Specific Problems in Smart Power Design

ASzajfler, T.Pokniak, M.Napieralska, M.Zubert, W.Wbjciak, A.Napieralski

Department of Microelectronics and Computer Science

Technical University of L6&, Poland
Lbcli, ul. Aleja Politechniki 11
tel.: +48 (42) 3 1 26 28 fax: +48 (42) 36 26 28; e-mail: Napier@dmcs.p.lodz.pl.

Abstract. In this paper the following problems:
selection of the power device and driving circuit,
sensing and protection circuits,
transmission of the sensor signals,
thermal problems in Smart Power module,
simulation problems,
of the Smart Power modules design will be presented and
discussed. The deliberations will be illustrated with the example
of PWM converter circuit designed in Mietec HBiMOS 2pm
technology. The new electro-thermal practical model of
transistors which can be use to complex electro-thermal
simulation of Smart-Power structure is presented.
advantages and disadvantages and the abilities of technology
have to be taken into consideration. According to the type of
power device, the relevant driving circuit have to be designed. As
an example of these problems the output stage of designed Smart
Power module P W M for SIT control is presented. The used
HBiMOS 2pm technology allows to operate with voltages up to
80-1OOV. Different kind of active and passive elements can be
created using this technology: NMOS and PMOS transistors;
bipolar transistors, diodes; resistors and capacitors.
The following configurations of the output stage presented in
(Fig.])are possible.

1. Introduction
The rapid development of semiconductor technology has an
impact on the increasing interest of ,,intelligent" power modules.
'HIT
J ov

The area of applications and intended functions of Smart Power

module determine the technology which will be used for physical
realisation of the device [l]. Every technology has specific
limitations, which have to be taken into consideration during the
design of Smart Power module architecture [2]. Moreover, the
designer of the power module should not only take into
consideration the separate physical phenomena but also
interactions between them. In design process the economic
aspects should not also be neglected, so the adequate simulation
tools have to be used to minimise the cost of design and
prototyping. The following stages in Smart Power module design
could be distinguished:
@ selection of power stage configuration and behavioural
specification of control part of the module,
design of the control part of module,
0 mixed digital-analogue simulation of entire circuit using
SPICE-like simulators,
0 design of the layout of Smart Power module,
the first extraction the parameters from layout and multi-
domain simulations,
placement of the sensors, optimisation of the design,
0 the second extraction the parameters from layout and multi-
domain simulations.
The deliberations presented below are illustrated with the
PWM converter circuit project, designed using Mietec HBiMOS
2pm technology [9].
-6OV
Fig. 1 - Possible configurations of the output power stage of the
SIT driver
Taking into account that HBiMOS technology does not allow to
use pnp bipolar transistor in a saturation state, the configuration
presented in Fig. 1a. cannot be implemented.
Several simulations have been performed in order to check the
usefulness of the configuration with bipolar transistors. In order
to check the behaviour of power part based on bipolar transistors,
SPICE library models (created for Mietec HBiMOS technology)
has been used for simulation. It has been checked, that it is
possible to obtain short turn-on time of the transistor, but the
results related to turn-off process are not satisfactory. Fall time is
too long causing that the amplitude of the gate current of SIT is
too small. The optimised version of the output stage which allows
to speed-up switching time is presented in the fig 2.

2. Selection of the power device and driving circuit

The evaluation of semiconductor technology has allowed i f
develop new power semiconductor devices such as MOSFET,
IGBT, SIT, MCT. The area of Smart Power Module application Fig. 2 - Schematic view of the chosen power stage
affects selection of power semiconductor devices [1,2]. Their configuration

