Thermal measurement a requirement for monolithic microwave integrated circuit design

The thermal management of structures such as Monolithic Microwave Integrated Circuits (MMICs) is important, given increased circuit packing densities and RF output powers. The paper will describe the IR measurement technology necessary to obtain accurate temperature profiles on the surface of semiconductor devices. The measurement procedure will be explained, including the device mounting arrangement and emissivity correction technique. The paper will show how the measurement technique has been applied to study the thermal performance of gallium arsenide (GaAs) MMIC configurations and also to GaAs Gunn diodes.