Method and inverter with thermal management for controlling an electric machine

A temperature estimation module estimates each junction temperature of a corresponding semiconductor device, among a plurality of semiconductor devices, for each phase of an inverter. The temperature estimation module or the data processing system determines a hottest device with a highest junction temperature among the semiconductor devices. A thermal adjustment module or data processing system determines if the highest junction temperature parameter is less than maximum junction temperature parameter for the respective semiconductor device or deciding whether or not to adjust a duty cycle of the semiconductor devices.