Advanced electrothermal Spice modelling of large

power IGBTs
R. Azar, F. Udrea, W.T. Ng, F. Dawson, W. Findlay, P. Waind and G. Amaratunga

Abstract: A novel IGBT electrothermal model is implemented for the first time in PSpice for the
simulation of steady state and transient temperature dependent IGBT operation including self-
heating and latchup. A thermal circuit representing the characteristics of the IGBT package is
developed and validated against a finite element model and experimental results. A novel electrical
IGBT model based on the Kraus model is developed to account for the electrical impact of
instantaneous junction temperature variations owing to self-heating. The resulting electrothermal
model is validated against experimental DC and transient FBSOA measurements.

1 Introduction

The increasing trend for integrating power devices with

low voltage MOS logic circuits, which are all designed
and tested with software packages using the Spice language,
12
has generated a great demand for a fully coupled 12 11
electrothermal IGBT model in Spice. At the present time, 11 gate 10
the most advanced IGBT models are only incorporated 10 9
9 8
within expensive and mutually incompatible programs such 8 7
as Eldo or Pacte because they allow a high-level language 7 6
6 5
description [1]. 5 4
A novel fully coupled electrothermal IGBT model based 4 3

22 0.0
on the Kraus model [2] has been developed for the study of 2

2 .0
0

.0
18 .0
dynamic performance variations due to self-heating effects

16 .0
10

14 2.0
and prediction of the temperature dependent forward bias 0

1 .0
safe operating area (FBSOA) and short circuit safe
10
y,

µm
cathode µm 200
8. 0
operating area (SCSOA). This complete model has been
0 anode

x,
6. 0
4. 0

implemented in PSpice for the first time and now allows 30

2. .0

0
0

researchers the capability of investigating thermal imbal-

ances between parallel IGBTs in power modules. Results Fig. 1 Plot of log(J  e) in W/cm3 along a full IGBT cell in the on
are compared to temperature dependent SOA measure- state
ments on 1.7 kV Dynex IGBT modules and FEMLAB and Vg ¼ 15 V, Va ¼ 15 V and Ja ¼ 318.8A/cm2
MEDICI simulations.

2 Thermal modelling 2.2 Steady-state thermal analysis of the

2.1 Heat source
The heat density (W/cm3) of a Dynex 1.7 kV IGBT
cell is calculated and plotted using MEDICI (Fig. 1).
The heat source is found to be strongly localised in the
channel and accumulation regions, justifying the use of a
point heat source situated at the oxide/semiconductor
interface.
r IEE, 2004
IEE Proceedings online no. 20040448
doi:10.1049/ip-cds:20040448
Paper received 26th February 2004. Originally published online: 21st May 2004
R. Azar, F. Udrea and G. Amaratunga are with the Department of
Engineering, Cambridge University, Trumpington Street, Cambridge CB2
1PZ, UK
W.T. Ng and F. Dawson are with Electrical & Computer Engineering,
University of Toronto, Toronto ON, Canada, M5S 3G4
W. Findlay and P. Waind are with Dynex Semiconductors, Doddington Road,
Lincoln LN6 3LF, UK
package
A one-dimensional DC thermal circuit representation of the
Dynex DIM800DDM17 module package built using
package material properties is developed by modelling each
layer with an equivalent resistance.
Solving Fourier’s law of conduction along with Laplace’s
equation for 1-D heat conduction through a solid yields the
relationship for the equivalent thermal resistance [6]:
DT llt
Rth
¼ ð1Þ
P khc A
where llt is the layer thickness in cm, khc is the thermal
conductivity of the material in W/cmK, A is the cross-
sectional area in cm2, and Rth is the thermal resistance of the
material in W/K. The thermal resistance is then the thermal
analogue of an electrical resistance if the power P measured
in Watts is the analogue of the current and the tempera-
ture difference DT across the material measured in K is the
analogue of a voltage [9].

IEE Proc.-Circuits Devices Syst., Vol. 151, No. 3, June 2004 249
 The total equivalent junction to sink thermal resistance is 180
then found by considering all package layers in series and
160 Temperature reached
summing their respective thermal resistances. The total P/50 (W) after 50 µs pulse according
junction to case equivalent thermal resistance is found to be 140 to Zth measurements
20.0 K/kW.
A two-dimensional thermal finite element analysis in 120

