Two-Temperature Principle for Electrothermal Performance Evaluation of GaN HEMTs

TL;DR

This paper investigates self-heating effects in GaN HEMTs using advanced simulations, introducing two metrics to evaluate device reliability and performance degradation influenced by bias and phonon transport.

Contribution

It introduces the two-temperature principle and metrics for assessing electrothermal performance in GaN HEMTs, supported by detailed simulation analysis.

Findings

Maximum channel temperature ($T_{max}$) is significantly affected by bias conditions.

Equivalent channel temperature ($T_{eq}$) correlates with device performance degradation.

Phonon ballistic transport influences heat distribution and device reliability.

Abstract

We present a comprehensive investigation of self-heating in gallium nitride (GaN) high-electron-mobility transistors (HEMTs) through technology computer-aided design (TCAD) simulations and phonon Monte Carlo (MC) simulations. With microscopic phonon-based electrothermal simulations, we scrutinize both the temperature profiles and electrothermal coupling effect within GaN HEMTs. Two metrics, maximum channel temperature ($T_\text{max}$) and equivalent channel temperature ($T_\text{eq}$), are introduced to measure the reliability and electrical performance degradation of the device, respectively. The influence of bias-dependent heat generation and phonon ballistic transport on the two indicators is thoroughly examined.