Evaulation_Engineering_March_2020 - 16

POWER SEMICONDUCTOR TEST

Sponsored by

SPECIAL REPORT

EFFECTIVE TEST AND
MEASUREMENT DRIVES WIDEBANDGAP DEVICE APPLICATIONS
By Rick Nelson, Contributing Technical Editor
Power semiconductor test presents
many challenges, requiring the accurate measurement of electrical parameters in various environmental conditions. Thermal test, specialized and
general-purpose electronic instrumentation, and high-speed, high-current interconnect all have a role to play in bringing
high-quality wide-bandgap devices to
market and driving their penetration into
applications ranging from renewable energy to electric vehicles. And power silicon devices continue to have a role to play.

TotalTemp Technologies
Inc. SD49-N thermal vacuum
platform system.

Thermal test specialist
TotalTemp Technologies focuses on thermal test, and John Booher, CTO, pointed
out that customers have a lot of choices
in that field. "Are all those choices really
necessary?" he asked. "They are not really
required, but in a world where every aspect of work has the more, better, faster
mindset, thermal testing is definitely no
exception. Any old temperature chamber
around the lab can perform a thermal test,
but it's likely going to be far from optimal."
In contrast, he said, "TotalTemp provides thermal testing solutions that are
optimum for your testing requirements.
Thermal Platforms by nature are faster
and offer access to the device at temperature. Convection shrouds and traditional
convection temperature chambers also
have their place as good choices." He added that TotalTemp uses the Synergy Nano
controller to provide solid functionality,
remote and local programmability, and
many time/cost-saving options, including

EVALUATION ENGINEERING MARCH 2020

alarms, remote notifications, advanced
control algorithms, logging, and network
printing.
Booher pointed out that thermal testing remains important for high-power
wide-bandgap devices. "Devices exposed
to harsh thermal environments such as
aircraft systems or cell-tower base-station gear need to be verified for the environment they are expected to perform
in," he commented.
He said his company offers a line of
high-performance customizable benchtop

convection temperature chambers, new
sizes of thermal platforms with more capacity (with sizes up to 450 square inches),
hybrid benchtop chambers with the combined benefits of a thermal platform and a
temperature chamber ("cutting test times
in half from thermal platforms that are
already pretty speedy," he said), a humidity control option for the hybrid benchtop
chamber, and new and improved clamping systems. He added that device temperature sensors and optional advanced
control software optimize settling times

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