New GaN Power-Electronics Packaging Solutions: A Thermal Analysis using Raman Thermography

Raman thermography measurements were performed on AlGaN/GaN multi-finger high electron mobility transistors (HEMTs) to determine their channel temperature at various power levels. The devices were mounted on both silver diamond composite and CuW base plates, in order to benchmark the thermal performance of novel diamond composite base plates compared to traditional materials. We illustrate that AlGaN/GaN HEMT devices mounted on silver diamond composite base plates show peak temperatures which are 50% lower than the peak temperatures exhibited by devices mounted on traditional CuW base plates. This is a dramatic improvement in terms of heat extraction, as basis to enabling longer device life-times and better performances. In addition, time-resolved Raman thermography measurements were carrier out to obtain thermal dynamics of devices on the silver-diamond base plate and on heat diffusion during pulsed device operation. This time-dependent information is of great importance for reliability and failure analyses, as pulsed operation of a HEMT is a typically device operation condition. Finite-element thermal simulations were performed for comparison with the experimental results, and good agreement with the experimental data was obtained.