Semiconductor device

• US 6,434,008 B1
• Filed: 08/27/1998
• Issued: 08/13/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 10/07/1994
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Hitachi Haramachi Electronics Co. Ltd. (Hitachi, Ltd.), Hitachi, Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Hitachi Haramachi Electronics Co. Ltd. (Hitachi, Ltd.), Hitachi, Ltd.
• Inventors: Suzuki, Kazuhiro, Tanaka, Akira, Hosokawa, Takashi, Kobayashi, Isao, Saito, Ryuichi, Shimizu, Hideo, Koizumi, Masahiro, Koike, Nobuya, Higashimura, Yutaka, Koike, Yoshihiko, Kokubun, Hideya, Kushima, Tadao, Onuki, Jin, Sekine, Shigeki, Sawahata, Mamoru, Kurihara, Yasutoshi, Haramaki, Takashi, Yamada, Kazuji
• Primary Examiner(s): Schuberg, Darren
• Assistant Examiner(s): FOSTER, DAVID A
• Application Number:
  US09/385,632
• Time in Patent Office: 1,447 Days
• Field of Search: 361/728, 361/807, 361/820, 361/746, 174/52.1, 174/255, 174/258, 174/262, 257/678, 257/687, 257/690, 257/692, 257/693
• US Class Current: 361/728
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 2224/05599 Material
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 2224/32225 the item being non-metallic, e.g. insulating substrate with or without metallisation
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 2224/45015 being circular
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 2224/451 with a principal constituent of the material being a metal or a metalloid, e.g. boron (B), silicon (Si), germanium (Ge), arsenic (As), antimony (Sb), tellurium (Te) and polonium (Po), and alloys thereof
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 2224/48011 Length
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 2224/48091 Arched
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 2224/48227 connecting the wire to a bond pad of the item
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 2224/48472 the other connecting portion not on the bonding area also being a wedge bond, i.e. wedge-to-wedge
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 2224/49111 the connectors connecting two common bonding areas, e.g. Litz or braid wires
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 2224/49113 the connectors connecting different bonding areas on the semiconductor or solid-state body to a common bonding area outside the body, e.g. converging wires
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 2224/49171 Fan-out arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 2224/49431 on the semiconductor or solid-state body
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 2224/73265 Layer and wire connectors
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 23/049 the other leads being perpendicular to the base
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 23/49562 for devices being provided for in H01L29/00
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 24/45 of an individual wire connector
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 24/48 of an individual wire connector
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 24/49 of a plurality of wire connectors
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 25/0655 the devices being arranged next to each other
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 25/072 the devices being arranged next to each other
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 25/18 : the devices being of types provided for in two or more different subgroups of the same main group of groups H01L27/00 - H01L33/00, or in a single subclass of H10K, H10N
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 2924/00 : Indexing scheme for arrangements or methods for connecting or disconnecting semiconductor or solid-state bodies as covered by H01L24/00
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 2924/00012 : Relevant to the scope of the group, the symbol of which is combined with the symbol of this group
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 2924/00014 : the subject-matter covered by the group, the symbol of which is combined with the symbol of this group, being disclosed without further technical details
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 2924/01005 : Boron [B]
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 2924/01006 : Carbon [C]
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 2924/01014 : Silicon [Si]
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 2924/01019 : Potassium [K]
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 2924/01022 : Titanium [Ti]
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 2924/01028 : Nickel [Ni]
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 2924/01029 : Copper [Cu]
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 2924/01039 : Yttrium [Y]
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 2924/01041 : Niobium [Nb]
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 2924/01042 : Molybdenum [Mo]
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 2924/01047 : Silver [Ag]
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 2924/0105 : Tin [Sn]
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 2924/01061 : Promethium [Pm]
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 2924/01074 : Tungsten [W]
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 2924/01078 : Platinum [Pt]
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 2924/01079 : Gold [Au]
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 2924/01322 : Eutectic Alloys, i.e. obtained by a liquid transforming into two solid phases
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 2924/014 : Solder alloys
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 2924/1301 : Thyristor
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 2924/1305 : Bipolar Junction Transistor [BJT]
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 2924/13055 : Insulated gate bipolar transistor [IGBT]
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 2924/13091 : Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor Field-Effect Transistor [MOSFET]
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 2924/15787 : Ceramics, e.g. crystalline carbides, nitrides or oxides
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 2924/181 : Encapsulation
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 2924/19043 : being a resistor
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 2924/2076 : equal to or larger than 100 microns
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 2924/30105 : Capacitance
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 2924/30107 : Inductance
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 2924/3025 : Electromagnetic shielding
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 2924/351 : Thermal stress
• CPC Class Codes: H02M 7/003 : Constructional details, e.g. physical layout, assembly, wiring or busbar connections

