Thermal mapping at the cell level of chips in power modules through the silicone gel using thermoreflectance

Silicone gel is used in power electronics in order to provide a chemical protection and dielectric insulation in insulated gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) power modules. This gel prevents the direct mapping of surface temperature measurements of the component by classical infrared means. The temperature maps inside IGBT modules are usually performed after removal of the silicone gel which does not allow their operation in real environment. In this paper, we explore the ability of thermoreflectance to overcome this limitation in measuring the temperature surface of an IGBT chip through the silicone gel. Thermoreflectance is a non-contact technique, which measures temperature variation through reflectivity variation measurement. Using a “mean” calibration coefficient determinates from optical fiber thermal measurements, thermal images of IGBT modules with and without silicone gel can be compared. Preliminary results indicate that thermoreflectance enables the measurement of surface temperature change on high power IGBT modules with silicone gel and temperature distribution is affected by the presence of the gel. •Silicone gel in power module prevents the direct mapping of surface temperature by classical infrared means.•Thermoreflectance is a non-contact technique, which measures temperature variation through reflectivity variation measurement.•Thermoreflectance overcome this limitation using a suitable transparent wavelength for the gel.•The high spatial resolution of the technique makes possible to measure temperature variations at the elementary cell scale.•Temperature distribution is affected by the presence of the gel.