Power Electronic Substrate - Other Substrates

Other Substrates

• When the power devices are attached to a proper heatsink, there is no need for a thermally efficient substrate. Classical printed circuit board (PCB) material can be used (this method is typically used with through-hole technology components). This is also true for low-power applications (from some milliwatts to some watts), as the PCB can be thermally enhanced by using thermal vias or wide tracks to improve convection. An advantage of this method is that multilayer PCB allows design of complex circuits, whereas DBC and IMS are mostly single-sided technologies.

• Flexible substrates can be used for low-power applications. As they are built using Kapton as a dielectric, they can withstand high temperatures and high voltages. Their intrinsic flexibility makes them resistant to thermal cycling damage.

• Ceramic substrates (thick film technology) can also be used in some applications (such as automotive) where reliability is more important than good power dissipation.