Thermal science and engineering of β-Ga2O3 materials and devices

Abstract β-Ga2O3 is a promising ultrawide bandgap semiconductor under development for power electronics and RF applications. However, the low thermal conductivity of β-Ga2O3 presents challenges for creating high power devices and managing the thermal loads without exceeding thermal limits. In this chapter, we cover the anisotropic thermal conductivity of β-Ga2O3 and the anisotropic thermal boundary conductance between β-Ga2O3 and metal contacts. These properties play a major role in the way devices dissipate heat. Next, these properties are used to explore how different device architectures and cooling strategies can be used to improve heat dissipation, namely cooling from the bottom side, top side, or double side cooling of β-Ga2O3 field-effect transistors.