Cross-sectional thermal imaging of a metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor

Understanding of heat generation in semiconductor devices is important in the thermal management of integrated circuits and in the analysis of the device physics. Scanning thermal microscopy was used to measure the temperature distribution of the cross-section of an operating metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET). The temperature distributions were measured both in DC and AC modes in order to take account of the leakage current. The location of the maximum temperature was observed to approach the drain as the drain bias was increased.