Thermal conductivity of AlXGa1-XN and β-Ga2O3 semiconductors

For the high-power (HP) electronic applications the existing Si-based devices have reached the performance limits governed by the material properties. Hence the device innovation itself is unable to enhance the overall performance. GaN, a semiconductor with wide bandgap, high critical breakdown field, and high electronic saturation velocity is regarded as an alternative of Si. The material properties of GaN make it very suitable for fast-switching HP electronic devices and contribute to the fast growing of GaN technology. The state-of-the-art GaN devices operating up to 650 V have recently become commercially available. Further goal is to reach higher breakdown voltage which can be done via device engineering and material growth optimization. AlxGa1−xN is an ultrawide-bandgap (UWBG) semiconductor which is considered as a natural choice for next generation in the development of GaN-based HP electronic devices. This material attracts particular interest due to the possibility for bandgap tuning from 3.4 eV to 6 eV which allows nonlinear increase of avalanche breakdown field. Furthermore, both n- and p-type conductivity can be achieved on this material permitting variety of device design with reduced energy losses during operation. β−Ga2O3 is also a promising material for HP electronics because of its ultra-wide bandgap (4.8 eV) and a huge value of Baliga’s figure of merit (FOM) exceeding by far that of GaN. More interesting feature making this material attractive is the availability of low-cost natural substrates, and then the possibility to obtain high crystal quality of device structures. For the HP electronic devices thermal conductivity is one of the key parameters determining the device’s performance. The initial studies have shown that the thermal conductivity of AlxGa1−xN and β−Ga2O3 is quite low comparing with that of GaN. This is one of the biggest challenges slowing the development of these materials for HP device applications. Nevertheless, AlxGa1−xN- and β−Ga2O3-based field-effect transistors and Schottky-barrier diodes have been demonstrated showing performances superior to that of GaN. To optimize and maintain good performance and reliability, heat generated in the device active regions has to be effectively dissipated. Therefore the thermal conductivity of the materials in the device structures needs to be systematically studied and accurately determined. This information is critically important for the thermal management of the devices. Transient thermoreflectance (TTR) is a contactless nondestructive method for measuring of the thermal conductivity of materials. TTR, which is based on a pump-probe technique, has shown its potential in evaluation of the thermal conductivity in bulk crystals as well as in thin layers in hetero-epitaxial structures. The method requires an analysis of experimental data based on the fit of thermoreflectance transients with the solution of the one-dimensional heat transport equations by a least-square minimization of the fitting parameters. Such a procedure allows to extract not only the thermal conductivity of the constituent materials in the structures, but also the thermal boundary resistance at different hetero-interfaces. The main research results of the graduate studies presented in this licentiate thesis are summarized in three scientific papers. Paper I. In this paper thermal conductivity of β−Ga2O3 and high Al-content AlxGa1−xN thin layers was studied. For β−Ga2O3 the the effects of Sn doping and phonon-bondary scattering on the reduction of thermal conductivity were discussed. For the AlxGa1−xN we studied the effect of Al-Ga alloying which gives rise to phonon-alloy scattering. It was found that this scattering process accounts for low thermal conductivity of this material. Finally, a comparison for the thermal conductivity of the two materials was made. Paper II. In this paper the effect of layer thickness on the thermal conductivity of AlxGa1−xN layers grown by HVPE were investigated. Due to Al alloying the thermal conductivity of this material is degraded and reduced by more than one order of magnitude. On top of that we also observed further reduction of thermal conductivity when the layer thickness goes thinner. The mechanism of this phenomenon has been revealed by studying the phonon transport properties in bulk crystal and thin layer. Paper III. This study emphasizes the role of defects in GaN and AlxGa1−xN to the thermal conductivity of these materials. The dislocations, impurities, free carries, and random alloying have been separately studied and discussed. Thermal conductivity of samples containing these defects with various concentrations was measured and the results were interpreted by a theoretical model based on relaxation time approximation (RTA).Additional funding agencies: the Swedish Government Strategic Research Area in Materials Science on Functional Materials at Linköping University, Faculty Grant SFO Mat LiU No. 2009 − 00971