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Handbook of RF and Microwave Power Amplifiers
Whether you are an RF transistor designer, an amplifier designer, or a system designer,

this is your one-stop guide to RF and microwave transistor power amplifiers. A team of
expert authors brings you up-to-speed on every topic, including:
r
r
r
r
r
r
r
devices (Si LDMOS and VDMOS, GaAs FETs, GaN HEMTs);

circuit and amplifier design (discrete, hybrid and monolithic);
CAD;
thermal design;
reliability;
system applications/requirements for RF and microwave transistor amplifiers;
amplifier measurements.
Covering state-of-the-art developments, and emphasizing practical communications

applications, this is your complete professional reference on the subject.
John Walker is currently European Sales Manager at Integra Technologies, Inc. He
received his Ph.D. from the University of Leeds in 1976 and has since held various
industry positions, including Microwave Hybrids Manager at Thorn-EMI Electronics
and RF Division Manager at Semelab. He is the Editor and Coauthor of the books High
Power GaAs FET Amplifiers and Classic Works in RF Engineering. He is a Fellow of
the IEE.
The Cambridge RF and Microwave Engineering Series

Series Editor
Steve C. Cripps, Distinguished Research Professor, Cardiff University
Peter Aaen, Jaime Pla and John Wood, Modeling and Characterization of RF and
Microwave Power FETs
Dominique Schreurs, Mairtn ODroma, Anthony A. Goacher, and Michael Gadringer,
RF Amplifier Behavioral Modeling
Fan Yang and Yahya Rahmat-Samii, Electromagnetic Band Gap Structures in Antenna
Engineering
Enrico Rubiola, Phase Noise and Frequency Stability in Oscillators
Earl McCune, Practical Digital Wireless Signals
Stepan Lucyszyn. Advanced RF MEMS
Patrick Roblin, Nonlinear FR Circuits and the Large-Signal Network Analyzer
Matthias Rudolph, Christian Fager, and David E. Root, Nonlinear Transistor Model
Parameter Extraction Techniques
Forthcoming
Sorin Voinigescu, High-Frequency Integrated Circuits
David E. Root, Jason Horn, and Jan Verspecht, X-Parameters
Richard Carter, Theory and Design of Microwave Tubes
Anh-Vu H. Pham, Morgan J. Chen, and Kunia Aihara, LCP for Microwave Packages
and Modules
Nuno Borges Carvalho and Dominique Scheurs, Microwave and Wireless
Measurement Techniques
Handbook of RF and Microwave

Power Amplifiers
Edited by
JOHN WALKER
Integra Technologies, Inc.
CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS
Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town,

Singapore, Sao Paulo, Delhi, Tokyo, Mexico City
Cambridge University Press
The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge CB2 8RU, UK
Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York
www.cambridge.org
Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9780521760102

C Cambridge University Press 2012
This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception

and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements,
no reproduction of any part may take place without the written
permission of Cambridge University Press.
First published 2012
Printed in the United Kingdom at the University Press, Cambridge
A catalog record for this publication is available from the British Library
ISBN 978-0-521-76010-2 Hardback
The technical descriptions and procedures in this book have been developed with the
greatest of care; however, they are provided as is, without warranty of any kind. The
author and publisher of the book make no warranties, expressed or implied, that the
equations, programs, and procedures in this book are free of error, or are consistent
with any particular standard of merchantability, or will meet your requirements for
any particular application. They should not be relied upon for solving a problem
whose incorrect solution could result in injury to a person or loss of property.
Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or
accuracy of URLs for external or third-party internet websites referred to
in this publication, and does not guarantee that any content on such
websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate.
Contents
List of contributors
Preface
1
Silicon LDMOS and VDMOS transistors: physics, design, and technology
page xiv
xv
1
Wayne Burger and Christopher P. Dragon
1.1
Technology overview
1.1.1 Introduction/history
1.2 LDMOS and VDMOS construction
1.2.1 LDMOS
1.2.2 VDMOS
1.3 Device physics
1.3.1 Current transport
1.3.2 Behavior of parasitic elements/models
1.3.3 BVDSS , RDSon , HCI boundaries
1.3.4 Snapback/ruggedness
1.3.5 Operating voltage considerations
1.4 Design/layout
1.4.1 Top-down finger layout
1.4.2 Bond pad manifolds
1.4.3 Metal design electromigration
1.4.4 Thermal
1.4.5 Operating voltage considerations
1.4.6 Frequency considerations: gate length, gate width, resistors
1.4.7 HVICs
References
1
1
2
2
8
10
10
12
17
22
26
27
27
29
30
32
34
36
37
39
GaAs FETs physics, design, and models
42
Rob Davis
2.1
Introduction
2.1.1 Properties of GaAs and related compounds
2.1.2 The Schottky barrier gate and the MESFET
2.1.3 The Pf 2 limit
2.1.4 Types of GaAs FET
42
43
45
45
46
vi
Contents
2.2
2.3
2.4
2.5
2.6
Power device physics

2.2.1 The device IV characteristic and loadline
2.2.2 The dynamic IV characteristic
2.2.3 The consequences of trapping effects
2.2.4 Device breakdown
2.2.5 Breakdown mechanisms and optimisation
2.2.6 Comments on GaAs FET breakdown ratings
2.2.7 The FET equivalent circuit
2.2.8 Device gain and figures of merit
Device design
2.3.1 Power device design
2.3.2 FET channel and recess design
2.3.3 Power cell design
2.3.4 Power cell combination
2.3.5 Thermal design
Device fabrication
2.4.1 Overview
2.4.2 Key process steps
2.4.3 Low-cost GaAs device fabrication
2.4.4 Packaging
Models
2.5.1 Device models
2.5.2 Small-signal models
2.5.3 Large signal models
2.5.4 Load-pull
Concluding remarks
References
Wide band gap transistors SiC and GaN physics, design

and models
51
51
53
54
57
58
59
60
61
63
63
63
67
71
72
74
74
75
81
81
84
84
84
85
89
90
91
103
Robert J. Trew
3.1
3.2
3.3
3.4
3.5
3.6
Introduction
Background
3.2.1 SiC transistors
3.2.2 AlGaN/GaN transistors
Material parameters
Transistor amplifier operating principles
Device design and RF performance
3.5.1 4H-SiC MESFET amplifier
3.5.2 AlGaN/GaN HFET amplifier
Transistor DC and large-signal RF models
3.6.1 Equivalent circuit transistor models
3.6.2 Physics-based large-signal transistor models
103
105
106
108
111
115
118
120
123
125
125
128
Contents
3.7
3.8
Large-signal effects
3.7.1 Space charge limited current transport
3.7.2 Nonlinear source and drain resistance
3.7.3 Gate leakage
3.7.4 Reliability and time-dependent performance degradation
Summary
References
Amplifier classes, AS
vii
130
130
133
144
146
152
153
159
Steve C. Cripps
4.1
4.2
4.3
4.4
4.5
4.6
4.7
4.8
4.9
4.10
4.11
4.12
Introduction
Active device models
Class A
Class AB and Class B
Class C
Class F
Class J
Inverted modes, inverted Class F
Class E
Class S
Multimodes
Conclusions
References
159
161
162
164
171
173
176
179
181
183
184
186
186
Computer-aided design of power amplifiers
188
Stephen Maas
5.1
5.2
5.3
5.4
Introduction
Methods of analysis
5.2.1 Linear analysis
5.2.2 Harmonic-balance analysis
5.2.3 Time-domain analysis
5.2.4 Applications of analytical methods
Passive circuit structures and simulation accuracy
5.3.1 Scattering parameter models
5.3.2 Closed-form models
5.3.3 Models from EM simulation
5.3.4 Database models
5.3.5 Parasitic extraction
Solid-state device models
5.4.1 Power device models
5.4.2 Modeling cell interconnections in large devices
5.4.3 Thermal effects in device models
188
188
188
193
202
205
205
206
208
210
212
212
213
213
213
214
viii
Contents
5.5
5.6
Special aspects of power-amplifier modeling

