LTCC Based Current Sensor for Silicon Carbide Power Module Integration

Abstract

Current sensor integration provides many benefits on the power density and reliability of power modules. However, existing current sensors are not suitable for the integration in silicon carbide power modules. This article proposed a low temperature co-fired ceramic (LTCC) based low profile current sensor with mount-ready structure. The current capacity, bandwidth, electrical insulation, and thermal expansion performance of the proposed current sensor are fully analyzed and evaluated. The mutual inductance between the designed sensing coil and current carrying conductor is 4nH with a relative error less than 5% compared with finiteelement analysis simulation results. The dynamic current measuring accuracy is verified by double pulse test. The error of first peak measurement is reduced from over 20% to less than 5% by changing the commercial Rogowski coil to the proposed LTCC current sensor. The wide temperature test results show that the proposed current sensor can be applied in high temperature environment conditions.