The objective of this research is to investigate methods of thermal packaging of electronic circuits that will provide an improved thermal path for heat removal from a power semiconductor device, thermal isolation between heat-generating components and other components on the circuit that may be heat-sensitive, and will perform these tasks at a lower cost than all-metal packages which are in common use. The approach is to use a 3-D printer in conjunction with metal inserts to fabricate a structure that will provide a metal heat path surrounded by a plastic enclosure. The plastic will provide thermal insulation between components and the mechanical structure to mount the circuit and provide the I/O connections to the outside. The proposed structure is directly translatable to production be using injection molding to form the structure at a much lower cost than forming a metal package.
The intellectual merit of this project is to devise a package that will provide a low-cost package for power devices with improved thermal characteristics and to learn from a practical standpoint how heat flows in an electronic circuit and how it affects the performance.
The broader impact of the proposal is both for direct and indirect reasons. There will be a direct cost impact on many high-volume and commonly used products. For example, automobiles and household products use power electronic circuits. Indirectly, engineering students will receive cross-training that will translate to other applications outside the realm of this project. This is a very practical project with almost immediate results. The relationship between research and application will become evident to the students.
