This letter proposes a thermal characterization method of power semiconductor devices based on an H-bridge testing circuit, as well as its corresponding controls and measurement structures. In the proposed method, the power semiconductor Devices Under Test (DUTs) operate under the switching condition which is closer to the practical use. Due to the presence of switching loss, similar ranges of junction temperature can be achieved with much lower heating current than the one in the conventional testing method. Besides, a current controller is used to cut off the heating current rapidly, so that the proposed method can approximate an ideal step power loss and thus contributes to more accurate estimation of thermal impedance. In addition, the proposed testing method enables multiple DUTs and repeated measurements, in order to take parameters distribution and uncertainty into account. The feasibility, control and some electrical behaviors of the proposed method are verified through experimental tests.

Published in: IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics  ( Volume: 34 , Issue: 9 , Sept. 2019 )