CAPTIF

The joint emergence of Wide Band Gap materials (SiC, GaN, C) and new generation hybrid integration techniques significantly enhance performances of power electronic modules. Such modules should operate in severe environment and constraints: high temperature high power density, fast switching, etc. The challenges for driving these new modules are about developing, integration and signal processing techniques of several types of sensors. Industrial and academic partners, within this project, are proposing complementary skills and experiences in the technological and scientific domains: multi-physic sensors, signal processing, integration and reliability for power electronics. Nanoparticle-based strain gauges, temperature sensors and electromagnetic array sensors will be validated and integrated in power electronic device. The main interest of such sensors is their low power consumption, their miniaturization and their possible integration as well as their accuracy. A specific multi-physic model will be developed in order to specify the best location of interest within the power device module. Electromagnetic sensors will be issued from previous studies and adapted to dedicated device. This will result in a better knowledge of real time current density location, as well as current frequencies. For both sensor types, the data packaging will be challenging spin-offs. Finally, advanced data processing techniques – estimation as well as signal filtering – will be adapted to numerous sensor outputs. A clean room process flowchart will be established to guarantee an advanced pre-industrial prototype. The industrial partners will certify that project outputs will be perfectly adapted to future products. This will result in advanced health monitoring of power device. The project is composed by 5 partners – 2 research laboratories and 3 companies. Research laboratories will develop electromagnetic sensors, will define the data processing techniques and the multi-physics modeling as well as perform reliability tests for sensors and functionalized power devices. Industrial partners will provide nano-technology sensors, adapt the clean room process and guarantee the technology readiness level. 6 work packages are defined. The program will be developed during 42 months. During the first stage, overall specifications will be established as well as a set of sensor will be studied and developed. Finally, they will be integrated in a demonstrator device. In the meanwhile, multi-physics modelling and preliminary reliability tests will be considered. This will provide overall information and recommendations for the final integrated prototype. In the second stage, data processing techniques will be studied and developed as far as data filtering and estimation are concerned. This will allow fulfilling the number and variety of signals to be analyzed. In the final step, a set of sensor would be manufactured and dedicated to a functional power electronic device. To conclude better optimization and behavioral knowledge, real time and off line health monitoring, will be issued from the CAPTIF results. The main objective is to build, for the first time, a complete multi-scale integrated set of sensors. The analysis of the multi-physic data should give relevant and real-time information to derive some appropriate and optimized designs, control and reliability rules on new power devices.