5.5.1 Loss in circuit metalizations
5.5.2 Loss in circuit components
5.5.3 Bond wires
Practical aspects of nonlinear circuit simulation
5.6.1 Convergence difficulties
5.6.2 SPICE models in harmonic-balance analysis
5.6.3 Problem size minimization and solution optimization
5.6.4 Numerical considerations
5.6.5 Design flow
References
Practical HF/VHF/UHF RF power amplifier realization
216
217
219
219
221
221
226
226
227
228
230
232
Daniel P. Myer
6.1
6.2
6.3
6.4
6.5
Introduction
RF power amplifier markets
The realization process
6.3.1 RFPA qualitative specification delineation
6.3.2 RFPA specifications, generic list and quantification guidelines
6.3.3 Specification/hardware realization
RFPA system level design overview
6.4.1 RF power amplifier module design overview
6.4.2 RF power transistor device selection process guidelines
6.4.3 RF power transistor bias/thermal tracking networks
6.4.4 RF input/output coupling/decoupling networks
6.4.5 Power transistor impedance matching
6.4.6 Feedback networks
6.4.7 Thermal management
Hypothetical amplifier design example
6.5.1 Hypothetical application example overview
6.5.2 Amplifier qualitative specification delineation
6.5.3 Amplifier specification quantification
6.5.4 Amplifier hardware design/realization
6.6.5 RF transistor selection
6.5.6 Gate bias/temperature tracking/compensation network
6.5.7 Input/output RF/DC coupling/decoupling networks
6.5.8 Input/output impedance matching networks
6.5.9 Feedback network
6.5.10 Test setup configuration/analysis
6.5.11 Physical RFPA module construction
6.5.12 RFPA module test results
6.5.13 Beyond the test data
References
232
232
233
234
236
241
242
243
246
249
250
250
251
251
252
252
252
253
254
255
257
259
259
267
268
271
273
281
283
Contents
Microwave hybrid amplifier realization
ix
284
Dominic FitzPatrick
7.1
7.2
7.3
7.4
7.5
7.6
7.7
Introduction
Printed circuit boards
Housing
7.3.1 Materials
7.3.2 Sealing and hermeticity
7.3.3 Construction
7.3.4 Thermal issues and heat sinking
7.3.5 RF connections
Components
7.4.1 Passive lumped components
7.4.2 Passive distributed components
7.4.3 Transistors
Amplifier design
7.5.1 Topologies
7.5.2 Matching and stability
7.5.3 Internally matched device amplifiers
7.5.4 Combining
7.5.5 Module size/system integration
Biasing and control
7.6.1 Control and interfacing
Tuning techniques
References
Monolithic power amplifiers
284
285
293
294
294
299
305
311
315
315
323
331
333
333
336
343
344
344
345
352
353
355
357
Inder J. Bahl
8.1
8.2
8.3
8.4
Overview of MMIC power amplifiers

8.1.1 Brief history of MMIC power amplifiers
8.1.2 Advantages of monolithic power amplifiers
Monolithic IC technology
8.2.1 MMIC fabrication
8.2.2 MMIC substrates
8.2.3 MMIC active devices
8.2.4 MMIC matching elements
MMIC design methodology
8.3.1 CAD tools
8.3.2 Design procedure
8.3.3 EM simulators
MMIC PA summary and examples
8.4.1 Narrowband power amplifier
8.4.2 Broadband power amplifiers
8.4.3 Ultra broadband power amplifiers
8.4.4 High-power amplifiers
357
357
358
359
360
361
361
362
370
370
371
372
372
374
376
377
381
Contents
8.5
8.6
8.4.5 Millimeter-wave 2.4W PA

8.4.6 Wireless 3W power amplifier
8.4.7 High-voltage monolithic PAs
Packaging of MMIC PAs
8.5.1 Ceramic packages
8.5.2 Plastic packages
8.5.3 Package assembly
MMIC power amplifier characterization
References
RF power amplifier thermal design
386
386
387
389
390
394
396
401
406
411
Mali Mahalingam
9.1
9.2
9.3
9.4
9.5
9.6
10
Why thermal design deserves careful attention?

RFPA thermal design basics
9.2.1 RFPA thermal design in a typical portable product
9.2.2 RFPA thermal design in a typical radio base station
9.2.3 Basic heat transfer processes and their role in an RFPA thermal
performance
Thermo-physical properties of materials in an RFPA
Tools to characterize and predict the thermal performance of RFPAs
RFPA thermal design and management advanced
RFPA thermal design trends and prognostication
References
Reliability
411
413
413
416
419
423
427
432
440
442
446
Bill Roesch
10.1 Introduction
10.2 Vocabulary and definitions (units, goals, and strategy)
10.2.1 Reliability goals
10.2.2 Semiconductor reliability strategy
10.3 Failure criteria
10.4 Failure modes
10.5 Failure mechanisms
10.5.1 Metalization
10.5.2 Dielectric
10.5.3 Bulk substrate material
10.5.4 Schottky gate FET failure causes
10.6 Failure distributions
10.7 Acceleration factors
10.7.1 Thermal acceleration
10.7.2 Current acceleration
10.7.3 Voltage acceleration factors
10.7.4 RF bias acceleration
446
447
448
448
449
450
451
451
453
454
454
455
458
458
462
465
472
Contents
10.8
10.9
10.10
10.11
10.12
10.13
11
Reliability predictions (MTBF, MTTF, FITs, etc.)

Wear-out versus defects (acceleration versus real life)
10.9.1 Thermal excursion example no. 1. Interconnect vias
10.9.2 Thermal excursion example no. 2. Copper bump
10.9.3 Defect amplification and K factors
10.9.4 Environmental example humidity activation
energy
Process effects and influence
Design for reliability
Historical trends and technology comparisons
Summary
References
Power amplifier applications
xi
473
475
475
478
482
488
492
495
501
502
505
508
Mustafa Akkul and Wolfgang Bosch
11.1 Introduction
11.2 System design parameter tradeoffs
11.2.1 Output powerefficiency tradeoff
11.2.2 Linearity, modulation scheme, and crest factor
11.3 System level linearization techniques
11.3.1 Introduction to linearization techniques
11.3.2 Digital baseband predistortion
11.3.3 Memory effect compensation
11.3.4 Impact on power efficiency
11.4 Wireless communication power amplifiers
11.4.1 Mobile radio communication today
11.4.2 System level and power amplifier requirements
11.4.3 Power amplifier design outline
11.4.4 Doherty amplifier for efficient base stations
11.5 Military power amplifiers
11.5.1 Radar Tx/Rx modules
11.5.2 EW applications
11.5.3 Anti-IED applications
11.6 In-phase power combining techniques
11.6.1 Wilkinson power combiners
11.6.2 Gysel combiner
11.7 Quadrature-phase power combining balanced amplifiers
11.7.1 Branch-line quadrature hybrid [19]
11.7.2 Lange coupler
11.8 Anti-phase power combining pushpull amplifiers
11.8.1 Coupled coil transformers
11.8.2 Transmission line transformers
11.8.3 RF/microwave pushpull amplifier
508
509
509
512
514
514
514
517
517
519
519
522
523
527
530
530
534
538
538
538
542
544
547
549
552
553
554
557
xii
12
Contents
11.9 Doherty combining

