Fully Automated Electrothermal Simulation Using Standard CAD Tools

This contribution presents a novel simulation tool for the electrothermal analysis of solid-state devices and circuits in both static and transient conditions. The code relies on an effective analytical approach to describe the 3D thermal process, and exploits the engine of the commercial software ADS (Advanced Design System) to consistently solve the electrical and thermal networks. Features like model accuracy, lack of convergence problems, low time/memory requirements, flexibility and user friendliness make the proposed software a good alternative to SPICE-like and fully numerical tools for the optimization of both reliability and performance of state-of-the-art devices/circuits

[1]  V. d'Alessandro,et al.  Theory of electrothermal behavior of bipolar transistors: Part I -single-finger devices , 2005, IEEE Transactions on Electron Devices.

[2]  V. d'Alessandro,et al.  A back-wafer contacted silicon-on-glass integrated bipolar process. Part II. A novel analysis of thermal breakdown , 2004, IEEE Transactions on Electron Devices.

[3]  S. Nelson,et al.  Current gain collapse in microwave multifinger heterojunction bipolar transistors operated at very high power densities , 1993 .

[4]  Niccolò Rinaldi Thermal analysis of solid-state devices and circuits: an analytical approach , 2000 .

[5]  V. d'Alessandro,et al.  A back-wafer contacted silicon-on-glass integrated bipolar process. Part I. The conflict electrical versus thermal isolation , 2004, IEEE Transactions on Electron Devices.

[6]  V. d’Alessandro,et al.  A novel SPICE macromodel of BJTs including the temperature dependence of high-injection effects , 2004, 2004 24th International Conference on Microelectronics (IEEE Cat. No.04TH8716).

[7]  V. d'Alessandro,et al.  Extraction and modeling of self-heating and mutual thermal coupling impedance of bipolar transistors , 2004, IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits.

[8]  V. d'Alessandro,et al.  Restabilizing mechanisms after the onset of thermal instability in bipolar transistors , 2006, IEEE Transactions on Electron Devices.

[9]  Niccolò Rinaldi,et al.  On the modeling of the transient thermal behavior of semiconductor devices , 2001 .

[10]  M. Latif,et al.  Network Analysis Approach to Multidimensional Modeling of Transistors Including Thermal Effects , 1982, IEEE Transactions on Computer-Aided Design of Integrated Circuits and Systems.

[11]  D. T. Zweidinger,et al.  The effects of BJT self-heating on circuit behavior , 1993 .

[12]  A. Maxim,et al.  Electrothermal SPICE macromodeling of the power bipolar transistor including the avalanche and secondary breakdowns , 1998, IECON '98. Proceedings of the 24th Annual Conference of the IEEE Industrial Electronics Society (Cat. No.98CH36200).