skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Size dictated thermal conductivity of GaN

Journal Article · · Journal of Applied Physics
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4962010· OSTI ID:1269902
 [1];  [2];  [2];  [3];  [3];  [4];  [4];  [4]
  1. Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)
  2. Sandia National Lab. (SNL-CA), Livermore, CA (United States)
  3. North Carolina State Univ., Raleigh, NC (United States)
  4. Univ. of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA (United States)

We investigated the thermal conductivity of n- and p-type doped gallium nitride (GaN) epilayers having thicknesses of 3–4 μm using time domain thermoreflectance. Despite possessing carrier concentrations ranging across 3 decades (1015–1018 cm–3), n-type layers exhibit a nearly constant thermal conductivity of 180 W/mK. In contrast, the thermal conductivity of p-type epilayers reduces from 160 to 110 W/mK with increased doping. These trends we observe—and their overall reduction relative to bulk—are explained leveraging established scattering models where it is shown that, while the decrease in p-type layers is partly due to the increased impurity levels evolving from its doping, size effects play a primary role in limiting the thermal conductivity of GaN layers tens of microns thick. Device layers, even of pristine quality, will therefore exhibit thermal conductivities less than the bulk value of 240 W/mK owing to their finite thickness.

Research Organization:
Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States); Sandia National Lab. (SNL-CA), Livermore, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA); National Science Foundation (NSF)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC04-94AL85000
OSTI ID:
1269902
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1315839; OSTI ID: 1340179
Report Number(s):
SAND-2016-3450J; SAND2016-2716J; 638268
Journal Information:
Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 120, Issue 9; ISSN 0021-8979
Publisher:
American Institute of Physics (AIP)Copyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 69 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

References (70)

Nobel Lecture: Background story of the invention of efficient blue InGaN light emitting diodes journal October 2015
GaN HEMT: Dominant Force in High-Frequency Solid-State Power Amplifiers journal April 2015
Power electronics with wide bandgap materials: Toward greener, more efficient technologies journal May 2015
Thermal effects in packaging high power light emitting diode arrays journal February 2009
GaN HEMT thermal behavior and implications for reliability testing and analysis journal May 2008
Reliability studies of vertical GaN devices based on bulk GaN substrates journal August 2015
Thermal Conductivity and Large Isotope Effect in GaN from First Principles journal August 2012
Three-dimensional thermal analysis of a flip-chip mounted AlGaN/GaN HFET using confocal micro-Raman spectroscopy journal October 2006
Micro-Raman thermometry in the presence of complex stresses in GaN devices journal June 2008
Vertical GaN Power Diodes With a Bilayer Edge Termination journal January 2016
Vertical GaN p-n Junction Diodes With High Breakdown Voltages Over 4 kV journal November 2015
Thermal conductivity of GaN crystals in 4.2–300 K range journal October 2003
Thermal conductivity of heavily doped bulk crystals GaN:O. Free carriers contribution journal August 2015
High spatial resolution thermal conductivity and Raman spectroscopy investigation of hydride vapor phase epitaxy grown n-GaN/sapphire (0001): Doping dependence journal September 2000
Some effects of oxygen impurities on AlN and GaN journal December 2002
Thermal conductivity of bulk GaN—Effects of oxygen, magnesium doping, and strain field compensation journal November 2014
Accurate dependence of gallium nitride thermal conductivity on dislocation density journal August 2006
Layer-by-layer thermal conductivities of the Group III nitride films in blue/green light emitting diodes journal May 2012
From the Casimir Limit to Phononic Crystals: 20 Years of Phonon Transport Studies Using Silicon-on-Insulator Technology journal May 2013
Universal phonon mean free path spectra in crystalline semiconductors at high temperature journal October 2013
Thick homoepitaxial GaN with low carrier concentration for high blocking voltage journal September 2010
GaN homoepitaxy by metalorganic chemical-vapor deposition on free-standing GaN substrates journal January 2000
Two-tint pump-probe measurements using a femtosecond laser oscillator and sharp-edged optical filters journal November 2008
Ion irradiation of the native oxide/silicon surface increases the thermal boundary conductance across aluminum/silicon interfaces journal July 2014
Thermal transport in tantalum oxide films for memristive applications journal July 2015
Limits to Fourier theory in high thermal conductivity single crystals journal November 2015
Analysis of heat flow in layered structures for time-domain thermoreflectance journal December 2004
Pulse accumulation, radial heat conduction, and anisotropic thermal conductivity in pump-probe transient thermoreflectance journal November 2008
Ultrafast thermoreflectance techniques for measuring thermal conductivity and interface thermal conductance of thin films journal November 2010
Criteria for Cross-Plane Dominated Thermal Transport in Multilayer Thin Film Systems During Modulated Laser Heating journal May 2010
High temperature enthalpy and heat capacity of GaN journal May 2003
Specific Heat Capacity of Gallium Nitride journal November 2011
Heat capacity of α Ga N : Isotope effects journal August 2005
Specific heat and entropy of GaN journal July 2004
Thermal conductivity of GaN, 25–360 K journal January 1977
Thermal conductivity of nano-grained SrTiO3 thin films journal December 2012
Thermal boundary conductance across metal-gallium nitride interfaces from 80 to 450 K journal November 2014
Contribution of optical phonons to thermal boundary conductance journal August 2010
On the importance of optical phonons to thermal conductivity in nanostructures journal August 2011
Phonon Dispersion Curves in Wurtzite-Structure GaN Determined by Inelastic X-Ray Scattering journal January 2001
The Scattering of Low-Frequency Lattice Waves by Static Imperfections journal December 1955
Thermal conductivity of GaN films: Effects of impurities and dislocations journal September 2002
First-principles calculations for defects and impurities: Applications to III-nitrides journal April 2004
Scattering of Phonons by Dislocations journal October 1966
Scattering of Lattice Waves by Dislocations journal March 1968
Theory of Thermal Conductivity of Solids at Low Temperatures journal January 1961
Scattering of Phonons by Elastic Strain Fields and the Thermal Resistance of Dislocations journal May 1959
Thermal Transport Along the Dislocation Line in Silicon Carbide journal September 2014
Heat transport in silicon from first-principles calculations journal August 2011
Mean free path spectra as a tool to understand thermal conductivity in bulk and nanostructures journal January 2013
Thermal conductivity of fully and partially coalesced lateral epitaxial overgrown GaN/sapphire (0001) by scanning thermal microscopy journal September 2000
High spatial resolution thermal conductivity of lateral epitaxial overgrown GaN/sapphire (0001) using a scanning thermal microscope journal August 1999
The temperature dependence of the thermal conductivity of single crystal GaN films journal March 2001
Thermal conductivity of lateral epitaxial overgrown GaN films journal December 1999
Increased thermal conductivity of free-standing low-dislocation-density GaN films journal September 2005
Temperature Dependence of the Thermal Conductivity and Phonon Scattering Time of a Bulk GaN Crystal journal August 2002
Temperature dependence of thermal conductivity of AlxGa1−xN thin films measured by the differential 3ω technique journal November 2004
High Thermal Conductivity of Gallium Nitride (GaN) Crystals Grown by HVPE Process journal January 2007
Thermal Boundary Resistance in GaN Films Measured by Time Domain Thermoreflectance with Robust Monte Carlo Uncertainty Estimation journal January 2016
Photoluminescence, Thermal Transport, and Breakdown in Joule-Heated GaN Nanowires journal January 2009
Unusually low thermal conductivity of gallium nitride nanowires journal March 2008
Lattice constants, thermal expansion and compressibility of gallium nitride journal April 1995
Universal phonon mean free path spectra in crystalline semiconductors at high temperature. text January 2013
Layer-by-layer thermal conductivities of the Group III nitride films in blue/green light emitting diodes text January 2012
Universal phonon mean free path spectra in crystalline semiconductors at high temperature. text January 2013
Thermal Boundary Resistance in GaN Films Measured by Time Domain Thermoreflectance with Robust Monte Carlo Uncertainty Estimation text January 2016
Specific Heat Capacity of Gallium Nitride journal November 2011
Scattering of phonons by dislocations report January 1979
Thermal boundary resistance in GaN films measured by time domain thermoreflectance with robust Monte Carlo uncertainty estimation text January 2016
Heat transport in silicon from first principles calculations text January 2011