11.10 Conclusions
References
559
567
568
Amplifier measurements
570
Michael G. Hiebel
12.1 Introduction
12.2 Power measurements
12.2.1 Typical power sensor principles
12.2.2 Typical sources of measurement uncertainties
12.2.3 High-power RF measurements and directional power
12.2.4 Power measurements using a spectrum analyzer
12.3 S-parameter measurements
12.3.1 The concept of S-parameters
12.3.2 Scalar network analyzers and their limitations
12.3.3 Vector network analyzers
12.3.4 Introduction to system error correction
12.3.5 Calibration with different connector types
12.3.6 Calibration with PCBs, test fixtures, and wafer probers
12.3.7 Calibration consideration for high-power setups
12.3.8 Residual errors and measurement uncertainties
12.4 Further linear measurements
12.4.1 Amplifier gain definitions
12.4.2 Efficiency factor
12.4.3 Linear distortion, phase and group delay measurement
12.4.4 Linear stability considerations
12.4.5 Mixed-mode S-parameters
12.5 Nonlinear measurements
12.5.1 Inter modulation distortion (IMD) and harmonic
distortion (HMD)
12.5.2 Compression point
12.5.3 Large-signal network analysis
12.5.4 Load- and source-pull measurements
12.5.5 Hot S-parameters
12.6 Modulated measurements
12.6.1 Crest factor and CCDF
12.6.2 Adjacent channel power ratio (ACPR)
12.6.3 Noisepower ratio (NPR)
12.6.4 Error vector magnitude (EVM) and constellation
diagram
12.6.5 AM/AM and AM/PM measurements
12.6.6 Memory effects
570
570
570
574
576
579
580
580
582
586
588
589
593
596
598
599
599
602
603
605
608
611
611
615
616
619
622
623
624
625
630
630
632
632
Contents
xiii
12.6.7 Pulsed measurements

12.6.8 Bit error ratio (BER) and symbol error ratio (SER)
12.7 Noise measurements
12.7.1 Amplifier noise factor and noise figure
12.7.2 Noise figure measurement
12.7.3 Noise parameters
12.8 Conclusions
References
633
635
636
637
637
640
641
642
About the authors

Index
644
651
Contributors
Mustafa Akkul
ASELSAN A.S.
Dominic FitzPatrick
PoweRFul Microwave
Inder Bahl
Cobham Sensor Systems
Michael Hiebel
Rohde & Schwarz GmbH & Co. KG.
Wolfgang Bosch
Graz University of Technology
Stephen Maas
AWR, Inc.
Wayne Burger
Freescale Semiconductor
Mali Mahalingam
Steve Cripps
Cardiff University
Daniel P. Myer
Communication Power Corporation
(CPC)
Rob Davis
RFMD
Bill Roesch
TriQuint Semiconductor
Chris Dragon
R.J. Trew
North Carolina State University
Preface
In 1989, I was responsible for organizing a workshop at the European Microwave

Conference on High-Power Solid State Amplifiers. This workshop proved popular and so
Artech House asked me to persuade the speakers to turn their material into a form suitable
for publication, the result was the book entitled High-Power GaAs FET Amplifiers
of which I was editor and a coauthor. That book is of course not just out of print but
also largely out of date. This book adopts the same philosophy as the previous one
with chapters on device technology, amplifier design, CAD, thermal design, reliability,
measurements, and applications but with a completely different set of authors and with
every chapter completely re-written to bring the content up to date.
The political, economic and technical landscape has changed almost beyond recognition in the intervening two decades. In the 1980s most RF and microwave engineers
were working in military electronics, defense spending was largely responsible for all the
technical advances, and there were no mobile phones! Compare that with the situation
now where there are probably just as many RF and microwave engineers working on
commercial applications as there are in military electronics, commercial applications
often drive technical advances, and most households will have not just one but several
mobile phones and it is the mobile phone industry that has largely been responsible
for this shift toward commercial applications. However, there is one consequence of
this sea-change in the industrial and technical environment which has had a profound
knock-on effect when it comes to writing a book such as this. Now the commercial
pressures of shortest possible time to market and minimum cost, etc. are so intense that
any prospective author working in this field has to be prepared to commit endless hours
of their own rather than their employers time to the task. I want to publicly acknowledge
my deep debt of gratitude to all the authors in this book for making that commitment
and hence making this book possible.
John Walker
The Handbook is a comprehensive reference for RF and microwave power amplifiers.

It includes both theory and practice as well as a variety of different applications. Often
overlooked supporting topics such as CAD, thermal design, and reliability are treated in
depth. John Walker has put together an outstanding team of authors, each of whom is
well qualified to address his topic. Finally, I like the way it is organized with separate
chapters for three types of RF-power transistors (silicon, GaAs, and GaN/SiC) and
separate chapters for amplifiers of different frequency types (HF/VHF/UHF, microwave,
and IC).
Fritz Raab, Green Mountain Radio Research Company
John has successfully brought together, in one book, the current knowledge from world
experts actively involved with the characterisation and modelling of devices together
with those developing and designing RF and microwave power amplifiers. The timely
publication of this book will serve as a useful reference source for engineers working in
both the commercial and military market sectors.
Steve Nightingale, Cobham Technical Services
Silicon LDMOS and VDMOS

