Hot-Spot Thermal Sensor Design in FinFETs

This paper analyzes device-structure-induced and process- dependent temperature inaccuracy sources of thermal sensing applications in advanced FinFET nodes, including self-heating and Joule heating interaction , non-uniform temperature distribution in a FinFET array and distance limitation due to gate-uniformity restraints. These effects cannot be eliminated by conventional temperature calibration methods. Based on simulations and experiments, thermal behaviors of these inaccuracy sources are comprehensively characterized in this work. The goal is to mitigate the temperature gap between FinFET hot-spots and thermal sensor measurements.