Thesis defense of Florent LOCHE-MOINET - December 18th, 2023

Florent LOCHE-MOINET will defend his thesis on December 18th, 2023 at 10:30 am, (amphi JP. DOM – IMS Laboratory) on the subject : “Electrothermal modelling for the analysis and lifetime estimation of short-circuited semiconductor modules”.

The power converters industry is expanding due to increased demands from the transport industry. New challenges are emerging from objectives set by governments, such as legislation on electric cars. New materials in power converter semiconductors, such as silicon carbide or gallium nitride, could respond to these challenges, but they bring their own set of problems. With a life expectancy of decades, short circuits should be expected to occur. A short circuit on silicon carbide chips is a complex phenomenon, and the effect of a short circuit on the lifetime estimation is unknown. To improve the lifetime estimation of semiconductors, these short-circuit phenomena should be considered. To do so, an electro-thermo-mechanical model of a silicon carbide transistor is realised in this thesis. This model is created using finite element modelling, providing a heat generation map, a temperature map, and a stresses and strains map from the applied voltage to each electrode and the duration of the short circuit.