Temperature monitoring of short-gate length AlGaN/GaN HEMT via an integrated sensor

This paper describes a new method to measure AlGaN/GaN High Electron Mobility Transistors (HEMTs) operating temperature in devices dedicated to RF application. A resistive nickel temperature sensor is integrated into HEMT active area. The technological process development permits to integrate the sensor close to the transistor hot spot providing HEMT temperature under operation. A maximal temperature of 68°C is extracted for a dissipated power of 3.5 W/ mm corresponding to a thermal resistance of 10.6 Kmm/W. This new method shows the capability to monitor component self-heating in real time and to predict its failure. Furthermore, it is shown that the sensor has no influence on DC HEMT electrical behavior and its impact on current and power cutoff frequencies is negligible.

[1]  Satish Kumar,et al.  Self-Consistent Electrothermal Modeling of Passive and Microchannel Cooling in AlGaN/GaN HEMTs , 2017, IEEE Transactions on Components, Packaging and Manufacturing Technology.

[2]  S. Decoutere,et al.  Experimental Benchmarking of Electrical Methods and $\mu $ -Raman Spectroscopy for Channel Temperature Detection in AlGaN/GaN HEMTs , 2016, IEEE Transactions on Electron Devices.

[3]  Martin Kuball,et al.  A Review of Raman Thermography for Electronic and Opto-Electronic Device Measurement With Submicron Spatial and Nanosecond Temporal Resolution , 2016, IEEE Transactions on Device and Materials Reliability.

[4]  Y. Cordier,et al.  Power Performance at 40 GHz of AlGaN/GaN High-Electron Mobility Transistors Grown by Molecular Beam Epitaxy on Si(111) Substrate , 2015, IEEE Electron Device Letters.

[5]  Vincent Aimez,et al.  Integration of Micro Resistance Thermometer Detectors in AlGaN/GaN Devices , 2014, IEEE Journal of the Electron Devices Society.

[6]  A. Soltani,et al.  Efficient physical-thermal model for thermal effects in AlGaN/GaN high electron mobility transistors , 2012 .

[7]  M. Kuball,et al.  Micro-Raman temperature measurements for electric field assessment in active AlGaN-GaN HFETs , 2004, IEEE Electron Device Letters.

[8]  Y. Cordier,et al.  Power Performance of AlGaN/GaN High-Electron-Mobility Transistors on (110) Silicon Substrate at 40 GHz , 2013, IEEE Electron Device Letters.

[9]  Bruce M. Paine,et al.  Measurement of Temperature in GaN HEMTs by Gate End-to-End Resistance , 2016, IEEE Transactions on Electron Devices.