temeperature, C
Pspice FEMLAB
FEMLAB is also performed. It is determined that lateral
100
thermal interference between adjacent IGBTs only has a
4% impact on the junction temperature. The junction-to- 80
case equivalent thermal resistance is found to be 19.4 K/kW.
Both the circuit and FEMLAB approaches do not consider 60
the three-dimensional nature of the heat flow profile in the FEMLAB-PSPICE
40 Average Error = 4%
package and therefore yield conservative thermal resistance
results when compared to the worse case experimental 20
measurement of 18 K/kW.
0
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1.0
2.3 Dynamic thermal analysis of the time, s × 10−4
package
A dynamic analysis of the package thermal response to an Fig. 2 Comparison of FEMLAB results with transient FBSOA
applied power pulse requires the consideration of each experimental calculations and with PSpice thermal circuit model
layer’s thermal capacitance. In the case of transient power
transfer to the package, say during turn-off or turn-on of one-dimensional PSpice model. The final RC equivalent
the IGBT, the energy transferred through the surface of the thermal circuit is displayed in Fig. 4.
package in time dt can be expressed as Pdt. This energy will
cause a temperature rise dT according to each material’s 3 Electrical modelling
specific heat c and mass M [7].
Currently, the Kraus IGBT model [1] remains the model of
Pdt ¼ cMdT choice for use with the PSpice simulator because it offers an
dT dT ð2Þ excellent trade-off between complexity and accuracy in DC
P ¼ rmd cV ¼ Cth and transient simulations. However as a purely electrical
dt dt
model, the Kraus model does not allow for the simulation
rmd is the material density in kg/cm3, c the specific heat in of any thermal effects.
J/kgK and V the volume in cm3. Equation (2) defines the
thermal capacitance Cth of each material. It is apparent 3.1 A novel self-heating Spice IGBT model
from (1) and (2) that the transient thermal impedance of A new temperature pin is added to the Kraus IGBT model.
the IGBT package can be represented by a multiple time Since PSpice does not allow dynamic variations of
constant network using current as the analogue of thermal parameters between bias point calculations, each semicon-
power and voltage as the analogue of temperature [9]. Every ductor parameter is translated to a voltage at a node inside
package layer is then represented by an RC circuit where R separate subcircuits that depend on the voltage at the
and C are extracted from material properties and represent temperature pin (Fig. 3). The voltage at a given node, say
the thermal resistance and capacitance of the material. The ni(T), will then represent the semiconductor parameter’s
power generated by the IGBT is inserted in the thermal value at the given instantaneous junction temperature, in
circuit as a current source, and the temperature of the this case the intrinsic carrier concentration. The equations
source junction is then given by the potential at a given
node in the circuit. tau 0
Ise 0
un 0

up 0

+
ni 0

The IGBT junction temperature response to an applied

VT

temperature
power pulse is analysed in FEMLAB. According to the
experimental thermal transient impedance curve and the on- − VT
anode
state current measurements, it is calculated that the 0
ni (T)
un (T)
Ise (T)
up (T)
tau (T)

temperature reaches its overheating threshold of 1251C

Id +
after a 50 ms pulse of 81 kW. Initial results with the Spice − 1T
RC thermal circuit show a discrepancy due to the lack of
discretisation in the silicon drift region. Indeed, modelling Vdep Ib + base charge
Cdep −
the silicon drift region as a single RC node will yield the + subcircuit
−

average temperature in the centre of the region. The drift gate

Ipc
+ + + −
region is then decomposed into slices and each slice is 1u 1T
Cgs Rs − − − +
modelled as an individual RC stage. With the additional RC Rg
stages the first node of the thermal circuit representation cathode 0
Ir Ine Inc
corresponds to the IGBT junction. Optimal results are
reached with a total of 16 stages. Good agreement is then Fig. 3 Novel self-heating IGBT model with added subcircuits for
reached between experimental predictions, PSpice, and dynamic variation of semiconductor parameters
FEMLAB (Fig. 2). Not only is the maximum temperature
consistent with measurements, but the junction tempera- governing the Kraus model are then recursively adjusted to
ture’s rate of heating and cooling is also in very good use the temperature dependent semiconductor parameters
agreement with FEMLAB, demonstrating that the thermal in place of the original ones. The resulting instantaneous
circuit model is valid for dynamic electrothermal simula- temperature dependent currents and voltages throughout
tions as well. The small 4% difference can be attributed the rest of the IGBT model thus achieve an IGBT operation
to the lateral heat flow not taken into account in the fully dependent on the voltage at the temperature pin. Other

250 IEE Proc.-Circuits Devices Syst., Vol. 151, No. 3, June 2004
 Ls Va
Rg Lg 1

temp
ano
2 0
gate cat
+

−
+ Vg Tj
S + IN1+
−

3
−
IN1-OUT+
+

−
Tsink HNOM
IN2+OUT-
IN2-
multiplier

Deltat Si 0

IGBT
power 3.39e-5 1.0e-3 6.7e-5 6.7e-5 2.7e-4 2.7e-4 2.7e-4 1.1e-3

2.19e-4 2.19e-4 2.19e-4 2.19e-4 8.76e-4 8.76e-4 8.76e-4 3.51e-3

2.1e-2

1.1e-3 1.1e-3 4.3e-3 4.3e-3 4.3e-3 27.6e-3 31e-3 1.9e-2 1.9e-2 2.4e-2

3.51e-3 3.51e-3 1.405e-2 1.405e-2 1.405e-2 3.66e-2 11.42e-2 16.46e-2 11.42e-2 2.74e-2
solder Cu tile Cu solder

