Diamond Materials for GaN HEMT near Junction Heat Removal

Abstract

Summary form only given. GaN HEMT technology is transforming applications in communications, radar, and electronic warfare by offering more than 5x higher RF transmit power over the existing GaAs-based technologies. The high breakdown voltage and current handling capability of GaN HEMTs enables, for the same device size, a 10x increase in RF power using GaN-based devices in place of conventional GaAs-based devices. However the ultimate power and performance of GaN technology cannot be exploited in real applications due to thermal limitations on performance and reliability. The high power density in GaN HEMTs translates to mega-Watts/cm2 heat dissipation at the device gate region. Increasing the heat conductance near the GaN device junction is critical to reduce device junction temperature for reliable operation and performance. NGAS will report on revolutionary methods being developed to directly integrate high quality, high thermal conductivity diamond materials with more than 4x greater thermal conductivity over existing state-of-the-art GaN HEMT technology.