Thermal science and engineering in third-generation semiconductor materials and devices

The history of semiconductor materials is briefly reviewed in this work. By taking GaN-based high electron mobility transistor as an example, the heat generation mechanisms and thermal management strategies of wide bandgap semiconductor devices are discussed. Moreover, by taking <i>β</i>-Ga₂O₃ as an example, the thermal management challenges of emerging ultrawide bandgap semiconductors are briefly discussed. The following discussions focus on the interfacial thermal transport which widely exists in the semiconductor devices mentioned above. The recent advancements in room-temperature wafer bonding for thermal management applications are summarized. Furthermore, some open questions about the physical understanding of interfacial thermal transport are also mentioned. Finally, the theoretical models for calculating thermal boundary conductance are reviewed and the challenges and opportunities are pointed out.