Patent ID: 7039888

Claim:
A method of modeling a thin film resistor in an integrated circuit, comprising: fabricating the thin film resistor over a substrate and a dielectric; characterizing a thermal resistance of the thin film resistor, wherein the thermal resistance accounts for self-heating thereof during operation; and using the thermal resistance in a model for use in simulating integrated circuits using the thin film resistor; wherein characterizing the thermal resistance of the thin film resistor comprises: measuring dimensions of the thin film resistor; calculating an approximation of the thermal resistance using the measured dimensions; and wherein calculating the approximation of the thermal resistance comprises calculating the thermal resistance according to the formula: r th =z/λαLW, wherein r th is the thermal resistance, z is a thickness of an electrically insulating layer overlying the substrate on which the thin film resistor resides, λ is the thermal conductivity distribution associated with the thin film resistor, and L and W is the length and width of the thin film resistor, respectively, and α is a fit parameter that accounts for a temperature gradient associated with a top portion of the thin film resistor being nonzero.