Thermal expansion imaging and finite element simulation of hot lines in high power AlGaN HEMT devices

Abstract

The temperature and thermo-elastic expansion of the heated area in a high power, high electron mobility transistor (HEMT) device have been investigated by means of finite element calculations and scanning thermal expansion microscopy. With both procedures a hot line is located near the gate line of the transistor. To determine the absolute temperature, the thermo-elastic response was calibrated on the basis of the force–distance curve of the AFM and the thermal expansion of the gold layer on top of the heated areas. The maximum temperatures deduced by the two procedures are in reasonable agreement whereas discrepancies are found for the temperature profile of the hot line, pointing towards a possible influence of the large aspect ratio of the device on the thermo-elastic measurement.