Simulation-Driven Thermal Modeling for SiC and GaN Converters

What happened

This is a technical review article (not a market event) describing simulation-driven thermal modeling for SiC and GaN power converters. It states that wide-bandgap (WBG) devices switch faster, offer higher breakdown voltages, and conduct with lower on-resistance per unit area, but heat is concentrated in a very small area, with local heat fluxes that can easily reach several kilowatts per square centimeter; unmanaged heat can cause thermal runaway, gate oxide degradation, solder joint cracking, and catastrophic device failure. A recent review in the MDPI journal Electronics highlighted that WBG performance is mainly constrained by the position of heat generation within the device and the effectiveness of heat dissipation from the package, rather than just the electrical characteristics of the semiconductor itself. The article notes 4H-SiC has thermal conductivity at room temperature about 3× that of silicon (about 490 W/m·K versus 150 W/m·K), but its thermal conductivity decreases significantly and nonlinearly under operation; lateral GaN HEMTs concentrate heat in a microscopic region near the gate edge, can develop local hot spots, and require high spatial resolution in the gate-drain region for thermal modeling. The described simulation toolchain has three levels: device/package-level 3D FEA/CFD simulation (e.g., Ansys Icepak, Siemens Simcenter Flotherm), reduced-order models (Cauer/Foster RC network ROMs, including Siemens' Embeddable BCI-ROM technology that allows sharing an accurate packaged-device thermal model while protecting OEMs' IP), and system-level electrothermal co-simulation. The article cites Onsemi, working with Ansys, developing a multifidelity thermal modeling process to validate SiC MOSFET power modules used in industrial applications, and describes machine-learning-based fast junction temperature estimation. The source contains no price, capacity, supply-demand, or market-change information.

Impact and signal

Affected components and suppliers

Source and time

Source: Power Electronics News · 10/20/2026 · View original source