More compact H-bridges for home appliances

An H-bridge is a type of electronic circuit—commonly used to control motors in home appliances—in which each of the four branches of the “H” is home to a power transistor. A team of researchers and engineers from Leti, AMS, and Infineon successfully packaged an H-bridge on silicon. Compared to a conventional H-bridge, which is on a circuit board, the silicon H-bridge is five times more compact, faster, and less expensive to manufacture. In addition, silicon offers thermal conductivity 200 times higher than that of the polycarbonate used to make circuit boards—a crucial factor when you consider that power transistors reach temperatures of 180 °C.

Several technical hurdles—including vertical TSVs 40 nm in diameter and 200 nm deep—had to be overcome to make the circuit on silicon. Several modules are currently undergoing functional electrical testing.

Contact: jean.charbonnier@cea.fr

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