transistors
Physics, design, and technology
Wayne Burger and Chris Dragon
1.1
Technology overview
1.1.1
Introduction/history
Power amplifiers are at the core of nearly all high-power (i.e., >5 W) RF applications.
The application space includes cellular phone basestation transceiver systems, pulsed
radar, ISM (industrial, scientific, medical), avionics, digital television broadcast, etc.
This diverse and evolving RF power amplifier landscape dictates the strategy for the
design, fabrication, and optimization of multiple generations of RF power devices. The
RF power transistor must satisfy a broad and often conflicting set of application requirements, including but not limited to power, linearity, efficiency, gain, reliability, thermal
management, bandwidth, ruggedness, digital predistortion (DPD) linearizability, and
cost effectiveness. The amplifier architecture has also evolved to adapt to the everchanging system requirements, most recently with the widespread adoption of Doherty
amplifiers to boost back-off efficiency in linear applications. These architectural evolutions create opportunities for further refinements in the RF power transistor to extract
peak performance from the architecture.
The various major market segments of the RF power market tend to embrace a
dominant device technology that meets a broad range of these requirements until a new
technology emerges to offer a more compelling solution. Through the late 1970s, silicon
bipolar transistors were the preferred RF power device technology [12]. The relatively
low frequencies and amplifier requirements of the era were compatible with silicon
bipolar transistor technology, which was capable of providing a robust, cost-effective
solution. The bipolar transistors had adequate gain and efficiency, could be readily scaled
to achieve the desired power levels, and offered linearity that was consistent with the
modest requirements of that era. On the other hand, power gain was relatively poor,
packages with isolated flanges were expensive, thermal runaway due to the negative
temperature coefficient had to be carefully managed (usually at the expense of degraded
performance because of the need to incorporate ballast resistors), and the evolving and
increasingly more stringent linearity and efficiency requirements were becoming difficult
to design into the transistors.
The limitations of the silicon bipolar transistor eventually created an opening for
a new generation of transistor technology that offered superior performance without
Silicon LDMOS and VDMOS transistors
these limitations. The early 1980s witnessed the emergence of double diffused MOS
(DMOS) transistors that were superior to silicon bipolar transistors for many highpower RF amplifier applications [34]. A range of factors contributed to this improved
performance, starting with the improved frequency response inherent to a majority
carrier device compared to the minority carrier transport in the bipolar transistor. Second,
the DMOS transistor structure lends itself to high breakdown voltage designs without
seriously compromising frequency performance, opening up the possibility of increasing
the power supply voltage, lowering the power supply cost, and simplifying the design of
ever higher power devices. Another key advantage is that MOSFETs are not susceptible
to thermal runaway, due to the positive coefficient of thermal resistance [5]. The ability
to design DMOS transistors with high linear efficiency has also emerged as a key factor
in their widespread deployment. These topics will be explored in greater detail later in
this chapter.
DMOS transistor structure and fabrication technology diverged into two main subgroups depending on the direction of current flow, lateral DMOS and vertical DMOS
transistors (LDMOS and VDMOS, respectively) [611]. Each of these variants has their
strengths and weaknesses, and each has largely succeeded in finding appropriate market
segments within which to flourish. The doping profile in the channel region of both transistors is formed through the overlap of lateral diffusion profiles, but LDMOS maintains
the drain region and current flow laterally near the surface where it can be easily modified and optimized, making it more attractive where linear efficiency and high-frequency
operation are important. VDMOS, on the other hand, can achieve excellent power density (i.e., extremely low RDSon /area) since the large drain drift region needed to sustain
high breakdown voltages extends vertically below the surface. This same structure tends
to limit the scaling of the gate structure, detracting from the high-frequency performance. This makes it the logical choice for applications that require very high-power
density at relatively low frequencies. Comparisons between these two technologies will
be explored throughout this chapter.
1.2
LDMOS and VDMOS construction
1.2.1
LDMOS
Figure 1.1 shows a picture of a packaged high-power LDMOS transistor, a view of the
internal construction, and a higher magnification image of the LDMOS die. Figure 1.2
shows a cross-section of a standard LDMOS die. LDMOS die are n-channel enhancement
mode MOSFETs. The LDMOS transistor has a long, lightly-doped n-type drift region
(hereafter referred to as the n-drift region) between the drain contact and the gate/channel
of the device. The LDMOS transistor has the n-drift region oriented laterally referenced
to the silicon surface, the origin of the L in LDMOS. The drain supply voltage to
first order determines the length and doping level in the n-drift region. LDMOS devices
optimized for handsets may have an n-drift length of less than 0.5 m, while an LDMOS
device designed to operate at 50 V in an industrial application may require a drift region
(a)
Figure 1.1a 2.1 GHz, 170 W LDMOS single-ended part in an air cavity package.
Ceramic
substrate
Embedded
capacitor
Drain lead
Transistors
Array of
bonding-wires
Gate lead
MOS capacitors
50
0m
il
Flange
(b)
Figure 1.1b High-power LDMOS device with lid removed illustrating the LDMOS building
blocks, MOSCAPs, and extensive wirebond arrays in the input and output matching networks.
ESD Protection
(c)
Gate Lead
Drain Lead
Figure 1.1c Typical layout of a 50 W LDMOS building block designed for 2 GHz operation.
Drain
Gate
oxide
gate oxide
metal strap
n + source
n -drift region
n + drain
Channel
p + sinker
PHV region
p-type epitaxy
p + substrate
Source
Figure 1.2 LDMOS cross-section illustrating key features, including topside gate and drain
connections and a backside source.
56 m long. The vast majority of cellular infrastructure base stations are designed with
a supply voltage of 2832 V. When the transistor is turned on, the drift region simply acts
as a voltage variable resistor and creates a voltage drop such that the potential in the drain
region below the gate is significantly less than the applied DC bias in order to preserve
the integrity of the gate oxide and ensure that HCI (hot carrier injection) is limited.
Most LDMOS designs also leverage a technique termed RESURF REduced SURface
Fields [12], which relies upon a rapid two-dimensional expansion in the depletion region
width with increasing drain bias that keeps the peak electric field below the critical field
for impact ionization, without compromising the low drain bias RDSon of the transistor;
this technique enables very high breakdown voltages while maintaining the low RDSon
necessary to achieve high-power density. Unless stated otherwise, references to power
gate
n-region
n + drain
n+ source
VD = 0 V
5V
p-type
substrate
10 V
20 V
50 V
Figure 1.3 Depletion region boundaries for VDS voltages of 0, 5, 10, 20, and 50 V in an LDMOS
device.
density refer to W/mm gate periphery; with this definition, high-power density correlates
with improved performance for most figures of merit. The nature of the reactive circuit
elements in an RF transistor enables the peak drain voltage to reach approximately twice
the drain supply voltage Vdd during class AB operation, and even higher during other
modes of operation [13]. The ability to withstand these peak voltages explains why
data sheets for transistors designed for 32 V Class AB operation typically specify 65 V
minimum for drain-to-source breakdown voltage, BVDSS .
The lightly doped n-drift region in the LDMOS device, along with the lightly doped
p-epi region, are designed to deplete as the drain voltage increases, in alignment with the
RESURF principle. The epi depth/doping as well as the n-drifts depth/doping/extension
must be optimized such that the peak electric field across this depletion region does not
exceed critical avalanche breakdown levels during the applications RF voltage swings.
Figure 1.3 illustrates through simulation how the depletion region edge progresses
through the n-drift region as the drain bias voltage is increased from 1 V to 65 V, with
the gate biased at a typical voltage for Class AB operation. Since this region is the largest
parasitic resistance within the transistor, it also determines the saturation current and
hence power density. Keeping this resistance as low as possible while maintaining an
appropriate breakdown voltage and HCI reliability is a critical part of the design tradeoff
made in the LDMOS transistor design process. Proprietary techniques are employed to
increase the power density without compromising BVDSS or HCI. These three parameters
(BVDSS , HCI, RDSon ) define the boundary within which the transistor drain structure is
optimized. The lightly doped p-type epitaxial layer is also important to achieve low
drain to source capacitance, Cds , which is important to achieve good high-frequency
performance.
The gate of the LDMOS transistor is most commonly composed of a stack of polysilicon and a silicide (e.g., WSi, CoSi) [1415]. While a DC current will not flow in the
gate of a MOSFET, displacement current from the AC waveform will flow through the
gate capacitance, resulting in an undesirable voltage drop across the width of the gate
1E20
n + source
Net Dopant Conc (cm 3 )
n + drain
1E19
1E18
p-type lateral
channel diffusion
1E17
n drift
region
1E16
1E15
Figure 1.4 Lateral doping profile along the surface of an LDMOS device.
finger. The silicide lowers the gate resistance by at least an order of magnitude over that
of highly doped polysilicon. In the case of WSi this can range from 10 /sq to less than
1 /sq, depending on thickness. If the gate resistance is too high, the power gain of
the device will suffer. The gate length and gate oxide thickness are key in determining
the frequency response of the transistor (i.e., ft , the unity current gain frequency of the
transistor). Thinner gate oxides and shorter gate lengths result in a higher ft . In addition,
a thinner gate oxide results in a higher device transconductance (gm ), but not necessarily
higher RF power gain. This is because the thinner gate oxide also increases the input
capacitance of the device which can lower gain. This is another example where design
tradeoffs must be considered.
The asymmetrical p-channel region of the device is one of the distinguishing features
that differentiates the DMOS transistor from the standard MOSFET. For the LDMOS
transistor, this region is created by using the gate to self-align a moderate dose p-type
implant (referred to as the PHV implant) to the source edge of the gate of the transistor.
A subsequent furnace anneal is used to laterally diffuse (the D in DMOS) this implant
into the channel. The source-side structure is completed by the self-aligned implant
and subsequent diffusion of the heavily doped n-type source/drain implant. Figure 1.4
presents the simulated profile from the source to the drain contact along the surface of
the transistor, illustrating the four distinct regions of the device (n + source, PHV, n-drift,
and n + drain). The result is a MOSFET with a nonuniform channel doping profile, with
the source side more heavily doped than the drain side. One advantage of this is that
the dopant gradient generates its own electric field which provides a small boost to the
overall current transport of the device [16]. More importantly, this design allows the large
supply voltages described earlier to be applied without suffering punch-through. As the
drain voltage is increased, the depletion region will spread away from the np junction
formed by the intersection of the n-drift and PHV/p-epi regions. If that depletion region
were to reach the source side of the device, the n + source to PHV junction barrier would
be lowered resulting in a dramatic increase in the supply of electrons injected into the
channel and swept to the drain terminal by the applied electric field. This phenomenon
is referred to as punch-through, and results in a loss of control of the drain current by
the gate voltage. Since the depletion region width is inversely proportional to the doping
density, the growth of the depletion region into the PHV slows considerably as it moves
towards the more heavily doped source side of the channel in an LDMOS device (see
Figure 1.3). This preserves the high-voltage capability of the transistor.
The source of the transistor is unique in an RF LDMOS device because it gets shorted
to the body of the transistor. The body cannot be biased separately from the source.
This is done so that the back of the wafer can be used as the grounded source in the
application. Making electrical ground connection to the back of the die obviates the need
for source wires to be present to make a top-side connection. By eliminating the topside
source bond wires, a large amount of source inductance is eliminated, increasing the
gain of the transistor. To make this backside source possible, the n + source is shorted
to a heavily doped p-type region called the p+ sinker by metal 1 (typically an aluminum
alloy). This metal is not contacted by a bond wire for biasing and simply acts as a
means to short the pn junction between the two regions. The p+ sinker is implanted
very early in the process and is thermally diffused until it meets the p+ substrate doping
which is gradually diffusing upward during this thermal cycle. The p-epi must not be
entirely consumed by the substrate up-diffusion because of the breakdown voltage and
capacitance constraints described earlier. A balance between keeping a low-resistance
path through the p+ sinker into the p+ substrate and retaining ample lightly doped p-epi
for breakdown and low Cds must be struck. The wafer is then thinned through a backgrind process (to thicknesses in the 26 mils range) and back-metal is deposited on the
wafer backside so that a good, low-resistance contact can be made between the die and
package.
There are two components of the device design that are located above the silicon
surface: the field plate and the drain metallization. The field plate provides an extra
degree of freedom within the n-drift optimization tradeoff described earlier. By placing
a grounded conductor (i.e., the field plate) close to the surface of the n-drift region,
the field plate can perturb the depletion region and electric fields such that a higher
doping and/or shorter extension can be used for the n-drift region for a given amount
of breakdown voltage and HCI. In other words, the parasitic drain resistance of the
device can be lowered, the RF power density of the device can be increased, and
the HCI levels in the device can be reduced if the field plate is designed correctly.
Figure 1.5 is a simulation of the subsurface electric field for a device both with and
without a grounded field plate, from which the peak electric field can be seen to be
dramatically reduced for the device with a field plate. In addition, since this field plate
is grounded, it can act as a shield between the drain metals and the gate of the transistor,
reducing the feedback capacitance Cgd . The drain metallization must be designed to
meet the applications electromigration requirements. RF power devices are typically
with shield
Lateral E-Field Magnitude (V/cm)
4.0e+05
without shield
2.0e+05
0.0e+00
n + source
channel
and n drift
Figure 1.5 Comparison of the lateral electric field magnitude with and without a field plate shield.
designed to operate at a junction temperature up to 200 C at relatively high current

