Self-heating in high-power AlGaN-GaN HFETs
- 1 March 1998
- journal article
- Published by Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) in IEEE Electron Device Letters
- Vol. 19 (3) , 89-91
- https://doi.org/10.1109/55.661174
Abstract
We compare self-heating effects in AlGaN-GaN heterostructure field effect transistors (HFETs) grown on sapphire and SiC substrates. Heat dissipation strongly affects the device characteristics soon after the application of the source-drain voltage (in less than 10/sup -7/ s). Our results show that in HFET's with the total epilayer thickness less than 1.5 /spl mu/m, the thermal impedance, /spl Theta/ is primarily determined by the substrate material and not by the material of the active layer. For our devices grown on 6H-SiC substrates, we measured /spl Theta/ of approximately 2/spl deg/C/spl middot/mm/W, which was more than an order of magnitude smaller than /spl Theta/=25/spl deg/C mm/W measured for similar AlGaN/GaN HFET's grown on sapphire. Our results demonstrate that AlGaN-GaN HFET's grown on SiC substrates combine advantages of superior electron transport properties in AlGaN/GaN heterostructures with excellent thermal properties of SiC, which should make these devices suitable for high-power electronic applications.Keywords
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