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Self-heating phenomena in high-power III-N transistors and new thermal characterization methods developed within EU project TARGET

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 July 2009

Jan Kuzmik ,
Sergey Bychikhin ,
Emmanuelle Pichonat ,
Christophe Gaquière ,
Erwan Morvan ,
Erhard Kohn ,
Jean-Pierre Teyssier  and
Dionyz Pogany
Jan Kuzmik*
Affiliation:
Institute for Solid-State Electronics, TU Vienna, Floragasse 7, A-1040 Vienna, Austria. Phone: +43 1 58801 36215; Fax: +43 1 58801 362 99. Institute of Electrical Engineering, Slovak Academy of Science, Dubravska cesta 9, 842 39 Bratislava, Slovakia.
Sergey Bychikhin
Affiliation:
Institute for Solid-State Electronics, TU Vienna, Floragasse 7, A-1040 Vienna, Austria. Phone: +43 1 58801 36215; Fax: +43 1 58801 362 99.
Emmanuelle Pichonat
Affiliation:
LASIR UMR 8516 USTL, 59655 Villeneuve d'Ascq cedex, France.
Christophe Gaquière
Affiliation:
IEMN, av. Poincaré, BP 69, 59652 Villeneuve d'Ascq, France.
Erwan Morvan
Affiliation:
Alcatel-Thales III-V Lab/TIGER, 91404 Orsay, France.
Erhard Kohn
Affiliation:
Department of Electron Devices and Circuits, University of Ulm, 89081 Ulm, Germany.
Jean-Pierre Teyssier
Affiliation:
IRCOM CNRS University of Limoges, 7 rue Jules Valles, 19100 Brive, France.
Dionyz Pogany
Affiliation:
Institute for Solid-State Electronics, TU Vienna, Floragasse 7, A-1040 Vienna, Austria. Phone: +43 1 58801 36215; Fax: +43 1 58801 362 99.
*
Corresponding author: J. Kuzmik Email: jan.kuzmik@tuwien.ac.at
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Abstract

In the framework of the Top Amplifier Research Groups in a European Team (TARGET) project, we developed a new electrical method for the temperature measurement of HEMTs and performed several unique studies on the self-heating effects in AlGaN/GaN HEMTs. This method, in combination with transient interferometric mapping (TIM), provides a fundamental understanding of the heat propagation in a transient state of HEMTs. The AlGaN/GaN/Si HEMT thermal resistance was determined to be ~70 K/W after 400 ns from the start of a pulse, and the heating time constant was ~200 ns. Our experimental methods were further applied on multifinger high-power AlGaN/GaN/sapphire HEMTs. The TIM method indicates that the airbridge structure serves as a cooler, removing approximately 10% of the heat energy. In the next study we used TIM and the micro-Raman technique to quantify thermal boundary resistance (TBR) between different wafer materials and GaN epi-structure. We found TBR to be ~7 × 10−8 m2K/W for GaN/Si and ~1.2 × 10−7 m2K/W for GaN/SiC interfaces. The role of TBR at the GaN/sapphire interface was found to be less important.

Keywords

Self-heatingTemperature measurementsHigh-electron-mobility transistorsAlGaN/GaN
Type
Original Article
Information
International Journal of Microwave and Wireless Technologies , Volume 1 , Special Issue 2: TARGET , April 2009 , pp. 153 - 160
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press and the European Microwave Association 2009

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