Instrumented Chip Dedicated to Semiconductor Temperature Measurements in Power Electronic Converters

Temperature measurement of semiconductor components is essential, in particular to evaluate performances and to propose health monitoring of power modules. ThermoSensitive Electrical Parameters (TSEPs) are widely used to estimate a representative temperature of these components, mainly in non-operating conditions, different from the real environment of the latter (offline measurements). Nevertheless, some TSEPs may be adapted to online temperature measurements, in operating conditions of power converters. It is however difficult to evaluate the accuracy of those TSEPs. This paper presents an instrumented chip dedicated to estimate the temperature in power electronic modules under functional constraints. Thus, it offers a reliable and robust tool for temperature measurements in power electronic converters. Preliminary results presented in this paper concern the technological process of realization and demonstrate the good functioning of this instrumented chip under power dissipation and switching conditions.