The thermal failure induced by high power microwave(HPM) in a complementary metal oxide semiconductor(CMOS) inverter is investigated and its dependence on microwave parameters is discussed in detail. An analytical model of the temperature distribution is established and the relationships between hotspot temperature and pulse width and between hotspot temperature and frequency are predicted, which reveals a more severe rise in temperature under the influence of microwave with longer width and lower frequency. The temperature variation mechanism and the theoretical temperature model are validated and explained by the simulation. Furthermore, variation trend of damage threshold with microwave parameters is derived theoretically, and the conclusions are consistent with simulation results and reported data. The thermal failure induced by high power microwave (HPM) in a complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) inverter is investigated and its dependence on microwave parameters is discussed in detail. An analytical model of the temperature distribution is established and the relationships between hotspot temperature and pulse width and between hotspot temperature and frequency are predicted, which reveals a more severe rise in temperature under the influence of microwave with longer width and lower frequency. Furthermore, the temperature variation mechanism and the theoretical temperature model are validated and explained by the simulation. variation trend of damage threshold with microwave parameters is derived theoretically, and the conclusions are consistent with simulation results and reported data.