In order to compensate losses in metal strips, an active microstrip line on a semiconductor substrate is proposed, and its finite element model is presented. The active medium is provided by A3B5 semiconductor in highintensity electric field. The simple model of the active media is developed and used for calculation of the propagation properties of the fundamental mode and for the thermal analysis of the device. The problem of system self-oscillation is discussed and empirical stability criteria are introduced. A proper heat-sink is proposed to provide the operation in a continuous regime