As the core component of power converter, the reliability of insulated gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) is widely concerned. High junction temperature or high temperature fluctuation are the main factors leading to the failure of power devices. Therefore, accurate monitoring of IGBT module junction temperature in real time is of great significance to improve its reliability. The junction temperature is obtained by building a thermal network model and simulating its circuit. This method is widely used because of its simplicity and feasibility and the realization of online monitoring of junction temperature. In this paper, the existing thermal network models are summarized. According to the model structure, they are divided into three categories: onedimensional, twodimensional and threedimensional. Then, the research situation of parameter identification methods for thermal network model in recent years is discussed, and each method is compared and evaluated. On this basis, the future research directions of new thermal network models and model parameter identification methods are prospected.