Thermal modeling of power gallium arsenide microwave integrated circuits

Author

Webb, Paul W.

Author_Institution

Sch. of Electron. & Electr. Eng., Birmingham Univ., Edgbaston, UK

Volume

40

Issue

5

fYear

1993

fDate

5/1/1993 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

867

Lastpage

877

Abstract

Manufacturers are developing power devices for ever higher frequencies using GaAs MESFETs and heterojunction bipolar devices constructed with III-V compounds on GaAs substrates, as well as integrated power devices on monolithic microwave integrated circuits (MMICs). A problem with the technology is the low thermal conductivity of gallium arsenide, giving rise to thermal design problems that must be solved if good reliability is to be achieved. A three-dimensional numerical simulator is used to study this problem. In particular, the approximations which are possible in performing realistic assessments of the thermal resistance of typical GaAs power device structures under steady-state conditions are examined

Keywords

III-V semiconductors; MMIC; circuit analysis computing; gallium arsenide; power integrated circuits; temperature distribution; thermal resistance; GaAs MESFETs; GaAs substrates; MMICs; heterojunction bipolar devices; integrated power devices; low thermal conductivity; peak temperature; power GaAs microwave integrated circuits; steady-state conditions; thermal design; thermal resistance; three-dimensional numerical simulator; Frequency; Gallium arsenide; Heterojunctions; III-V semiconductor materials; Integrated circuit manufacture; MESFETs; MMICs; Microwave devices; Thermal conductivity; Thermal resistance;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Electron Devices, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9383

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/16.210192

Filename

210192