Analysis of heat dissipation of epitaxial graphene devices on SiC

•A 3-D thermal simulation for analysis of heat dissipation of graphene resistors on silicon carbide substrates is presented.•Impacts of device parameters on thermal resistance were investigated.•Pulsed I–V measurements were performed at different temperatures and pulse widths to extract device thermal resistance.•Short pulse (200 ns) cannot suppress the self-heating of graphene device entirely.

A three-dimensional thermal simulation for analysis of heat dissipation of graphene resistors on silicon carbide substrates is presented. We investigate the effect of parameters such as graphene–substrate interface thermal resistance, device size and source-to-drain contact spacing, to quantify lateral as well as vertical heat spreading. Pulsed I–V measurements were performed at different temperatures and pulse widths to extract device thermal resistance for comparison with simulation results. Due to small heat capacitance of the device, self-heating occurs even at the shortest pulse time of 200 ns. The effective thermal resistance of epitaxial graphene resistors on SiC was estimated as 8 × 10−5 K cm2 W−1, by comparison between measurement and simulation results.