Experimental Demonstration of Thermal Management of High-Power GaN Transistors with Graphene Lateral Heat Spreaders

Abstract

Graphene is a promising candidate material for thermal management of high-power electronics owing to its high intrinsic thermal conductivity. Here we report preliminary results of the proof-of-concept demonstration of graphene lateral heat spreaders. Graphene flakes were transferred on top of GaN devices through the mechanical exfoliation method. The temperature rise in the GaN device channels was monitored in-situ using micro-Raman spectroscopy. The local temperature was measured from the shift in the Raman peak positions. By comparing Raman spectra of GaN devices with and without graphene heat spreader, we demonstrated that graphene lateral heat spreaders effectively reduced the local temperature by ~ 20°C for a given dissipated power density. Numerical simulation of heat dissipation in the considered device structures gave results consistent with the experimental data.