Abstract

A semiconductor device in which a plurality of semiconductor elements are bonded onto at least one electrode pattern on an insulator substrate formed a plurality of electrode patterns on the main surface, each of the electrodes of the semiconductor element being electrically connected to the electrode pattern, the other surface of the insulator substrate being bonded to a heat dissipating base, the upper surface of the heat dissipating base being covered with a member for cutting off the semiconductor elements from the outer environment, terminals electrically connecting the electrodes on said insulator substrate and the electrode placed outside the cutoff member being provided, wherein the material of the heat dissipating base has a linear expanding coefficient larger than the linear expansion coefficient of the semiconductor element and smaller than three times of the linear expansion coefficient of the semiconductor element, and a thermal conductivity larger than 100 W/mK, the semiconductor elements being arranged on at least one electrode surface and in at least two regions divided by the other electrode surface on the insulator substrate.

Claims

1. A semiconductor module mounting a plurality of semiconductor elements of the same kind, which comprises:

a substrate made of an insulator;

said plurality of semiconductor elements arranged on said insulator substrate;

external connecting terminals electrically connected to an external apparatus;

a conductor pattern formed on said insulator substrate, jointed with said external connecting terminals as well as electrically connected with the electrodes of said plurality of semiconductor elements in parallel to form a current path from said external connecting terminals to said plurality of semiconductor elements;

wherein

said conductor pattern is formed symmetrically in regard to a certain phantom line on said insulator substrate, a plurality of positions on said phantom line and symmetrical in regard to said phantom line being used as jointing zones for said external connecting terminal, current bypass portions to make the individual current paths of said plurality of semiconductor elements in a nearly equal length being provided, the current bypass portion being formed by cutting away a path between a semiconductor element and said jointing zone and providing a bypass for allowing current to flow between the semiconductor element and said jointing zone when the distance between the electrode of the semiconductor element and said jointing zone is shorter than the distances between the electrodes of the other semiconductor elements and said jointing zones (in a case where the semiconductor element has plural electrodes or an expanded electrode the averaged distance being taken as said distance between the electrode of the semiconductor element and said jointing zone.)

2. A semiconductor module according to claim 1, wherein three of said semiconductor elements of the same kind are mounted, one special semiconductor element among said three semiconductor elements being arranged so that the center of weight is placed on said phantom line, the other two semiconductor elements being arranged so that the centers of weight each are placed symmetrically each other in regard to said phantom line and at the corners each in the base of an isosceles triangle having the center of weight of said special semiconductor element as the vertex.

5. A semiconductor module according to claim 1, wherein

each of said plurality of semiconductor elements individually has an input electrode for allowing current to flow into and an output electrode for allowing current to flow out as said electrodes,

an input side connecting terminal for allowing current to flow into from an external apparatus and an output side connecting terminal for allowing current to flow out being provided as said external connecting terminals,

an input side conductor pattern jointed with said input side connecting terminal and electrically connected with the input electrodes of said plurality of semiconductor elements in parallel and an output side conductor pattern jointed with said output side connecting terminal and electrically connected with the output electrodes of said plurality of semiconductor elements in parallel being provided as said conductor pattern,

said input side connecting terminal and said output side terminal being faced to each other with a space, having parallel input/output facing portions.

