Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gbm5v Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-28T15:16:51.004Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

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
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

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

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

[1]Shin, M.W.; Trew, R.J.: GaN MESFETs for high-frequency and high-temperature microwave applications. Electronics Letters., 31 (1995), 498–500.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[2]Daumiller, I.; Kirchner, C.; Kamp, M.; Ebeling, K.J.; Kohn, E.: Evaluation of the temperature stability of AlGaN/GaN heterostructure FET's. IEEE Electron Device Lett., 20 (1999), 448–450.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[3]Kohn, E.; Daumiller, I.; Kunze, M.; Nostrand, J.; Van Sewell, J.; Jenkins, T.: Switching behaviour of GaN-based HFETs: thermal and electronics transients. Electron. Lett., 38 (2002), 603–605.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[4]Kohn, E. et al. : Transient characteristics of GaN-based heterostructure field-effect transistors. IEEE Trans. Microwave Theory Tech., 51 (2003), 634–641.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[5]Gaska, R.; Osinsky, A.; Yang, J.W.; Shur, M.S.: Self-heating in high-power AlGaN-GaN HFET's. IEEE Electron Device Lett., 19 (1998), 89–91.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[6]Zhao, Y. et al. : Pulsed photothermal reflectance measurement of the thermal conductivity of sputtered aluminium nitride thin films. J. Appl. Phys., 96 (2004), 4563–4568.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[7]Filippov, K.A.; Balandin, A.A.: The effect of the thermal boundary resistance on self-heating of AlGaN/GaN HFETs. MRS Internet J. Nitride Semiconductor Res. [Online]. 8, article 4. Avaliable at: http://nsr.mij.mrs.org/8/4/, (2003).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[8]Turin, V.O.; Balandin, A.A.: Performance degradation of GaN field-effect transistors due to thermal boundary resistance at GaN/substrate interface. Electron. Lett., 40 (2004), 81–83.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[9]Eckhause, T.A.; Süzer, Ö.; Kurdak, C.; Yun, F.; Morkoc, H.: Electric-field-induced heating and energy relaxation in GaN. Appl. Phys. Lett., 82 (2003), 3035–3037.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[10]Liu, R.; Ponce, F.A.; Dadgar, A.; Krost, A.: Atomic arrangement at the AlN/Si (111) interface. Appl. Phys. Lett., 83 (2003), 860–862.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[11]Sun, J. et al. : Thermal Management of AlGaN-GaN HFETs on sapphire using flip-chip bonding with epoxy underfill. IEEE Electron Dev. Lett., 24 (2003), 375–377.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[12]Das, J. et al. : Improved thermal performance of AlGaN/GaN HEMTs by an optimized flip-chip design. IEEE Trans. Electron Devices, 53 (2006), 2696–2702.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[13]Kuball, M. et al. : Measurement of temperature distribution in multifinger AlGaN/GaN heterostructure field-effect transistors using micro-Raman spectroscopy. Appl. Phys. Lett., 82 (2003), 124–126.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[14]Shigekawa, N.; Onodera, K.; Shiojima, K.: Device Temperature measurement of highly biased AlGaN/GaN high-electron-mobility transistors. Jpn. J. Appl. Phys., 42 (2003), 2245–2249.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[15]Kuzmík, J.; Pogany, D.; Gornik, E.; Javorka, P.; Kordoš, P.: Electrostatic discharge effects in AlGaN/GaN high-electron-mobility transistors. Appl. Phys. Lett., 83 (2003), 4655–4657.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[16]Park, J.; Shin, M.W.; Lee, Ch.C.: Thermal modeling and measurement of AlGaN-GaN HFETs built on sapphire and SiC substrates. IEEE Trans. Electron Devices, 51 (2004), 1753–1759.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[17]Kuzmík, J.; Javorka, P.; Alam, A.; Marso, M.; Heuken, M.; Kordoš, P.: Determination of channel temperature in AlGaN/GaN HEMTs grown on sapphire and silicon substrates using DC characterization method. IEEE Trans. Electron Devices, 49 (2002), 1496–1498.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[18]Brown, J.D.; Borges, R.; Piner, E.; Vescan, A.; Singhal, S.; Therrien, R.: AlGaN/GaN HFETs fabricated on 100-mm GaN on silicon (111) substrates. Solid-State Electronics., 46 (2002), 1535–1539.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[19]Pogany, D. et al. : Quantitative internal thermal energy mapping of semiconductor devices under short current stress using backside laser interferometry. IEEE Trans. Electron Devices, 49 (2002), 2070–2078.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[20]Pogany, D.; Bychikhin, S.; Litzenberger, M.; Groos, G.; Stecher, M.: Extraction of spatio-temporal distribution of power dissipation in semiconductor devices using nanosecond interferometric mapping technique. Appl. Phys. Lett., 81 (2002), 2881–2883.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[21]Kuzmik, J. et al. : Transient thermal characterization of AlGaN/GaN HEMTs Grown on silicon. IEEE Trans. Electron Devices, 52 (2005), 1698–1705.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[22]Kuzmik, J. et al. : Transient self-heating efects in multifinger AlGaN/GaN HEMTs with metal airbridges. Solid-State Electronics, 51 (2007), 969–974.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[23]Kuzmik, J.; Bychikhin, S.; Pogany, D.; Gaquière, C.; Pichonat, E.; Morvan, E.: Investigation of the thermal boundary resistance at the III-nitride/substrate interface using optical methods. J. Appl. Phys., 101 (2007), 054508.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[24]Pichonat, E. et al. : Temperature analysis of AlGaN/GaN high-electron-mobility transistors using micro-Raman scattering spectroscopy and transient interferometric mapping. European Microwave Week, Manchester, 10–15 September (2006).Google Scholar
[25]Balkanski, M.; Wallis, R.F.; Haro, E.: Anharmonic effects in light scattering due to optical phonons in silicon. Phys. Rev. B, 28 (1983), 1928–1934.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[26]Hull, R, editor, Properties of Crystalline Silicon. EMIS Datareviews Series No. 20, INSPEC, 1999.Google Scholar