densities. A typical device design target might be a 100-year electromigration median
time to failure (MTTF) at rated power and 200 C. This requires a very robust metallization, and is typically satisfied with a thick aluminum or gold top metal with dimensions
(thickness and linewidth) that are appropriate to keep the current density low enough to
meet the MTTF goals.
1.2.2
VDMOS
The VDMOS transistor (Figure 1.6) shares many of the device design and operational
considerations described for the LDMOS transistor. The most significant difference is
that the body/substrate of the VDMOS transistor is n-type rather than p-type, and it
serves as the drain of the VDMOS transistor whereas the body/substrate is the source
for the LDMOS device. The n-drift region is a lightly doped n-type epitaxial layer on
top of a heavily doped n-type substrate; the VDMOS epi thickness is the equivalent of
the n-drift extension in the LDMOS device. This region is also the primary source
of parasitic resistance in the VDMOS device but it extends down towards the backside
of the die rather than remaining at the surface. This design allows the epi thickness to
be adjusted to achieve the target breakdown voltage. For very high breakdown voltages
in the 200 + V regime, this vertical design is more appropriate than the lateral design of
the LDMOS transistor. VDMOS transistors suitable for RF operation at drain bias levels
in excess of 100 V are now on the market [1718], whereas 50 V is the highest drain
voltage operational rating on an LDMOS transistor available today [1921]. Increasing
the drain voltage is the logical pathway to develop high-power parts with user-friendly
impedance levels. This has led to a divergence in the market where these technologies
Gate
Source metal
overlay
Source
oxide
Gate
n + source
n + source
p+ diffusion
Channel
n-type epitaxy
n + substrate
Drain
Figure 1.6 VDMOS cross-section illustrating key features. Unlike the LDMOS structure, the gate
and source are on the topside while the drain is on the backside of the structure. Adapted from
reference [25].
compete against each other, with LDMOS tending to have the highest values of gain,
efficiency, and operating frequency, while the VDMOS can achieve higher power levels
at higher drain bias values, but at lower frequencies.
While the vertical drift region design enables higher drain voltage ratings and power
capability, which are significant advantages for certain applications, this drift region
design is not amenable to the incorporation of field plates; the performance gains
achieved by LDMOS for the past half dozen years were enabled by the incorporation of
field plates to allow for aggressive reductions in RDSon and increases in power density
without compromising reliability or breakdown voltage. The vertical drift region design
also leads to the backside of the device being the drain rather than source/ground terminal
(the LDMOS transistor brings the source to the device backside). Since the transistor
mounting flange is mechanically and electrically connected to the PA heat sink and to
ground, this introduces complexity into the packaging environment for the VDMOS
device compared to the LDMOS transistor. Finally, the transition of current flow from
lateral to vertical induces current crowding that tends to limit performance compared to
the LDMOS purely lateral transport [22].
10
0.45
7.0 V
0.40
6.0 V
5.4 V
0.35
5.0 V
IDS (A)
0.30
0.25
4.4 V
0.20
4.0 V
0.15
3.4 V
0.10
3.0 V
0.05
VGS = 2.0 V
0V
0.00
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
VDS (V)
Figure 1.7 IDS -VDS family of curves for various VGS values.
1.3
Device physics
1.3.1
Current transport
DMOS devices behave largely the same as standard three-terminal n-channel MOS
devices with regard to transistor operation. The current-voltage response can be characterized as having cutoff, linear, and saturation regimes of operation (see Figure 1.7).
Current equations for the linear and saturation regions of operation can be approximated
by equations (1.1) and (1.2), respectively [23], where ID is the drain current, S is the
electron surface mobility, Cox is the gate oxide capacitance per unit area, W is the total
gate width, L is the effective gate length, and VG , VT , and VD are the gate, threshold,
and drain voltage, respectively. Due to the graded doping profile within the channel of
the device, there is an additional electric-field induced drift current component which
is not present in standard MOSFETs, providing an additional boost to the apparent
mobility and gm . Note that for small drain voltages, the VD2 term can be dropped from
equation (1.1), which then reduces to the familiar linear relationship between ID and VD .

