Thermal Analysis of a New IMPATT Semiconductor Device

In many cases, functions of semiconductor devices are limited by thermal rather than electronic considerations. A microcomputer code has been developed to analyze the steady-state thermal behavior of a new multilayered IMPATT device. A two-step modeling approach which can reduce the computer memory needed for computation was employed to allow the present study to be conducted in a microcomputer. The new device was originally designed for electronic purposes. However, the present study found that the multilayer design can provide a favorable thermal environment to improve the heat dissipation rate. The present results also indicate that an increase of the operating frequency increases the thermal resistance which is consistent with most observations. Since the detailed information on temperature distributions throughout the device as well as the proposed packaging (heat sink) is available, the present study can contribute not only to better understanding of the device’s thermal characteristics but also to better design of the packaging.