7803-377~Z-5/97/$10.00 0 1997 IEEE

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The circuit is supplied from the external voltage source (about
+18V) connected to VLOW pin and second one (about -80-9OV)
connected to 1109, I1 10 transistors. Because switching on of the
top transistor in push-pull power stage (see I l l 0 on Fig. 2)
requires the voltage higher then VLOW, the bootstrap circuit
with extemal capacitance connected to net3 and net4 is used. In
spite of relatively large area of MOS transistors which have to be
able to sink high gate current of SIT the chosen configuration is a
satisfactory solution.
3. Problems related with sensing circuits
The particular problem in the design of Smart Power modules
is the monitoring and verification of actual state of the module.
The power devices are working in switching mode usually with
high level currents and voltages. There an: four most important
physical quantities (PQ): the temperature, the electric and
magnetic fields and the mechanical stresses which influence the
behaviour of Smart Power Module, but in design process the
designer has to take into consideration not only PQ as a separate
factors but the combined influence of them on the working
characteristics of Smart Power Module. 14dequate sensors for
monitoring these quantities should be used. The specialised
algorithms including the correlations betwleen the specified PQ
for control circuits need to be established.
3.1 Thermal monitoring problems
One of the most significant problems occurred in Smart
Power modules are thermal problems [5,6].'The power dissipated
by semiconductor power devices is the main source of heating in
Smart Power module. It changes the temperature of the module
and the working conditions of the devices anld sensors, so thermal
monitoring of the structure is one of the most important problems
in Smart Power design. The thermal monitoring of integrated
semiconductor structures should be based both on temperature
measurement from the long distance and on implementation of
the gradient direction sensors which gives information about the
position of the heat sources over the monitored structure [4]. The
thermal malfunction can be detected after processing obtained
information by the control unit integrated with the power module.
One of the methods of monitoring the [temperatureis using
many sensors placed everywhere on the monitored structure
(method 1). Their output can be read simultaneously and
compared with the reference voltage recognised as the
overheating level (Fig.3).
Fig.3 - Thermal monitoring of silicon structure-method 1
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The idea of the next method is to measure the temperature
and its gradient along the given distance, in a few places only on
the monitored structure (method 2) (Fig.4) and evaluate obtained
information in order to detect the thermal malfunction. This
problem is known in the literature, especially in the field of
modelling of the temperature distribution as an inverse problem.
In case of detecting only overheating situations in power
semiconductor devices, the complicated unit performing such
computations can be simplified. Moreover, in most cases, the
overheating occurs only in-one place.
"overheat"signal sensor cell1
I 1 control y
Li 1 unit
monitored layout
Fig.4 - Thermal monitoring of silicon structure-method 2
The hdamental sensor cell is presented below
A I \ '$ single heat source
renror A
/
s isoth-A L isoth-B '%isoth-C
Fig5 - Construction of the sensor cell: a E (O",30")
For the presented method (Fig.4) four strong assumptions have
been made:
Al-there is only one punctual heat source on the monitored
wafer.
AZthe temperature is linearly distributed over the surface of
silicon wafer. In this paper we will consider this assumption,
however the function describing the real temperature distribution
is not linear. For the given substrate one can find very precisely
this function by application of the PYRTHERM software. During
calculations of the heat source temperature the found function
can be transformed to the linear one.
A3-temperature sensors used in this method give output voltage
linearly proportional to temperature.
A4-the sensors in the sensor cell are placed sufficiently close one
to another, that isotherms crossing them can be represented by
straight lines.
For two sensors, A and C placed in the distance a (Fig.5) the
difference between their output voltages is proportional to the
changes of the temperature value AT along the distance a. This is
true only when the heat source is directly on line AC. For any
other cases the value of the angle a has to be taken into account
for the calculation of AT.
Ar a.cosa . a - cosa
where: r - distance from the heat source.
Equation (1) shows that actual value of the temperature
gradient can be calculated if we know the output voltages from
two sensors and the value of cos(@. In order to obtain the
information about angle a we should introduce the third sensor.
The final equation is
tana <
Now, using the sensor cell we can obtain the information about
the temperature distribution and partly about the position of the
