Micro-Raman thermometry in the presence of complex stresses in GaN devices

Raman thermometry is often utilized to measure temperature in gallium nitride (GaN) electronics. However, the accuracy of the technique is subject to errors arising from stresses which develop during device operation as a result of both thermoelastic and inverse piezoelectric effects. To assess the implications of these stresses on Raman thermometry, we investigate the use of the Stokes peak position, linewidth, and Stokes to anti-Stokes intensity ratio to estimate the temperature of GaN devices during operation. Our results indicate that only temperature measurements obtained from the intensity ratio method are independent of these stresses. Measurements using the linewidth, meanwhile, were found to correspond well with those obtained from the intensity ratio through the use of a reference condition which accounted for the stress dependency of this spectral component. These results were then compared to a three dimensional finite element model which yielded a correlation to within 5% between the computational and experimental methods. The peak position method, in contrast, was found to underpredict temperature in all circumstances due to the stress distribution which is present during device operation. (C) 2008 American Institute of Physics.