Method and device for estimating level of damage or lifetime expectation of power semiconductor module

A method for estimating a level of damage or a lifetime expectation of a power semiconductor module comprising at least one die that is mechanically, thermally, and electrically attached to a substrate, composed of plural layers of different materials, comprising:

• obtaining iteratively during a given duration, power losses of the power semiconductor module and a temperature in at least two different locations of the power semiconductor module,
• checking if power losses obtained during the given duration are suitable for a thermal model estimation,
• estimating a thermal model between the at least two different locations of the power semiconductor module using the determined power losses and the obtained temperatures only if the power losses obtained during the given duration are suitable for the thermal model estimation
• determining if a notification indicating the level of damage or the lifetime expectation has to be performed according to the estimated thermal model and a reference thermal model by
• evaluating an error between reference parameter values parametrizing the reference thermal model and parameter values parametrizing the estimated thermal model,
• filtering the error, and
• converting the filtered error into one or several distances which is or are metrics for a deviation of the parameter values from the reference parameter values of the reference thermal model, and
• notifying the level and location of damage or the lifetime expectation if the determining step determines that the notification has to be performed.

Device A device for estimating a level of damage or a lifetime expectation of a power semiconductor module comprising at least one die that is mechanically, thermally, and electrically attached to a substrate, composed of plural layers of different materials, the device comprising a processor configured to:

• obtain iteratively during a given duration power losses of the power semiconductor module and a temperature in at least two different locations of the power semiconductor module,
• check if the power losses obtained during the given duration are suitable for the thermal model estimation,
• estimate a thermal model between the at least two different locations of the power semiconductor module using the determined power losses and the obtained temperatures only if the power losses obtained during the given duration are suitable for the thermal model estimation by
• parametrizing the thermal model using parameter values,
• determining an estimation error,
• filtering the estimation error,
• determining a normal of the estimation error, and
• selecting the parameter values which minimize the norm of the estimation error,
• determine if a notification indicating the level of damage or the lifetime expectation has to be performed according to the estimated thermal model and a reference thermal model;
• and
• notify the level and location of damage or the lifetime expectation if it is determined that the notification has to be performed.