Infineon Technologies announced the introduction of new packaging technology. By applying this packaging technology to the TRENCHSTOP and TRENCHSTOP Highspeed 3 IGBTs, the company has achieved best-in-class thermal performance and simplified manufacturing. This can replace fully insulated packages and standard and high-performance insulating paper. The new package is suitable for power factor correction (PFC) applications in air conditioners, uninterruptible power supplies (UPS), and drive power converters.

Conventional methods using insulating materials in FullPAK or standard TO packages for insulation are expensive and difficult to handle. Furthermore, they do not meet the heat dissipation requirements of modern high-power-density IGBTs. The TRENCHSTOP enhanced insulation package has the same footprint as a standard TO-247, provides 100 percent insulation, and eliminates the need for insulating paper or thermal grease. The IGBT die can be used as a heatsink to provide an effective and reliable thermal path, enabling higher power density.

By eliminating the need for insulating materials and thermal grease, it shortens assembly time and enhances reliability by removing the problem of misaligned insulating paper. The thermal resistance (Rth) is 50 percent lower than that of TO-247 FullPak and 35 percent lower than that of standard TO-247 using insulating paper.

Furthermore, since the coupled capacitance is low at 38pF, superior EMI performance can be achieved and filters can be made smaller. This is because the IGBT can operate at lower temperatures, reducing stress on the device. Additionally, operating at lower temperatures allows for a reduction in heatsink size, thereby lowering system costs. As cooling requirements are lower, designers can also use a higher margin to increase power density.