Environmental protection for IGBT module

New Products | June 30, 2020

By Nick Flaherty

Batteries / Power Supplies Power Management

Infineon Technologies has added protection against hydrogen sulphide (H₂S) to one of its IGBT module ranges to provide higher reliability in harsh environments.

The exposure to hydrogen sulfide (H2S) has a critical impact on the lifetime of electronic components, particulatly an IGBT module in a harsh enviornment. This, together with applied voltage, triggers the growth of crystalline copper sulfide (Cu₂S) which can grow in the trenches of the DCB on the ceramic substrates, and can, at worst, cause short circuits.

Infineon’s advanced H₂S protection blocks hydrogen sulfide entering the module before it can reach sensitive areas. All electrical, thermal, and mechanical parameters of the module remain unchanged, and retain the same properties as the standard IGBT module. Infineon has designed a proprietary HV-H2S test to qualify IGBT modules for operation under certain conditions, according to the ISA 71.04-2013 standard.

Protected by the H2S technology, an IGBT module shows no dendrite growth under the defined HV-H2S test conditions. This ensures a lifetime of 20 years can be expected with the upper limit of the ”harsh (G3)” severity level (≤ 2000 Å / 50 ppb) according to ISA 71.04. The EconoPACK+ with the protection feature simply replaces the standard module so that no costly and time-consuming design work is needed.

The EconoPACK+ with advanced H2S protection can be ordered in large quantities in a 300 A and 450 A variant in the 1200 V class, as well as in a 300 A and 500 A variant in the 1700 V class.

Infineon – www.infineon.com