GaN HEMT on Si substrate with diamond heat spreader for high power applications

Abstract

Currently, the GaN-on-silicon high electron mobility transistor (HEMT) is a promising candidate to replace the Si Metal Oxide Semiconductor Field Effect Transistor (MOSFET) for high power electronics circuits. However, self-heating is still a challenging issue to be addressed, especially for high-current applications. In this paper, a GaN-on-Si HEMT with a diamond (Dia) heat spreader is proposed to suppress the self-heating effect. The performance of the proposed device is analyzed and compared with conventional GaN-on-Si and also GaN-on-SiC devices. The analysis was carried-out using technology computer aided design. The GaN-on-Si with diamond heat spreader suppresses the self-heating in the device and achieves higher saturation drain current than conventional GaN-on-Si. In addition, GaN-on-Si with Diamond heat spreader yields a higher transconductance and cut-off frequency than GaN-on-Si. This improved structure will provide a low cost device with enhanced thermal characteristics for higher power applications.