Modeling the thermal response of semiconductor devices through equivalent electrical networks

The paper presents a general approach for modeling the effects of thermal response in semiconductor devices as they are seen at the electrical terminals. It is shown that this can be achieved by properly connecting at the electrical ports an equivalent electrical network representing the transformed thermal impedance. The equivalent model is employed to investigate electrothermal interactions in MOSFETs and bipolar junction transistors. Precise conditions for which electrothermal resonant oscillations arise are deduced and an experimental technique for thermal-impedance extraction is presented.