Channel Temperature Determination for AlGaN/GaN HEMTs on SiC and Sapphire

Numerical simulation results (with emphasis on channel temperature) for a single gate AlGaN/GaN High Electron Mobility Transistor (HEMT) with either a sapphire or SiC substrate are presented. The static I-V characteristics, with concomitant channel temperatures (T(sub ch)) are calculated using the software package ATLAS, from Silvaco, Inc. An in-depth study of analytical (and previous numerical) methods for the determination of T(sub ch) in both single and multiple gate devices is also included. We develop a method for calculating T(sub ch) for the single gate device with the temperature dependence of the thermal conductivity of all material layers included. We also present a new method for determining the temperature on each gate in a multi-gate array. These models are compared with experimental results, and show good agreement. We demonstrate that one may obtain the channel temperature within an accuracy of +/-10 C in some cases. Comparisons between different approaches are given to show the limits, sensitivities, and needed approximations, for reasonable agreement with measurements.