InGaP/GaAs heterojunction bipolar transistor and RF power amplifier reliability

✍ Scribed by Liu, Xiang; Yuan, Jiann S.; Liou, Juin J.

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 2008
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 189 KB
• Volume: 48
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0026-2714
• DOI: 10.1016/j.microrel.2008.06.009

✦ Synopsis

Electrothermal stress on advanced InGaP/GaAs heterojunction bipolar transistors (HBTs) was carried out experimentally. It showed a long-term stress-induced base current instability and a decrease in the DC current gain. A class-AB RF power amplifier (PA) was also considered to study the stress effect on the amplifier's RF performance. The SPICE Gummel-Poon (SGP) model parameters were extracted from the pre-and post-stress HBT data and used in Cadence SpectreRF simulation. The amplifier's post-stress RF characteristics, such as the output power and power-added efficiency (PAE), remained almost unchanged even though the post-stress HBT's DC current gain had dropped to 73.6% of its initial value.