heat source (in this moment only the value of tan a).In order to
obtain the temperature of a single, punctual heat source we have
to calculate the distance between the sensor and the heat source.
Two sensor cells are required for this purpose. The cells are
placed in a given distance (H) and each of them gives the
information about the angle a (a1 and a2) to the heat source.
The heat source and cells form the triangle in which the length of
one side and values of the angles adjacent to this side are known.
This means that we can calculate the distances between the heat
source and sensors. Now we can calculate the temperature
gradient along the known distance. By adding it to the
temperature of the sensor we obtain the temperature of the heat
source. The final placement of thermal sensors should be done
after electro-thermal simulation.
3.2 Current and voltage monitoring
The requirements of current and voltage sensors are
following:
0 the precise measurement of current and voltage signals,
0 the detailed measurement of magnitude shape-image,
0 the fast measurement process,
0 the low power dissipation of sensor.
The fulfilment of these all demands requires implementation of
high-performance analogue circuits. The solution with high-
performance analogue circuits is expensive especially in
economical aspects (an example Fig. 6 - the third part of chip
core area is occupied by analogue unit).
-+
Fig. 6 - Thefinal layout of Smart Power circuit
3.3 Problems related to transmission of sensors signals
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One of the most difficult problems is the cross talk and
perturbation of the sensor signals during their transmission to the
decision module. The parasitic signals due to the commutation of
power devices are usually much stronger as the signals coming
fiom the sensor. In the case of standard analogue transmission the
signals obtained by the control block will be completely different
from the signals sent by the sensors. The only way to avoid this
problem is immediate conversion of analogue sensor signal to
digital one. The transmission of signal in the digital form is not as
sensitive to the distortion as the analogue one. Instead of
application of AD converter placed close to the sensor it is
possible to build the sensors giving directly the output signal in
the digital form. Such approach render possible the minimisation
of the circuit surface and the problems of AID placement close to
the power switching devices.
The development of technology and long term research
activities are needed to solve the problems mentioned above.
4. Simulation problems
The design and fabrication of Smart-Power modules is very
expensive fiom an economic point of view. The simulation of
designed devices is a way to decrease the design time and
fabrication costs, therefore the simulation of the complex circuit
with the carehl consideration of the PQ is required. In real Smart
Power modules the parameters and models related to the physical
features of the system can not be considered separately. The
correct design and simulation of such a system demands the
multi-domain simulation in electrical, thermal, mechanical and
electromagnetic domains. All physical signals can not be
separated and should be treated together in one simulation
environment. The particular attention should be paid to the
electrothermal simulation which becomes of great importance
considering still growing values of power densities dissipated in
semiconductor structures. The correct interpretation of the
signals coming fiom sensors, should be carehlly interpreted.
4.1 General methodology of multi-domain simulation
The electrical circuits design often requires, especially for
high power devices, an electro-thermal transient simulation
which would takes into account the thermal feedback in VLSI
circuits where the high power density is caused by numerous
power sources influencing each other. Additionally, modern
VLSI systems often contain mechatronic structures like:
IRSENSORs (InfraRed Sensors), ISFET (Ion Sensitive FET) and
some others. In order to describe these devices, hardware
description language ELDO HDL-A (ELDO Hardware
Description Language - Analogue) [3] should be used.
The HDL-A allows for structural programming and multi-domain
including the following phenomena:
mechanical,
thermal (heat flow, temperature),
0 electrical (voltages and currents),
0 other phenomena not necessarily obeying the Kirchoff Laws.
The basic stages of multi-domain system model creation
process (proposed by the authors), are as follows.
a) The design of device functional model (Fig. 7):
0 each device should be properly interconnected to its
environment containing other devices,
 all physical phenomena occurring in modelled device should
be discerned (see P1, P2, P3, P4 phenomena in Fig. 7),
all relations, signal paths and signals direction between
particular phenomena should be distinguished (see Fig. 7),
all functional blocks (instances) like: resistors, transistors
which represent real parts of modelled devices should be
separated (see Z1,22,23 in Fig. 7).

