Thermal modeling of power gallium arsenide microwave integrated circuits

Journal Article · Sat May 01 00:00:00 EDT 1993 · IEEE Transactions on Electron Devices (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers); (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1109/16.210192· OSTI ID:6508602

Webb, P W ^[1]

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1. Univ. of Birmingham, Edgbaston (United Kingdom)

Low-power Gallium Arsenide-based microwave circuits have been used for many years for frequencies higher than those possible with silicon technology. At the present time manufacturers are developing power devices for ever higher frequencies using GaAs MESFET's and heterojunction bipolar devices constructed with III-V compounds on GaAs substrates. There is also interest in integrating power devices on Monolithic Microwave Integrated Circuits (MMIC's). A problem with the technology is the low thermal conductivity of Gallium Arsenide and this gives rise to thermal design problems which must be solved if good reliability is to be achieved. The paper uses a three-dimensional numerical simulator to study this problem and in particular examines the approximations which are possible in performing realistic assessments of the thermal resistance of typical GaAs power device structures under steady-state conditions.

• OSTI ID: 6508602
• Journal Information: IEEE Transactions on Electron Devices (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers); (United States), Journal Name: IEEE Transactions on Electron Devices (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers); (United States) Vol. 40:5; ISSN 0018-9383; ISSN IETDAI
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

42 ENGINEERING
426000* -- Engineering-- Components
Electron Devices & Circuits-- (1990-)
AMPLIFIERS
ARSENIC COMPOUNDS
ARSENIDES
COMPUTERIZED SIMULATION
ELECTRONIC CIRCUITS
ELECTRONIC EQUIPMENT
EQUIPMENT
GALLIUM ARSENIDES
GALLIUM COMPOUNDS
INTEGRATED CIRCUITS
MATHEMATICAL MODELS
MICROELECTRONIC CIRCUITS
MICROWAVE EQUIPMENT
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
PNICTIDES
POWER AMPLIFIERS
SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES
SIMULATION
STEADY-STATE CONDITIONS
THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY
THERMODYNAMIC PROPERTIES
TRANSISTORS