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Impact of substrate and thermal boundary resistance on the performance of AlGaN/GaN HEMTs analyzed by means of electro-thermal Monte Carlo simulations

MetadataDetails
Publication Date2016-04-14
JournalSemiconductor Science and Technology
AuthorsSergio GarcĂ­a-SĂĄnchez, I. ĂĂ±iguez-de-la-Torre, J. Mateos, T. GonzĂĄlez, S. PĂ©rez
InstitutionsUniversidad de Salamanca
Citations34

In this paper, we present results from the simulations of a submicrometer AlGaN/GaN highelectron-
\nmobility transistor (HEMT) by using an in-house electro-thermal Monte Carlo
\nsimulator. We study the temperature distribution and the influence of heating on the transfer
\ncharacteristics and the transconductance when the device is grown on different substrates
\n(sapphire, silicon, silicon carbide and diamond). The effect of the inclusion of a thermal
\nboundary resistance (TBR) is also investigated. It is found that, as expected, HEMTs fabricated
\non substrates with high thermal conductivities (diamond) exhibit lower temperatures, but the
\ndifference between hot-spot and average temperatures is higher. In addition, devices fabricated
\non substrates with higher thermal conductivities are more sensitive to the value of the TBR
\nbecause the temperature discontinuity is greater in the TBR layer.