Denise Leal: Thermal Characterization of Multi-Finger Mosfet

As technology advances two key elements are size and speed, which unfortunately, are directly correlated with overheating and device breakdown. Through the SURF-IT summer 2008 program I, Denise Leal, was able to thermally characterize a multi-finger MOSFET in professor Ali Shakori’s lab. I was given the opportunity to use the thermoreflectance set up to obtain both quantitative and qualitative data about the device in both the on and off state. I was able to obtain a temperature measurement for every pixel in the thermal image and I was able to visually compare and locate all of the hotspots on my device.

Obtaining numerical values for our new device allows us to compare its efficiency with other multi-finger MOSFET designs and traditional CMOS and PMOS transistors. The images allow us to better design circuitry around these new devices because we know where the hot spots are. Being able to work in the labs and deal with equipment not working the way you expected tested my perseverance and ingenuity. I obtained experience and learned a lot both on the scholastic level and personal level, highlighting my weaknesses and strengths.