Analysis of Thermal Properties of Power Multifinger HEMT Devices

Abstract

In this paper, several methods suitable for real time on-chip temperature measurements of power AlGaN/GaN based high-electron mobility transistor (HEMT) grown on SiC substrate are presented. The measurement of temperature distribution on HEMT surface using Raman spectroscopy is presented. We have deployed a temperature measurement approach utilizing electrical I-V characteristics of the neighboring Schottky diode under different dissipated power of the transistor heat source. These methods are verified by measurements with micro thermistors. The results show that these methods have a potential for HEMT analysis in thermal management. The features and limitations of the proposed methods are discussed. The thermal parameters of materials used in the device are extracted from temperature distribution in the structure with the support of 3-D device thermal simulation. The thermal analysis of the multifinger power HEMT is performed. The effects of the structure design and fabrication processes from semiconductor layers, metallization, and packaging up to cooling solutions are investigated. The analysis of thermal behavior can help during design and optimization of power HEMT.