Characterization of PVD aluminum nitride for heat spreading in RF IC's

Abstract

Physical-vapor-deposited aluminum nitride, developed for heat spreading in RF ICs, is characterized by fabricating and measuring several different types of test structures. Among other things, it is shown that the material is a good dielectric insulator and has suitably low mechanical stress and piezoelectric response. With layers as thick as 6 mum, the electrothermal instabilities in a silicon-on-glass bipolar process are drastically reduced.