Co-Designed High Voltage Module

Co-design and co-engineering have the potential to significantly advance the state of the art of electronics packaging. A co-designed approach moves away from a sequential design approach (electrical layout, then a mechanical module design, and finally the addition of a heat sink) and replaces it with an approach where the electrical, thermal, and mechanical domains are all simultaneously designed for during the initial design. This paper demonstrates how a co-design approach can be used to design an electronics module. This work shows the design and fabrication of a 30 kV module using two aspects of co-design: (1) multi-functional components (MFCs) and (2) quick parametric analysis. There is a need for advanced high voltage electronics packages due to the recent development of high voltage (15–30 kV) single-die silicon carbide (SiC) power devices to realize their full potential. This paper describes a 30 kV module with integrated heat sinks, double sided device cooling, and an air cooled heat sink which removes heat from four sides of the module. The module has numerous MFCs allowing a compact form factor and efficient design. In addition, the geometry and materials selections were based off a co-design tool which allows quick parametric analysis for both thermal and stress. This paper demonstrates the capabilities and benefits of moving away from a traditional design approach and implementing a co-design methodology.