Reliability of SiGe HBTs for extreme environment and RF applications

The objective of the proposed research is to characterize the safe-operating-area of silicon-germanium (SiGe) heterojunction bipolar transistors (HBTs) under radiofrequency (RF) operation and extreme environments. The degradation of SiGe HBTs due to mixed-mode DC and RF stress has been modeled for the first time. State-of-the-art 200 GHz SiGe HBTs were first characterized, and then DC and RF stressed. Excess base leakage current was modeled as a function of the stress current and voltage. This physics-based stress model was then designed as a sub-circuit in Cadence, and incorporated into SiGe power amplifier design to predict the DC and RF stress-induced excess base current. Based on these studies, characterization of RF safe-operating-area for SiGe HBTs using devices and circuits is proposed.

Department dc:contributor.department

Electrical and Computer Engineering

Grantor dc:publisher

Georgia Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2010

Author dc:creator

• Cheng, Peng

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Cressler, John D.

Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember

• Chen, Xu-Yan
• Milor, Linda
• Papapolymerou, John
• Shen, Shyh-Chiang

• Extreme environment
• SiGe HBTs
• RF
• Power amplifier

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1853/42836

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:repository.gatech.edu:1853/42836