Fig. 4 Dynamic temperature feedback circuit for IGBT FBSOA/SCSOA assessment

changes are however required: the anode–base junction 2000

diode in the Kraus model can account for temperature
variations only through the global temperature setting in Vg = 20 V
Pspice, and not through the voltage on temperature pin.
1500
Replacing the diode by an equivalent current source
controlled by the temperature voltage accounts for the
anode current, A

dynamic temperature dependence of the anode–base

junction current. A large resistor is added in parallel for 1000
convergence during the PSpice initial bias point analysis.
Vg = 15 V
Temperature dependence also needs to be added to the
lifetime dependent RC stage inside the base charge
500
subcircuit to correctly model recombination in the base. A
Vg = 12 V
temperature dependent resistor is constructed through a
controlled current source to achieve temperature dependent Vg = 10 V
recombination. The current source is the ratio of the voltage 0
0 5 10 15 20 25 30
across the source to the variable lifetime and temperature
anode voltage, V
dependent resistance: Ir ¼ VC=tðT Þ where C is the charge a
storage capacitance in the base charge subcircuit.
500
4 Fully coupled electro-thermal IGBT model Vg = 20 V

Vg = 15 V
The novel IGBT model is coupled to the package thermal 400
circuit developed above through dynamic temperature
anode current, A

feedback to the new temperature pin (Fig. 4).

300
The circuit is implemented with the voltage source Va Vg = 12 V
connected to the anode through a stray inductance
Ls ¼ 10 nH. The HNOM and MULTIPLIER parts are 200
used to generate the instantaneous IGBT power in the form
of a voltage. This voltage is then fed to the IGBT Power
100 Vg = 10 V
part where it is scaled according to the number of dies in
parallel and is then fed to the thermal resistance as a current
source. Under these conditions the voltage at each node in 0
the thermal circuit will represent the temperature at each 0 5 10 15 20 25 30
anode voltage, V
stage in the package. Since no initial sink temperature is set,
b
the voltage at each node of the RC circuit represents the
DT from the sink temperature instead of the absolute Fig. 5 DC current characteristics
temperature at each package layer. A voltage source of a Original Kraus IGBT model
value Tsink is then added to the junction temperature node b Coupled electrothermal model
to convert the relative temperature measured at the thermal
circuit junction node into an absolute value in kelvin. calculated, fed to the thermal circuit, where the junction
temperature is determined. This temperature is then fed
4.1 On-state characteristics back to the temperature pin of the IGBT model where
The anode voltage is swept from 0 to 30 V for several gate it scales all the semiconductor parameters accordingly.
voltages. At each point the instantaneous power is It follows that these results now include the effects of

IEE Proc.-Circuits Devices Syst., Vol. 151, No. 3, June 2004 251
self-heating due to the package. Comparing the DC current
simulation results obtained with the original Kraus model
and this fully coupled electrothermal model (Fig. 5a and 5b)
shows that the increased temperature due to self–heating
leads to a reduction in the injection efficiency and in the
channel mobility, thereby leading to earlier saturation of the
I–V curves and subsequent reduction in current levels
deeper in the saturation region. Note that the DC current is,
however, not significantly affected below Va ¼ 5 V. This
increases model accuracy deep in the saturation region
allowing one to model the steady state and transient
forward biased SOA and compare results with experimental
measurements.
4.2 Steady-state forward bias safe
operating area modelling
A controlled current source is added between the cathode
and the base in Fig. 3 to model the parasitic n-p-n BJT
effect. This current source models a temperature dependent
BJT current where the temperature is set to correspond to
the instantaneous voltage at the temperature pin. Therefore,
the temperature dependent BJT threshold voltage is taken
into account as well as the increasing p-well resistance due
to lower mobilities at higher temperatures.
The p-well resistance responsible for latchup is calculated
from MEDICI simulations by plotting the hole quasiFermi
level and the hole current density throughout the p-well. At
room temperature, a value of Rs ¼ 75 mO is found. The
feedback effect leading to latchup is achieved by measuring
the parasitic n-p-n BJT current and feeding it to the charge
150A
simulated FBSOA
experimemtal results
100A
current
accumulation subcircuit (Fig. 3) so that the n-p-n latchup
current contributes to an increased base charge leading to
a reduced base resistance, thereby increasing Ipc. This
feature allows one to model the thyristor action leading to
temperature dependent latchup.
The electrothermal on-state simulation is repeated this
time using the additional latchup circuitry described above.
The FBSOA is obtained based on both the junction
overheating limit of 1251C and on temperature dependent
latchup (Fig. 6a and b). It is found that in steady-state
operation the IGBT module will always reach overheating
well before reaching latchup. Thus the FBSOA is limited by
the thermal resistance of the package rather than by the
p-well resistance.
As can be seen from Fig. 6a, very good agreement is
reached between the thermally limited FBSOA simulation
and the experimental measurements. The temperature
dependent latchup simulation results in Fig. 6b are
consistent with the SCSOA measurements showing typical
latchup temperatures in the order of 4201C.
4.3 Transient forward bias safe operating
area modelling
Using the electrothermal IGBT model, the transient
temperature response of the IGBT under short circuit
conditions for different pulse times of 50 ms, 100 ms and 1 ms
is simulated using the circuit in Fig. 4. Having determined
that the module reaches overheating before latchup,
dynamic thermal feedback is implemented to sweep the
anode and gate voltages deep within the saturation region
to determine the maximum allowable value of Va for a
given Vg for which the overheating limit is reached. The
results are in good agreement with the transient FBSOA
experimental measurements as shown in Fig. 7.

