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Gallium nitride (GaN) high electron mobility transistors (HEMTs) are key components enabling today’s wireless communication systems. However, overheating concerns hinder today’s commercial GaN HEMTs from reaching their full potential. Therefore, it is necessary to characterize the respective thermally resistive components that comprise the device’s thermal resistance and determine their contributions to the channel temperature rise. In this work, the thermal conductivity of the GaN channel/buffer layer and the effective thermal boundary resistance (TBR) of the GaN/substrate interface of a GaN-on-SiC wafer were measured using a frequency-domain thermoreflectance technique. The results were validated by both experiments and modeling of a transmission line measurement (TLM) structure fabricated on the GaN-on-SiC wafer. The limiting GaN/substrate thermal boundary conductance (TBC) beyond which there is no influence on the device temperature rise was then quantified for different device configurations. It was determined that this limiting TBC is a function of the substrate material, the direction in which heat primarily flows, and the channel temperature. The outcomes of this work provide device engineers with guidance in the design of epitaxial GaN wafers that will help minimize the device’s thermal resistance. 

Gallium nitride (GaN) high electron mobility transistors (HEMTs) are key components of modern radio frequency (RF) power amplifiers. However, device self-heating negatively impacts both the performance and reliability of GaN HEMTs. Accordingly, laser-based pump-probe methods have been used to characterize the thermal resistance network of epitaxial material stacks that are used to fabricate HEMT structures. However, validation studies of these measurement results at the device level are lacking. In the present work, a GaN-on-SiC wafer was characterized using frequency-domain thermoreflectance and steady-state thermoreflectance techniques. The thermal conductivity of the GaN channel/buffer layer, SiC substrate, and the interfacial thermal boundary resistance at the GaN/SiC interface were determined. Results were validated by performing thermal imaging and modeling of a transmission line measurement (TLM) structure fabricated on the GaN-on-SiC wafer. 

β-phase gallium oxide ( β-Ga2O3) has drawn significant attention due to its large critical electric field strength and the availability of low-cost high-quality melt-grown substrates. Both aspects are advantages over gallium nitride (GaN) and silicon carbide (SiC) based power switching devices. However, because of the poor thermal conductivity of β-Ga2O3, device-level thermal management is critical to avoid performance degradation and component failure due to overheating. In addition, for high-frequency operation, the low thermal diffusivity of β-Ga2O3 results in a long thermal time constant, which hinders the use of previously developed thermal solutions for devices based on relatively high thermal conductivity materials (e.g., GaN transistors). This work investigates a double-side diamond-cooled β-Ga2O3 device architecture and provides guidelines to maximize the device’s thermal performance under both direct current (dc) and high-frequency switching operation. Under high-frequency operation, the use of a β-Ga2O3 composite substrate (bottom-side cooling) must be augmented by a diamond passivation overlayer (top-side cooling) because of the low thermal diffusivity of β-Ga2O3. 

The demand for high power and high-frequency radio frequency (RF) power amplifiers makes AlGaN/GaN high electron mobility transistors (HEMTs) an attractive option due to their large critical field, high saturation velocity, and reduced device footprint as compared to Si-based counterparts. However, due to the high operating power densities, intense device self-heating occurs, which degrades the electrical performance and compromises the device’s reliability. The self-heating behavior of AlGaN/GaN HEMTs is known to be not solely a function of the dissipated power but is highly bias-dependent. As the operation of RF power amplifiers involves alteration of the device operation from fully-open to pinched-off channel conditions, it is critical to experimentally map the full channel temperature profile as a function of bias conditions. However, such measurement is difficult using optical thermography techniques due to the lack of optical access underneath the gate electrode, where the peak temperature is expected to occur.