s Cox W
1 2
(VG VT )VD VD
ID =
(1.1)
L
2
ID =
s Cox W
(VG VT )2
2L
(1.2)
It is worth noting that DMOS devices as commonly designed for RF operation cannot
be used as four terminal devices (i.e., gate, drain, source, and body). In both LDMOS
11
1.3 Device physics
Gate
Drain
Source
Figure 1.8 Illustration of the current flow in the LDMOS structure. The current flow is lateral
across the drain and channel, and is then shunted to the source connection at the backside of the
wafer.
and VDMOS devices, the body of the device is used as the source or drain, respectively.
In both cases this eliminates the need for a top-side contact for all three terminals
of the device (i.e., gate, source, drain). In the case of LDMOS, only the gate and
drain have top-side contacts allowing for the source to remain a low-resistance, lowinductance connection (i.e., wirebonds are replaced by diffusions that electrically connect
the source to the backside of the wafer, which is then connected to system ground
see Figure 1.2) which is important for RF applications. VDMOS has only gate and
source top-side contacts, which has layout densification advantages, especially for very
high voltage operation, as will be discussed in a later section. The drain of the VDMOS
transistor is internally shorted to the substrate which, as previously described, requires an
accommodation during packaging since the wafer backside cannot be mounted directly
to the package flange and heat sink.
The current paths for the LDMOS and VDMOS transistors are illustrated in
Figures 1.8 and 1.9, respectively, but remember that current flow is the opposite of
electron flow. The LDMOS device shows current beginning at the drain where a positive
voltage has been applied and flowing through the lightly doped n-drift region before
crossing the channel. The current then passes through the n+ source into the metal
which shorts the n+ source to the p+ sinker, and then into the p+ sinker. The current then
moves vertically through the silicon and out the backside of the substrate to ground.
The VDMOS device has a current path which begins at the back of wafer and moves
vertically to the surface, transitioning through the lightly doped drift region formed by
the epitaxial layer. It then crosses the channel and exits out of the source contact terminal.
12
Gate
Source metal
overlay
Source
oxide
Gate
p + diffusion
Drain
Figure 1.9 Illustration of the current flow in the VDMOS structure. The current flow is vertical
through the drain region, turning lateral across the channel and into the source.
1.3.2
Behavior of parasitic elements/models

In RF power applications, the operational effectiveness (e.g., gain, power density, efficiency, etc.) of a transistor is mostly limited by its parasitic elements. It is in minimizing
these elements that the true challenge of device design becomes apparent. Capacitances
and resistances pose the biggest problems. Resistances are a problem because they not
only dissipate energy but also limit the peak current and hence peak power capability,
and contribute to an increase in the knee voltage and hence degrade the peak efficiency of
the transistor. Parasitic resistances, although a necessary by-product of certain regions
of the device (i.e., the n-drift region) to meet breakdown voltage and HCI reliability
goals, tend to degrade the overall performance of the transistor. Many variations of
the basic DMOS structure have been reported in an attempt to reduce RDSon without
compromising BVDSS . Capacitances pose several problems. The most classical impact
is simply to degrade the frequency response of the transistor. Equations (1.3) and (1.4)
are simplified equations for fT (unity current gain frequency) and fmax (unity power gain
frequency), respectively [24], where Cgs is the input capacitance, Rout is the real part of
the output resistance, and Rin is the real part of the input resistance.
fT =
gm
2C gs
(1.3)
1.3 Device physics
13
1.20E-12
CDS/mm (F/mm)
1.00E-12
8.00E-13
6.00E-13
4.00E-13
2.00E-13
0.00E+00
0
10
(a)
20
VDS (V)
30
Figure 1.10a Typical drain-source capacitance (CDS ) versus voltage curve for an LDMOS device.
1.35E-12
CGS/mm (F/mm)
1.30E-12
1.25E-12
1.20E-12
1.15E-12
1.10E-12
1.05E-12
0
(b)
VGS (V)
Figure 1.10b Typical drain-source capacitance (CGS ) versus voltage curve for an LDMOS device.

