wherein the integer multiple of the thermal main constant is more than four times the thermal main constant.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the current of the first current source is 25% to 100% of a rated current of the semiconductor component.

7. An improved device for determining a temperature calibration characteristic curve of a power semiconductor component of power electronics, comprising:
a first current source adapted to be connected to the power semiconductor component to supply a load current,
a second current source adapted to be connected to the power semiconductor component to supply a measurement current,
a voltmeter adapted to be connected across power connections or across auxiliary connections connected to the power connections to measure a voltage drop across the power connections or across the auxiliary connections, and
a data processing system configured to:
a) connect the first current source to supply a load current from the first current source at during specified time intervals to heat the power semiconductor component by dissipating power in the power semiconductor component,
b) disconnect the first current source and connect the second current source to supply a measurement current to the power semiconductor component,
c) after a period of time determined by a thermal main time constant of the power semiconductor component has elapsed since disconnecting the first current source, measure the voltage drop across the power connections or across the auxiliary connections, between the specified time intervals with the first current source disconnected and the second current source connected, as a voltage drop corresponding to a simultaneously measured temperature of the power semiconductor component and simultaneously measure a temperature of the power semiconductor component using at least one temperature sensor coupled to the power semiconductor component and connected to the data processing system, and
d) form a temperature calibration characteristic curve of the power semiconductor component using a plurality of the measured voltage drops and the corresponding simultaneously measured temperatures of the power semiconductor component produced by dissipating power in the power semiconductor component.

8. The device of claim 7 , wherein the power semiconductor component is an insulated gate bipolar transistor, a power MOSFET, a power JFET, a thyristor, a diac, a triac or a diode.

Assignees

• Siemens Ag

Inventors

• Bohlländer Marco
• Herold Christian
• Hiller Sebastian

Classifications

• G01R31/2619 Primary

  for measuring thermal properties thereof · CPC title

• G01R31/2603 Primary

  for curve tracing of semiconductor characteristics, e.g. on oscilloscope · CPC title