Thermal Transport of GaN/Substrate Heterostructures under Non-Uniform Heat Source

Abstract

Heat generated in gallium nitride (GaN) high-electron-mobility transistors (HEMTs) is often concentrated in nanoscale regions and must dissipate through multiple heterostructures. However, the influence of non-uniform heat sources on the thermal transport of such heterostructures remains unclear. In this work, a thermal transport model for heterostructures under the non-uniform heat source is developed by combining first-principles calculations with Monte Carlo simulations. Temperature, heat flux, and spectral thermal conductance distributions are compared between uniform and non-uniform heat sources. The effects of heterostructure height, heat source width, and heat source height on thermal transfer characteristics are analyzed for four typical heterostructures: GaN/AlN, GaN/Diamond, GaN/Si, and GaN/SiC. The results reveal that non-uniform heat sources have little effect on average interfacial thermal conductance but induce pronounced local non-uniformity when the heterostructure height is small. The interfacial thermal conductance near the heat source region is significantly higher than that in other areas. As the heat source non-uniformity increases, the total thermal resistance of the heterostructure rises markedly, reaching several times that under uniform heat sources. Finite-element calculations fail to capture the combined effects of non-uniform heating and microscale dimensions, leading to a severe underestimation of heterostructure total thermal resistance. This work reveals the thermal transport mechanisms of heterostructures under non-uniform heat sources and provides theoretical guidance for the thermal design of wide-bandgap semiconductor devices.