Suggestions for Extending the Scope of the Transient Dual Interface Method

A decade ago the JEDEC JESD51-14 standard was a real breakthrough in the thermal measurements of semiconductor devices. This standard introduces the Transient Dual (thermal) Interface Method (TDIM) for the measurement of the junction to case thermal resistance (RthJC) of power device packages with a single dominant heat-flow path through an exposed cooling surface.The recommendations of the standard are based on experiences obtained from many numerical and physical experiments performed typically on power devices in small packages such as TO types. The precise test procedure descriptions, however, seem to be too restrictive for large modules, power LED constructions and other.The aim of this paper is to examine package types for which a TDIM based RthJC measurement is feasible and to identify how the recommendations of the present JESD51-14 standard could be extended to these package types, keeping the merits of the present methodology. Moreover, it is investigated how the TDIM method can be extended to the measurement of other standard thermal metrics, such as the junction to pin thermal resistance.