Thermal transient characterization methodology for single-die and stacked structures:High-power semiconductor packages typically exhibit a three-dimensional heat flow, resulting in large lateral changes in chip and case surface temperature. For single-chip devices we propose to use an unambiguous definition for the junctionto- case thermal resistance as a key parameter, based on a transient measurement technique with much higher repeatability also for very low thermal resistances compared to a two-point thermal resistance measurement. The technique is illustrated on thermal transient measurements of power MOSFETs. A comparison between different thermal coupling to the ambient is used to demonstrate the method’s capability to reveal even subtle internal details of the package. The concept is extended to multi-chip and stacked-chip structures, where transfer impedances have to be introduced. Here, the dynamic properties of the package are important and complex impedance mapping is the proper way to characterize the package.