Thermal design is an important consideration for power devices. With a trend to push power levels, power density and efficiency higher in power electronic converters, surface mount power switches are gaining popularity due to their small form factor. This presentation discusses important and practical design considerations for the thermal design of discrete SiC bottom-side cooled devices to extract the best performance out of the devices. This presentation will discuss the importance of selecting the right device package, following the correct soldering profile, the PCB design, thermal interface material and the heatsink mounting. The PCB thermal impedance plays a critical role in bottom-side cooled devices, so it is important to optimize the PCB thermal impedance taking into consideration the thermal impedance versus footprint/number of vias required which also dictate the cost.
