Two-dimensional thermal modeling of power monolithic microwave integrated circuits (MMICs)

Numerical simulations of the two-dimensional temperature distribution for a typical GaAs MMIC circuit were conducted in order to understand the heat conduction process of the circuit chip and to provide temperature information for device reliability analysis. The method used is to solve the two-dimensional heat conduction equation with a control-volume-based finite difference scheme. In particular, the effects of the power dissipation and the ambient temperature are examined, and the criterion for the worst operating environment is discussed in terms of the allowed highest device junction temperature.<
>