'.
';
I
z ,i
/'
/'
*--.
--. -------_____---
----- -4--

Qbc = aR *ZR + cc cc * dV
(8
Qbc = aR *=R +
Fig. 7 - The physical phenomena, their relations (signalpaths)
0
O f v\r
and instances in a device and its environment ( l q

b) The implementation of a created model in hardware

description language (Fig. 8):
signal paths should be arranged and classified as electrical,
mechanical or others,
0 inputs and outputs of a device (and its environment) should ib + i, + i, = o (1 1 )
be defined,
0 mathematical description of all phenomena should be Using these equations, it is possible to create a new model of
simplified (if it is possible) and implemented in a given NPN transistor with two additional nodes (PT and MT) used for
language, modelling of the power dissipation and the temperature influence
device model implementation should be validated with real (Is(T) and VT(T)) (see Fig. 9). Transistor power dissipation is
device measurements. represented by the current source in the thermal branch PT-MT.
Because current ELDO HDL-A version 1.x does not allow
Environment creating structural models yet, a BJT transistor electro-thermal
model was constructed using electro-thermal model of diode and

TI ...........................
other purely electrical components.
electrical thermal

Device i

Ir I thermal

E
I

!
B I
Fig. 8 1 The device implementation e: C-j, Temp

4.2 Electrothermal models and macromodels
All models should be written in simple and comprehensible
form so as to adapt them easily to other simullators and to include
new phenomena. As on example an electro-thermal model of a
bipolar transistor will be presented. Let's consider a simple
Ebers-Moll injection model of bipolar transistor with non-linear
internal capacitors and the temperature dependence on its
parameters. This model fully represents the problems, which
have to be taken into consideration in electro-thermal modelling
and simulation. The model can be described using the following
equations.
!
I
I MT
E !
mod 'el of BJT transistor
Fig. 9 - Electro-thermal model transistor
The example of this method application is presented below.
Let us consider a hybrid device which contains three bipolar
transistors connected in parallel (Fig. 10). The transistor model
presented in the previous section is used in this circuit
description. The values of particular elements in the RC-ladder
model in the thermal domain can be obtained by 3-D thermal
analysis of the whole system. This analysis has to be performed
"n" times considering, each time, only one from "n" temperature

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sensitive elements. On the bases of these "n" simulations the RC
network containing n*(n+1)/2 resistors and "n" capacitors can be
generated. The characteristic feature of this device is a very
strong thermal feedback, so the occurrence of thermal instability
is very likely. This phenomenon is common for bipolar devices
and it is related to the positive electro-thermal feedback.
In multi-domain simulations the most important problem is the
correct physical modelling of devices. The problem is very
difficult, especially where 2D or 3D thermal modelling is
required. Using the above mentioned methodology the electro-
thermal models of several other device have been created. The
electro-thermal behavioural model of MOSFET transistor in
ELDO HDL-A language. This model is based on adapted
electrical Shichman-Hodge model of MOSFET transistor is
presented in the Fig. 12.

Fig. 10 - Electro-thermal model of hybrid device

The circuit (Fig. 10) can be divided into two separate parts.
Purely electronic circuit (Yl, Y2, Y3, Rg, R1, L, etc. ) with
parameters depending on temperature determined by the other
part of the circuit. IRC network modelling heat flow in hybrid
circuit, where:
R11, R22, R33 represent transistors thermal resistance to the
ambient,
R12, R13, R23 represent thermal resistance between
transistors,
C11, C22, C33 represent the transistor's thermal
capacitances.
Fig.12 - Electro-thermal MOSFET transistor
This model is used in 3D thermal transient macromodel of multi-
level structures.
4.3 Simulation of the PWM module
Developed Smart-Power module, which the final layout was
presented in Fig.6, contains mixed: analogue, digital sections
(presented in Fig.13) and power stage section (presented in
Fig.2).

It has to be mentioned that it is possible to perform a set of

simulations with different external conditions (temperature,
cooling conditions, etc.), taking into account the transistors
parameters dispersion. From the example of such a simulation
presented below (Fig. l l ) , it can be seen that the power
dissipated in each of transistors differ from each other. Without
taking into account the thermal feedback this effect could not be
seen. It should be underlined that this figure represents the state
reached after several simulation periods. Because of the thermal
model used here has been created for steady states, the transient
curves obtained for the first few periods do not represent the real
device behaviour. Fig. 13 - Analogue-digital part of designed P WM module
aZ X %A!?i?-.----zm
A large number of simulation have been done with taking
thermal coupling into account. The results of these simulations
affect on the temperature sensors placement.
The main aim was verification of all Smart-Power module
before send to silicon foundry. The simulations of the analogue
control unit are similar to previous one and are included in paper.
The current and voltage signal waveforms from digital (see
Fig. 14) and power stage unit (see Fig. 15) are shown below. The
results of performed simulations are in agreement with the
theoretical consideration of the authors.

Fig. I I - Results of the hybrid device simulation

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 STOP
References
S [I]. Baliga B.J.: An Overview of Smart Power Technology.
FRW-WSTER
TO-SLIlUE$DtoA
IEEE Transactions on Electron Devices, Vo1.38, No7, July
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1 przyrzqdy mocy. WNT, 1995
I
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6 -D
Time
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Sept., 1995, pp 15-20
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m 1994

5. Conclusions
In the Smart Power module design ,the electro-thermal
phenomena have to be done. The results of the simulation will
allow for correct placement of temperature sensors. In
general, the multi-domain simulations have to be performed
in Smart Power module design.
The different kind of sensors for Smart Plower modules have
to be developed.
The laboratory and practical tests are ,still the best final
verification of Smart Power module design.

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