Optimum Case Temperature for Appropriate Thermal Resistance to Obtain Minimum Junction Temperature in GaN-On-SiC Power Amplifiers

Understanding heat transfer phenomena is crucial in high-power amplifiers to keep components within safe operating temperatures. This article investigates the GaN Power Amplifier (PA) thermal analysis for the optimum design of the heatsink. GaN PAs are roughly separated into junction, package, and heat sink layers to calculate the junction’s transient thermal response. It has been proven that allowing individual components to operate at temperatures over their maximum rated junction temperatures significantly reduces the system's operational reliability as a whole. This analysis investigates two different heat sinks for the optimum case temperature ( T case ) for these different PAs. These PAs are operating S-band (2-3.4 GHz) and C-Ku-band (5-18 GHz) with drain efficiency of 60-65% and 9-22%, respectively. The design analysis of the heat sink for optimal performance is explored in this work.