Life Cycle Assessment of Power Semiconductor Module Manufacturing

Abstract

Power modules with Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistors (IGBTs) are utilized in a wide range of applications. While power semiconductor components are used to control power and enhance energy efficiency, producing such devices requires resource-demanding and energy-intensive steps, in addition to using hazardous chemicals. The need to consider sustainability as a primary aspect of the device’s life cycle has become inevitable. In this thesis, the latest IGBT and Free-Wheeling Diode (FWD) design and production trends have been studied to construct a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) model for mimicking a commercial silicon IGBT power module manufacturing phase. Recent power semiconductor developments are assessed from a sustainability aspect and the model is designed to show the most dominant environmental impacts in the device’s production phase. Moreover, the literature provides background on related LCA studies in the field of electronics with a closer look at power devices. A cradle-to-gate model was built using LCA for experts (GaBi) software after a teardown process of the module. The construction of the model is shown in detail. The environmental impacts were obtained, and two categories were chosen to be quantitatively assessed; it was found that semiconductor front-end production dominates both Global Warming Potential (GWP) and ecotoxicity categories, followed by baseplate and nickel pro-duction. Furthermore, it was found that transparent presentation of the methodology for conducting the inventory and calculating the environ-mental impacts are mandatory steps.