NREL Researchers Develop Next-Gen Packaging Technologies for Power Electronics

NREL Researchers to Develop Packaging Technologies

Image Credits: NREL

National Renewable Energy Laboratory, under the U.S. government, is working on improving the power electronics packaging in terms of reliability, performance, durability, and power density. The major step comes as the rising requirement for electronic packaging in handling electricity, heat, and mechanical stress.

Power packaging at NREL is investigating the performance and reliability of emerging interconnection, interface, and packaging materials through testing new materials and connections. Wide-bandgap semiconductor devices like silicon carbide, gallium nitride, and many more are being evaluated at NREL, where they use advanced computer models and fast testing methods to find reliable packaging solutions for better outcomes. The evaluation is helping to offer reliable and cost-efficient solutions with better performance. TNREL researchers are mainly dependent on cutting-edge capabilities that will help in improving the reliability of new high-temperature technologies.

The advanced packaging for power electronics mainly involves the use of models and prototyping of novel thermal management, mechanical interfaces, and electrical interconnection into highly power-dense designs that will help in the long run to meet upcoming power density performance metrics.

The primary objective for increasing power density can be achieved by decreasing the thermal resistance pathway in power electronic packaging, which can also further maximize the performance of WBG devices. The aim is to achieve this by either replacing the packaging layers with new materials that provide greater electrical and thermal resistance with ensured reliability on the performance factor. Additionally, this can also be achieved by eliminating layers and components in the new packaging designs for better performance.

The team at NREL is committed to developing novel thermal management systems that enable higher power densities, enhanced reliability, with a lower manufacturing cost. The researchers are leveraging advanced technologies for optimizing designs and rapid prototyping equipment to verify the packaging performance that can utilize the capabilities of the WBG devices.