To address this challenge, an AlGaN/GaN HEMT employing a transparent gate made of indium tin oxide (ITO) was fabricated, which enables full channel temperature mapping using Raman spectroscopy. It was found that the maximum channel temperature rise under a partially pinched-off condition is more than ∼93% higher than that for an open channel condition, although both conditions would lead to an identical power dissipation level. The channel peak temperature probed in an ITO-gated device (underneath the gate) is ∼33% higher than the highest channel temperature that can be measured for a standard metal-gated AlGaN/GaN HEMT (i.e., next to the metal gate structure) operating under an identical bias condition. This indicates that one may significantly underestimate the device’s thermal resistance when solely relying on performing thermal characterization on the optically accessible region of a standard AlGaN/GaN HEMT. The outcomes of this study are important in terms of conducting a more accurate lifetime prediction of the device lifetime and designing thermal management solutions.

 

Featuring broadband operation and high efficiency, gallium nitride (GaN)-based radio frequency (RF) power amplifiers are key components to realize the next generation mobile network. However, to fully implement GaN high electron mobility transistors (HEMT) for such applications, it is necessary to overcome thermal reliability concerns stemming from localized extreme temperature gradients that form under high voltage and power operation. In this work, we developed a deep-ultraviolet thermoreflectance thermal imaging capability, which can potentially offer the highest spatial resolution among diffraction-limited far-field optical thermography techniques. Experiments were performed to compare device channel temperatures obtained from near-ultraviolet and deep-ultraviolet wavelength illumination sources for the proof of concept of the new characterization method. Deep-ultraviolet thermoreflectance imaging will facilitate the study of device self-heating within transistors based on GaN and emerging ultra-wide bandgap semiconductors (e.g., β-Ga2O3, AlxGa1-xN, and diamond) subjected to simultaneous extreme electric field and heat flux conditions. 

Ultra-wide band gap semiconductor devices based on β-phase gallium oxide (Ga2O3) offer the potential to achieve higher switching performance and efficiency and lower manufacturing cost than that of today’s wide band gap power electronics. However, the most critical challenge to the commercialization of Ga2O3 electronics is overheating, which impacts the device performance and reliability. We fabricated a Ga2O3/4H–SiC composite wafer using a fusion-bonding method. A low-temperature (≤600 °C) epitaxy and device processing scheme was developed to fabricate MOSFETs on the composite wafer. The low-temperature-grown epitaxial Ga2O3 devices deliver high thermal performance (56% reduction in channel temperature) and a power figure of merit of (∼300 MW/cm2), which is the highest among heterogeneously integrated Ga2O3 devices reported to date. Simulations calibrated based on thermal characterization results of the Ga2O3-on-SiC MOSFET reveal that a Ga2O3/diamond composite wafer with a reduced Ga2O3 thickness (∼1 μm) and a thinner bonding interlayer (<10 nm) can reduce the device thermal impedance to a level lower than that of today’s GaN-on-SiC power switches. 

In this study, we compared the transient self-heating behavior of a homoepitaxial β-Ga2O3 MOSFET and a GaN-on-Si HEMT using nanoparticle-assisted Raman thermometry and thermoreflectance thermal imaging. The effectiveness of bottom-side and double-side cooling schemes using a polycrystalline diamond substrate and a diamond passivation layer were studied via transient thermal modeling. Because of the low thermal diffusivity of β-Ga2O3, the use of a β-Ga2O3 composite substrate (bottom-side cooling) must be augmented by a diamond passivation layer (top-side cooling) to effectively cool the device active region under both steady-state and transient operating conditions. Without no proper cooling applied, the steady-state device-to-package thermal resistance of a homoepitaxial β-Ga2O3 MOSFET is 2.6 times higher than that for a GaN-on-Si HEMT. Replacing the substrate with polycrystalline diamond (under a 6.5 μm-thick β-Ga2O3 layer) could reduce the steady-state temperature rise by 65% compared to that for a homoepitaxial β-Ga2O3 MOSFET. However, for high frequency power switching applications beyond the ~102 kHz range, bottom-side cooling (integration with a high thermal conductivity substrate) does not improve the transient thermal response of the device. Adding a diamond passivation over layer diamond not only suppresses the steadystate temperature rise, but also drastically reduces the transient temperature rise under high frequency operating conditions.