Thermal simulation of gallion nitride power packages

Gallium nitride (GaN) based power semiconductor devices have excellent electrical characteristics and are readily used for both radio frequency and power electronic applications. However, its high localized heat flux coupled with its thermal conductivity lead to degradation of device performance, and more importantly, create potential reliability concerns. This paper reviews different package methods to improve the thermal performance of the GaN devices and compares the thermal performance of single-sided and double-sided cooling package topologies with a uniform or distributed device heat source based on finite element simulation.