Gallium nitride high electron mobility transistor with an effective graphene-based heat removal system

Abstract

The self-heating effect is a major problem for gallium nitride electronic, optoelectronic and photonic devices. Average temperature increase and non-uniform distribution of dissipated power in the gallium nitride high electron mobility transistor lead to the forming of a hot spot in the vicinity of the conducting channel and to degradation of the drain current, output power and gain, as well as poor reliability. The purpose of this work is to develop the design using numerical simulation and to study the thermal phenomena that occur in the gallium nitride high-electron mobility transistor with a graphene-based heat removal system. The objects of the research are the structures fabricated on sapphire, silicon and silicon carbide substrates. The subject of the research is the electrical, frequency and thermal characteristics of the gallium nitride high-electron mobility transistor with a graphene-based heat removal system. The calculation results show that the integration of a graphene-based heat removal element into the design of the high electron mobility transistor can effectively mitigate the self-heating effect and thus improve the device performance. The advantage of the proposed concept is that the graphene-based heat removal element is structurally connected with a heat sink and aims at removing heat immediately from the maximum temperature region, providing an additional heat escape channel. The obtained results can be used by the electronics industry of the Republic of Belarus for developing the hardware components of gallium nitride power electronics.