Parametrically Generated FE Models for the Design for Reliability of Classical and Embedded Power Modules

Power electronic modules find their application in various fields such as in medical devices, industrial equipment, automotive components, and many more. Accordingly, new device technologies, cooling concepts, and packaging materials are introduced as well as additional functionalities are directly integrated. Therefore, the complexity and diversity of the power modules are increasing massively. Nevertheless, the high requirements regarding service lifetime and functional safety must be met while time to market and cost should be reduced. Design for reliability based on virtual prototyping can speed up the development process as needed. Detailed finite element models can describe the new components and numerical simulations of the loading cycles can provide estimates of the reliability performance even before the first physical samples are fabricated. That means large parts of the design optimization can be based on virtual case studies instead of time-consuming physical tests. However, even the timely creation of the detailed models is becoming a demanding challenge due to the increasing diversity and complexity of the power modules. This challenge is addressed by the presented work.