The low thermal conductivity of gallium arsenide compared to silicon
results in self-heating effects in GaAs MESFETs that limit the electrical
performance of such devices for high power applications. To date, analytical
thermal models of self heating in GaAs MESFETs are based on the assumption
of a uniformly heated channel. This thesis presents a two dimensional analysis
of the electrothermal effect of this device based on the two dimensional
power density distribution in the channel under various bias conditions. The
numerical simulation is performed using the finite difference technique. The
results of the simulation of an isothermal MESFET without heat effects is
compared with various one dimensional analytical models in the literature.
Electro thermal effects into the two-dimensional isothermal MESFET model
allowed close examination of the temperature profile within the MESFET. The
large gradient in power distribution results in a localized heat source within the
channel which increases the overall channel temperature, which shows that the
assumption of a uniformly heated channel is erroneous, and may lead to an
underestimation of the maximum channel temperature. / Graduation date: 1992
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ORGSU/oai:ir.library.oregonstate.edu:1957/37014 |
| Date | 08 May 1992 |
| Creators | Lin, Angela A. |
| Contributors | Goodnick, Stephen |
| Source Sets | Oregon State University |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis/Dissertation |
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