J. Sewell et al., THERMAL CHARACTERIZATION OF THERMALLY-SHUNTED HETEROJUNCTION BIPOLAR-TRANSISTORS, IEEE electron device letters, 17(1), 1996, pp. 19-21
Heterojunction Bipolar Transistors (HBT's) are potentially useful in a
number of microwave applications, but they are severely limited by a
current distribution instability caused by electrothermal interaction
and the use of a low thermal conductivity substrate. A novel thermal m
anagement technique called ''thermal shunting'' has been developed to
reduce thermal resistance and junction temperature non-uniformity. The
rmal resistance measurements for thermally-shunted devices are present
ed. Specific thermal resistance measurements as low as 2.6 x 10(-4) de
grees C-cm(2)/W (147 degrees C/W at 0.1 W for a device with a 177 mu m
(2) emitter area) have been obtained. Thermal resistance values obtain
ed for thermally-shunted HBT's are substantially lower than those repo
rted for conventional HBT's.