Graphene Heat Spreaders for Thermal Management of InGaP/GaAs Collector-Up HBTs

Abstract

We present a novel thermal management design for InGaP/GaAs power amplifiers (PAs) by placing the graphene heat spreader (GHS) at the backside of GaAs/InGaAs/InGaP collector-up (C-up) heterojunction bipolar transistors (HBTs), including n-p-n and p-n-p types. The GHS was used to create extra escape channel for thermal spread, and a physics-based analysis was performed to justify heat-dissipation improvements. Temperature distribution in the GHS and the application of these spreaders to ameliorate thermal coupling effects on multifinger transistors were discussed. Compared to the n-p-n device, the p-n-p device exhibits greater thermal stability enhancement results, which are extraordinary and reproducible. Both numerical simulation and experimental measurement were achieved to scrutinize thermal performance of the GHS. This brief demonstrates the potential of the suggested structure in replacing the conventional thermal-removal configuration of GaAs-based HBTs used in high-efficiency cellular handset PAs.