Cited By (11)

Tuning Electrical and Thermal Transport in AlGaN/GaN Heterostructures via Buffer Layer Engineering journal March 2018
Thermal Conductivity and Phonon Scattering Processes of ALD Grown PbTe–PbSe Thermoelectric Thin Films journal September 2019
Ultrawide-Bandgap Semiconductors: Research Opportunities and Challenges journal December 2017
Phonon properties and thermal conductivity from first principles, lattice dynamics, and the Boltzmann transport equation journal January 2019
Thermal transport of nanoporous gallium nitride for photonic applications journal April 2019
Multidimensional thermal analysis of an ultrawide bandgap AlGaN channel high electron mobility transistor journal October 2019
Nanoscale electro-thermal interactions in AlGaN/GaN high electron mobility transistors journal January 2020
Impact of dislocations on the thermal conductivity of gallium nitride studied by time-domain thermoreflectance journal November 2019
Thermal transport properties of GaN with biaxial strain and electron-phonon coupling journal January 2020
Phonon confinement and transport in ultrathin films journal January 2020
Tuning Electrical and Thermal Transport in AlGaN/GaN Heterostructures via Buffer Layer Engineering preprint January 2017

Similar Records

Thermal conductivity of GaN, 71GaN, and SiC from 150 K to 850 K
Journal Article · Thu Jan 03 00:00:00 EST 2019 · Physical Review Materials · OSTI ID:1269902

Record-Low Thermal Boundary Resistance between Diamond and GaN-on-SiC for Enabling Radiofrequency Device Cooling
Journal Article · Tue Dec 07 00:00:00 EST 2021 · ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces · OSTI ID:1269902

Ab initio study of Ga-GaN system: Transition from adsorbed metal atoms to a metal–semiconductor junction
Journal Article · Sun Nov 15 00:00:00 EST 2015 · Journal of Vacuum Science and Technology. A, Vacuum, Surfaces and Films · OSTI ID:1269902