50A
104
SEL>>
0A 0 −I (VA)
125v
Pspice model
Vg = 20
predictions
temperature

Vg = 15 103
Vg = 10
100v
Vg = 11

Vg = 12
Ic, A

75v 102
0v 1.0v 2.0v 3.0v 4.0v 5.0v tp = 50 µs
α v(Tj) −273 anode voltage tp = 100 µs
a
Ic(max) DC tp = 1 ms
101
500A
Vg = 20 V
anode current

375A
Vg = 15 V Vg = 12 V
100
250A
100 101 102 103 104
125A Vg = 10 V Vce, V

0A Fig. 7 Steady state and transient FBSOA simulation results

500 against experimental measurement
temperature

T = 407 C
375 T = 401 C T = 398 C T = 399 C 5 Conclusions

250 The thermal behaviour of a Dynex 1.7 kV IGBT module

SEL>>
package was modelled in the form of an RC circuit
125 validated by a thermal finite element two-dimensional heat
0v 5v 10v 15v 20v 25v
flux model of the package. Good agreement was reached
anode voltage
with the experimental equivalent junction-to-case thermal
b
resistance. Dynamic thermal simulations were performed to
Fig. 6 Steady-state FBSOA simulation results for Tcase ¼ 751C determine the necessary level of discretisation in the RC
a Overheating limit Tmax ¼ 1251C circuit so as to reach good agreement with FEMLAB
b Temperature dependent latchup limit dynamic simulations.
252 IEE Proc.-Circuits Devices Syst., Vol. 151, No. 3, June 2004
 A novel electrical IGBT model based on the Kraus
model was developed. We are able for the first time to
model the dynamic variations of semiconductor parameters
through the subcircuit approach. A new temperature pin is
implemented to affect the parameters during steady state
and transient simulations according to the instantaneous
junction temperature of the IGBT.
Linking of the thermal and electrical models yields a fully
coupled thermoelectric IGBT model able to simulate for the
first time in PSpice the effects of self-heating on the on-
state characteristics of the IGBT. Consistent with device
physics, it was found that self-heating impacts significantly
the saturation region of operation.
The temperature dependent parasitic n-p-n BJT current
was implemented with an active feedback to the base
resistance to simulate the steady-state FBSOA based on
both overheating and latchup. Having determined that
the module reaches overheating before latching up, the
electrothermal model was also used to model the transient
FBSOA based on overheating of the IGBT junction. Very
good agreement was reached with the experimental results.
Simulating power pulses at Ic ¼ Icsat also allows designers to
assess the module’s SCSOA as limited by latchup.
Coupling the novel IGBT model to the thermal circuit
model allows an accurate and reliable analysis for the first
time in SPICE of both IGBT performance variations due to
self-heating and temperature imbalances between indepen-
dent IGBTs. The temperature imbalances affect the current
sharing capability of large power IGBT modules due to the
thermal properties of the package.
6 Acknowledgments
R. Azar acknowledges the award of a full PhD Scholarship
from Dynex Semiconductors, UK. F. Udrea acknowledges
the award of an EPSRC Advanced Fellowship (AF/
100027). W.T. Ng acknowledges CITO and the Ministry
IEE Proc.-Circuits Devices Syst., Vol. 151, No. 3, June 2004
of Energy, Science and Technology of Ontario. F. Dawson
and W. T. Ng acknowledge the financial support given by
Dynex Semiconductor, UK. The authors also thank TMA
for the use of the MEDICI software.
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