An Icepak-PSpice co-simulation method to study the impact of bond wires fatigue on the current and temperature distribution of IGBT modules under short-circuit

Bond wires fatigue is one of the dominant failure mechanisms of IGBT modules. Prior-art research mainly focuses on its impact on the end-of-life failure, while its effect on the short-circuit capability of IGBT modules is still an open issue. This paper proposes a new electro-thermal simulation approach enabling analyze the impact of the bond wires fatigue on the current and temperature distribution on IGBT chip surface under short-circuit. It is based on an Icepack-PSpice co-simulation by taking the advantage of both a finite element thermal model and an advanced PSpice-based multi-cell IGBT model. A study case on a 1700 V/1000 A IGBT module demonstrates the effectiveness of the proposed simulation method.