6. A semiconductor module according to claim 5, wherein the gap between said input/output facing portions of said input side connecting terminal and said input/output facing portions of said output side connecting terminal is shorter than 10 mm.

7. A semiconductor module according to claim 1, wherein

said plurality of semiconductor elements are bipolar transistors, each of the semiconductor element having an input electrode for allowing current to flow into and an output electrode for allowing current to flow out as said electrodes and a control electrode for applying voltage for controlling the quantity of current flowing from said input electrode to said output electrode,

an input side connecting terminal for allowing current to flow into from an external apparatus and an output side connecting terminal for allowing current to flow out and a control connecting terminal for applying voltage from an external apparatus being provided as said external connecting terminals,

an input side conductor pattern jointed with said input side connecting terminal and electrically connected with the input electrodes of said plurality of semiconductor elements in parallel and an output side conductor pattern jointed with said output side connecting terminal and electrically connected with the output electrodes of said plurality of semiconductor elements in parallel and a control conductor pattern jointed with said control connecting terminal and electrically connected with said control electrodes of said plurality of semiconductor elements in parallel being provided as said conductor pattern,

said control connecting terminal being formed and arranged so that the control connecting terminal does not cross with said input side connecting terminal and said output side connecting terminal, and the distance from said control connecting terminal to said input side connecting terminal and said output side connecting terminal is longer than the distance between said input side connecting terminal and said output side connecting terminal.

8. A semiconductor module according to claim 7, wherein

a diode element having an input electrode for allowing current to flow into and an output electrode for allowing current to flow out is provided,

the input electrode of said diode element being electrically connected with said input side conductor pattern, the output electrode of said diode element being electrically connected with said output side conductor pattern,

the jointing zone of said input side connecting terminal on said input side conductor pattern being placed at a position where the length of the current path from said jointing zone to the input electrode of said diode element is shorter than the length of the current path from said jointing zone to said input electrode of said bipolar transistor.

9. A semiconductor module according to claim 1, wherein said external connecting terminal has a bending portion at which the extension of said external connecting terminal in a certain direction turns to the extension of said external connecting terminal in the direction opposite to said certain direction.

10. A semiconductor module according to claim 9, which comprises

a metallic wire connecting said conductor pattern and the electrode of said semiconductor element,

said bending portion of said external connecting terminal being formed so as not to be placed over/under said metallic wire.

11. A semiconductor module according to claim 1, which comprises

a casing for covering said insulator substrate so that a space is formed in the arranging side of said semiconductor element and said conductor pattern on said insulator substrate,

silicone gel for filling said space of said casing,

said silicone gel filling said space so that an air layer is formed inside said space of said casing.

3. A semiconductor module mounting a plurality of semiconductor elements of the same kind, which comprises:

a substrate made of an insulator;

said plurality of semiconductor elements arranged on said insulator substrate;

external connecting terminals electrically connected to an external apparatus;

a conductor pattern formed on said insulator substrate, jointed with said external connecting terminals as well as electrically connected with the electrodes of said plurality of semiconductor elements in parallel to form a current path from said external connecting terminals to said plurality of semiconductor elements;

wherein

said external connecting terminal comprises a facing portion on said conductor pattern, the facing portion being parallel to and facing to the zone of each of the current paths for each of said semiconductor elements, the direction of current flow in the facing portion being opposite to the direction of current flow in each of the current paths.

4. A semiconductor module according to claim 3, wherein

said plurality of semiconductor elements are arranged in a straight line on said substrate,

said conductor pattern being formed in the interval from the semiconductor element in one end among said plurality of semiconductor elements arranged in a straight line to the semiconductor element in the other end along said plurality of semiconductor elements,

said external connecting terminal being jointed to the portion in the side of said semiconductor element in one end of said conductor pattern, said facing portion extending in the direction arranging said plurality of semiconductor elements from a position corresponding to the position of said semiconductor element in one end to a position corresponding to the position of said semiconductor element in the other end.