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Title: Record-Low Thermal Boundary Resistance between Diamond and GaN-on-SiC for Enabling Radiofrequency Device Cooling

Abstract

The implementation of 5G-and-beyond networks requires faster, high-performance, and power-efficient semiconductor devices, which are only possible with materials that can support higher frequencies. Gallium nitride (GaN) power amplifiers are essential for 5G-and-beyond technologies since they provide the desired combination of high frequency and high power. These applications along with terrestrial hub and backhaul communications at high power output can present severe heat removal challenges. The cooling of GaN devices with diamond as the heat spreader has gained significant momentum since device self-heating limits GaN’s performance. However, one of the significant challenges in integrating polycrystalline diamond on GaN devices is maintaining the device performance while achieving a low diamond/GaN channel thermal boundary resistance. In this study, we achieved a record-low thermal boundary resistance of around 3.1 ± 0.7 m2 K/GW at the diamond/Si3N4/GaN interface, which is the closest to theoretical prediction to date. The diamond was integrated within ~1 nm of the GaN channel layer without degrading the channel’s electrical behavior. Furthermore, we successfully minimized the residual stress in the diamond layer, enabling more isotropic polycrystalline diamond growth on GaN with thicknesses >2 μm and a ~1.9 μm lateral grain size. More isotropic grains can spread the heat in both verticalmore » and lateral directions efficiently. Using transient thermoreflectance, the thermal conductivity of the grains was measured to be 638 ± 48 W/m K, which when combined with the record-low thermal boundary resistance makes it a leading-edge achievement.« less

Authors:
ORCiD logo [1]; ORCiD logo [2];  [3];  [4]; ORCiD logo [3]; ORCiD logo [2];  [1]
+ Show Author Affiliations
  1. Stanford Univ., CA (United States)
  2. Univ. of Bristol (United Kingdom)
  3. Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA (United States)
  4. Univ. of California, Santa Barbara, CA (United States)
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Energy Frontier Research Centers (EFRC) (United States). Ultra Materials for a Resilient, Smart Electricity Grid (ULTRA)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES); US Department of the Navy, Office of Naval Research (ONR)
OSTI Identifier:
1981982
Grant/Contract Number:  
N00014-19-1-2611-P00004; ASUB00000682-01
Resource Type:
Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 13; Journal Issue: 50; Journal ID: ISSN 1944-8244
Publisher:
American Chemical Society (ACS)
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY; Science & Technology - Other Topics; Materials Science; Polycrystalline diamond; N-polar GaN; Thermal management; Thermal boundary resistance; 5G networks

Citation Formats

Malakoutian, Mohamadali, Field, Daniel E., Hines, Nicholas J., Pasayat, Shubhra, Graham, Samuel, Kuball, Martin, and Chowdhury, Srabanti. Record-Low Thermal Boundary Resistance between Diamond and GaN-on-SiC for Enabling Radiofrequency Device Cooling. United States: N. p., 2021. Web. doi:10.1021/acsami.1c13833.
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Malakoutian, Mohamadali, Field, Daniel E., Hines, Nicholas J., Pasayat, Shubhra, Graham, Samuel, Kuball, Martin, & Chowdhury, Srabanti. Record-Low Thermal Boundary Resistance between Diamond and GaN-on-SiC for Enabling Radiofrequency Device Cooling. United States. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsami.1c13833
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Malakoutian, Mohamadali, Field, Daniel E., Hines, Nicholas J., Pasayat, Shubhra, Graham, Samuel, Kuball, Martin, and Chowdhury, Srabanti. Tue . "Record-Low Thermal Boundary Resistance between Diamond and GaN-on-SiC for Enabling Radiofrequency Device Cooling". United States. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsami.1c13833. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1981982.
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@article{osti_1981982,
title = {Record-Low Thermal Boundary Resistance between Diamond and GaN-on-SiC for Enabling Radiofrequency Device Cooling},
author = {Malakoutian, Mohamadali and Field, Daniel E. and Hines, Nicholas J. and Pasayat, Shubhra and Graham, Samuel and Kuball, Martin and Chowdhury, Srabanti},
abstractNote = {The implementation of 5G-and-beyond networks requires faster, high-performance, and power-efficient semiconductor devices, which are only possible with materials that can support higher frequencies. Gallium nitride (GaN) power amplifiers are essential for 5G-and-beyond technologies since they provide the desired combination of high frequency and high power. These applications along with terrestrial hub and backhaul communications at high power output can present severe heat removal challenges. The cooling of GaN devices with diamond as the heat spreader has gained significant momentum since device self-heating limits GaN’s performance. However, one of the significant challenges in integrating polycrystalline diamond on GaN devices is maintaining the device performance while achieving a low diamond/GaN channel thermal boundary resistance. In this study, we achieved a record-low thermal boundary resistance of around 3.1 ± 0.7 m2 K/GW at the diamond/Si3N4/GaN interface, which is the closest to theoretical prediction to date. The diamond was integrated within ~1 nm of the GaN channel layer without degrading the channel’s electrical behavior. Furthermore, we successfully minimized the residual stress in the diamond layer, enabling more isotropic polycrystalline diamond growth on GaN with thicknesses >2 μm and a ~1.9 μm lateral grain size. More isotropic grains can spread the heat in both vertical and lateral directions efficiently. Using transient thermoreflectance, the thermal conductivity of the grains was measured to be 638 ± 48 W/m K, which when combined with the record-low thermal boundary resistance makes it a leading-edge achievement.},
doi = {10.1021/acsami.1c13833},
journal = {ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces},
number = 50,
volume = 13,
place = {United States},
year = {Tue Dec 07 00:00:00 EST 2021},
month = {Tue Dec 07 00:00:00 EST 2021}
}
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