f max
fT
=
2
Rout
Rin
(1.4)
The other impact is that many transistor capacitances are nonlinear functions of the
junction voltage and therefore can result in a distortion of the signal being passed
through the PA. Figure 1.10 presents input capacitance Cgs , output capacitance Cds , and
feedback capacitance Cgd versus voltage curves that are representative of an LDMOS
transistor, illustrating the sensitivity of the capacitances to terminal voltage. The variation of these capacitances degrades the efficiency of the input and output matching
networks since the fixed value passives in these networks must be designed to operate in an environment where the capacitances being matched depend on voltage. What
5.00E-14
4.00E-14
CDG/mm (F/mm)
14
3.00E-14
2.00E-14
1.00E-14
0.00E+00
0
10
(c)
15
20
25
30
35
VDG (V)
Figure 1.10c Typical drain-source capacitance (CGD ) versus voltage curve for an LDMOS device.
Gate
Drain
RG
n+
n+
p+
CGS
CGD
RD
CDS
RS
p-epi
p + substrate
Source
Figure 1.11 Key parasitic capacitances and resistances superimposed on the LDMOS structure.
The gate resistance RG is actually perpendicular to the plane of the drawn structure (i.e., into the
page).
follows is a more detailed discussion on each of the key parasitic elements of DMOS
transistors.
Figure 1.11 shows the various parasitic resistances and capacitances in an LDMOS
transistor. The drain resistance (Rd ) is largely dominated by the n-drift region and must
be designed to sustain appropriate levels of breakdown voltage while minimizing HCI.
1.3 Device physics
15
1E20
Dopant Conc (cm3)
1E19
1E18
1E17
good sinker linkage
poor sinker linkage
1E16
Figure 1.12 Comparison of the vertical doping profiles through the sinker region of an LDMOS
device with and without good linkage to the substrate.
This is discussed in more detail in the next section. The gate resistance (Rg ) is kept low
through the use of a silicide which sits atop the polysilicon gate. The silicide provides
at least an order of magnitude reduction in gate resistance over just polysilicon. Given
the high-power capability of these devices, total gate widths tend to be measured in
millimeters rather than microns. How this is achieved from a layout perspective is
shown in a later section. The important aspect to consider is that the RF signal is
traveling down long stretches of gate and therefore it must also be considered to act as
a transmission line. If Rg gets too high, a voltage drop occurs along the gate width and
the gain of the device becomes poor. Finally, Rs is driven primarily by the sinker region,
the link to the p+ substrate, the p+ substrate resistance, and various smaller resistances
associated with the die attach and metal package flange. If one were to take a vertical
look at the dopant profile seen through the sinker to the substrate it would look like the
solid line in Figure 1.12. A failure to form a low-resistance link between the p+ sinker
and the substrate is illustrated by the dashed line in Figure 1.12, which will degrade the
RF performance of the transistor.
The capacitances in the LDMOS device typically have both fixed and nonlinear
components. Beginning with the drain-to-source capacitance Cds , a typical Cds CV
curve is plotted in Figure 1.10a. The nonlinear nature of the curve is due to the nonlinear
spreading of the depletion region into both the body and n-drift region as the drain voltage
is increased (see Figure 1.3). It is affected by the dopant levels in the device as well as
the shield designs which can perturb the n-drift depletions if placed close to the surface.
In addition, there are fixed, voltage-invariant intermetal fringing capacitances within the
device that shift the entire CV curve up. The nonlinear nature of Cds can be a problem
since voltage swings will create a range of capacitances for each RF cycle. This leads
to distortion and can also become problematic for specific types of PA design such as
16
envelope tracking that vary the drain voltage dynamically to adjust output power levels.
Another challenge from nonlinear capacitances is the impact of the nonlinearity on the
matching network design; since the matching network components are voltage invariant
(inductors and MOS capacitors, typically), the instantaneous impedance transformation
will vary across the RF cycle as the device intrinsic capacitance varies, resulting in
compromised performance over most of the RF cycle. And finally, Cds determines, to
first order, the intrinsic output impedance of the transistor; for silicon transistors in
particular, this junction capacitance can lead to very low impedances that are difficult to
design broadband matching networks for.
The gate-to-source capacitance Cgs in the device is highly dominated by the gate oxide
of the transistor. Due to the nature of all MOSFETs the Cgs CV is highly nonlinear and
shown in Figure 1.10(b). Prior to the device reaching threshold there is no inversion layer
to span the channel directly below the oxide. Therefore a depletion region is created to
uncover charge to balance the applied gate voltage. Once the device goes into inversion,
there is an ample supply of electrons directly beneath the oxide surface on which E-field
lines can terminate. The capacitance becomes much larger since it now consists of only
the gate oxide rather than the gate oxide in series with a depletion capacitance; the onstate Cgs for an LDMOS device is typically two to four times larger than Cds measured at
28 V whereas for a VDMOS device the ratio is closer to unity. This nonlinear behavior
of the input capacitance with voltage also creates problems with linearity in the form of
phase delays from the input to the output of the device.
The gate-to-drain feedback capacitance (Cgd ) has the same CV shape as Cds but the
magnitude in a typical LDMOS device is much lower Cdg at 28 V is typically less
than 5% of Cds at 28 V. The nonlinear contribution stems solely from where the n-drift
region is overlapped by the gate and is therefore manipulated by the n-drift doping, the
extent of the lateral diffusion of the PHV in the channel, the gate oxide, and the variation
in depletion region locations with bias. There are also significant contributions to Cdg
from intermetal fringing. Various shield designs have been used to conceal the gate from
the drain metal and hence reduce the feedback capacitance. The shield is grounded and
therefore terminates E-field lines originating with the drain. Excessive Cgd can lower
power gain in the device and increase the instability.
The descriptions applied to the parasitic resistances and capacitances for LDMOS also
apply to the VDMOS structure. In exchange for the n-drift region becoming vertical and
thereby increasing the flexibility to design for breakdown voltages of 100 V or higher, the
parasitic capacitances of the VDMOS structure tend to be higher than for the equivalent
power RF-LDMOS device. In addition, compared to LDMOS the VDMOS structure
lends itself towards lower operational frequencies (i.e., lower gain at a given frequency).
The lack of a grounded shield structure in the VDMOS device (see Figure 1.6) tends
to increase Cgd , in addition to not providing the additional device design flexibility that
a grounded shield layer provides (i.e., the grounded shield has enabled higher n-drift
doping concentrations to increase power density without sacrificing HCI performance).
There are few benign parasitic elements when considering the performance of highpower RF transistors. A robust design process based upon models that include these
parasitic elements is critical to enable optimization of the design across a broad range
1.3 Device physics
17
of performance metrics. An excellent reference for the characterization and modeling

of RF power devices is [25].
1.3.3
BVDSS , RDSon , HCI boundaries

Breakdown voltage (BVDSS ), linear regime on-resistance (RDSon ), and HCI are three
critical parameters that are traded off against one another in the pursuit of higher RF
performance. Many aspects of the transistor design are constrained by these parameters
and for the most part are controlled by the drain region of the device. Manipulating the
drain of the device in various ways (i.e., n-drift doping, n-drift length, shield placement,
and design) is collectively referred to as drain engineering. This section is devoted to
this topic.
Breakdown voltage between the drain and source of a MOSFET while the transistor
channel is OFF (i.e., gate voltage is zero for standard LDMOS and VDMOS devices) is
referred to as BVDSS . For a typical wireless base station application with the PA operating
in Class AB bias, the drain DC supply voltage will be in the 2632 V range, but the
peak RF voltage which occurs on top of the DC bias will essentially be double this
value. This would imply a minimum BVDSS requirement of 64 V. For this reason the data
sheets typically specify 65 V minimum BVDSS for cellular infrastructure applications.
This is achieved with the lightly doped n-drift region that is designed to operate in the
RESURF regime. Discussion of the breakdown mechanism is required to understand
how this works.
The drain-source breakdown in an LDMOS or VDMOS device occurs when the
electric field across the n-drain/p-source junction (the junction which is vulnerable in
these devices is actually between the drain and the body of the MOSFET, but recall
that the source and body are shorted so the drain-source vernacular remains accurate)
exceeds the critical level required for a phenomenon known as avalanche breakdown
to initiate. With any p/n junction that is reverse biased (as is the case when a positive
voltage is applied to the n-type drain while the p-type source is grounded), a depletion
region extends into each side of the junction creating a balance of charge. There are
no free-flowing electrons in the n-type depletion region or free-flowing holes in the ptype depletion region, hence they are depleted of mobile carriers. Without these mobile
carriers, the dopant atoms within the silicon lattice present a fixed charge (i.e., positive
charge in the n-type depletion region and negative charge in the p-type region). These
fixed charges set up an electric field across the depletion regions. The integrated fixed
charge in the depletion regions on either side of the junction is always equal. If the drainsource voltage is increased, the depletion regions grow uncovering additional fixed
charge which in-turn results in a larger electric field. How large the depletion region is
depends on the level of dopant in that region. If the region is highly doped, the depletion
region is quite small since a very small depleted area uncovers a large amount of fixed
charge (recall that the fixed charge comes from the dopant in the lattice). If the region is
lightly doped the opposite is true: the depletion region must extend a large distance to
expose the necessary fixed charge. This concept is important in that for a given applied
voltage, the peak value of the electric field that extends over a long distance is lower
18
than one which occurs over a very narrow region. It is the peak value of the electric field
which incites avalanche [26].
Within the depletion region electron-hole pairs are constantly being generated that
are swept from the depletion regions by the electric field created by the applied voltage,
resulting in the leakage current in the device. As the voltage across the junction increases,
the peak electric field will eventually reach a value where the spontaneously generated
electron-hole pairs gain sufficient energy from the field to break electron bonds during
collisions with the lattice atoms, leading to the generation of new electron-hole pairs.
This newly formed electronhole pair repeats the pattern; it is easy to see how the process
can lead to an exponential increase in current for a sufficiently large applied voltage.
This process is termed avalanche breakdown. The resultant electrical curve is shown in
Figure 1.7. In this example it is clear that an exponential growth in current is occurring
at 72 V.
Designing for high BVDSS is most easily achieved by using a light dopant level on
both sides of the drainsource (body) junction. In both LDMOS and VDMOS cases,
the body is already lightly doped. The drain however has many design elements which
can be adjusted to achieve the desired breakdown voltage. The most obvious given the
discussion thus far is to simply use a lightly doped drain. However, if the n-drain region is
short and shallow, then the depletion region will very quickly consume the entire n-area
and hit the n+ drain contact area, pinning the lateral growth of the depletion region.
This means that length and depth of the n-drift region become additional parameters
which must be carefully designed. The result is a two-dimensional depletion region
spread (RESURF) that does not occur in simple one-dimensional junction theory [12].
Referring to Figure 1.3, the progression of depletion laterally from the channel and
vertically from the body causes a reduction in field strength as the overall electric field is
now split into vectors which are orthogonal to one another. A full discussion of RESURF
is beyond the scope of this chapter but the typical pattern in lateral electric field across
the n-drift region is seen in Figure 1.6 with two electric field peaks: one near the channel
and one near the n+ drain contact area. To maximize BVDSS the n-drift doping, depth,
and length are designed so that these peaks are nearly equal.
Another element of drain engineering design is the use of shields or field plates
above the n-drift region (see Figure 1.2). The concept behind field plates is to provide
an additional degree of freedom to modify the field distributions within this critical
region of the device. If a grounded conductive layer is placed close enough to the
surface of the device it creates a surface for electric field lines to terminate upon; this
structure is commonly referred to as a field plate. The field plate serves several purposes.
One is to reduce capacitive coupling between the drain and gate which improves highfrequency performance. It should be noted that early devices placed a grounded metal
shield between the drain and gate to reduce capacitance, but far enough from the silicon
surface to have minimal effect on the electric field distribution in the drain. Over the
past ten years, LDMOS device design has evolved to place the field plate closer to
the silicon surface to intentionally alter the field distribution in the drain region. In
this regime, the coupling between the drain and the field plate enhances the RESURF
behavior in the device, allowing a higher dopant level to be used to achieve a given BVDSS .
1.3 Device physics
19
The higher dopant level increases the power density, improving device performance. In
addition, the device engineer can place the shield only above the portion of the n-drift
region that is needed and can also control how close it is by choosing the thickness of
the dielectric deposited below the shield, providing additional flexibility in the device
design. It is important to note that the field plate integrates easily into the lateral structure
of the LDMOS device; the VDMOS structure is inherently incompatible with field plate
structures.
Looking at a typical family of ID VD curves for various VG values there are two
general regions of MOSFET operation as discussed earlier: linear and saturation. In the
linear region of operation the MOSFET current versus voltage curves exhibit a slope
whose reciprocal is referred to as RDSon . The steeper this slope is then the larger the
RF signal can swing before becoming limited by the capability of the transistor. A
lower RDSon value typically translates into higher power density and higher efficiency
and is considered a critical design component in any LDMOS or VDMOS device. The
desire is to keep RDSon as low as possible. The largest contributor to RDSon is the n-drift
region where the breakdown voltage discussion above illustrates the need for a lightly
doped (more resistive) design. This is one of the fundamental tradeoffs to be made when
designing an RF PA transistor, and it is of little surprise that the vast majority of the
device design activity is devoted to drain engineering precisely this particular tradeoff.
This drove the need for shields/field plates in LDMOS and experimentation with a
variety of doping techniques in the n-drift area. Other contributors to RDSon include the
source resistance components of the LDMOS and VDMOS devices already covered as
well as the channel resistance contribution which is negligible if designed properly.
LDMOS devices rely on the lateral diffusion of a p-type implant to create the channel
doping profile. This results in the preferred higher doping at the source end of the
channel and lower doping at the drain end of the channel (see Section 1.3). However,
if the lateral diffusion is too great due to either a thermal cycle which is too aggressive
or a gate length which is too short, the p-type dopant will reach the n-drift region and
overcompensate. This results in the p-type dopant counter-doping the n-type dopant and
that area of overcompensation becomes a p-type region. If there is no n-type region
to link up to the drain edge of the gate (see Figure 1.2) then the small p-type region
becomes a large parasitic resistance, RDSon increases dramatically, and power capability
is lost in the device. This makes controlling gate length and lateral diffusion thermal
cycles a critical manufacturing concern for LDMOS. The VDMOS transistor has similar
considerations in terms of controlling the lateral diffusion of the PHV implant.
HCI in MOSFET transistors must be considered with respect to the impact it will
have in RF PA applications. HCI is the third major consideration (the other two being
BVDSS and RDSon ). There are a variety of metrics available to characterize HCI, including
threshold voltage shift, transconductance degradation, etc. The two critical parameters
impacted by HCI for RF power devices are shifts in RDSon and bias current (commonly
referred to as IDQ ). For a thorough understanding of these effects a discussion of the
device physics involved is required.
Two things must be present for HCI to occur: an electric field strong enough to
impart significant energy to the carriers making them hot and the carriers themselves
1.00E+00
1.00E-01
1.00E-02
1.00E-03
1.00E+04
IDS (A)
20
1.00E-05
1.00E-06
VDS = 0.1 V
1.00E-07
VDS = 28 V
1.00E-08
1.00E-09
1.00E-10
1.00E-11
0
0.5
1.5
2.5
VGS (V)
Figure 1.13 Sub-threshold ID VD curves for an LDMOS device (VD = 0.1 V, VD = 28 V).
(i.e., electrons). In the BVDSS discussion the concept of RESURF was used to illustrate
that there are two electric field peaks within the n-drift region of an LDMOS device. The
electric field peak at the drain edge of the gate is the one which results in HCI if it gets
too strong. Under normal transistor operation, electrons are flowing across the channel
with the aid of a lateral electric field. As with avalanche breakdown, the field can become
strong enough that the electrons are accelerated to a point where collisions with other
electron-hole pairs or the silicon lattice occur. While the field is not strong enough to
begin the avalanche process, the carriers traveling near the surface can get misdirected
during a collision and end up being injected into the gate oxide. How deep into the oxide
they are injected depends on the energy of the electron and the available energy states
in the oxide. Once injected this electron acts as a fixed negative charge which induces
a positive charge in the channel below it. Depending on exactly where the electron is
injected there are two different device degradation mechanisms which can occur.
If the electron is injected directly over the channel of the device (see Figure 1.2)
the impact is on the bias current or IDQ under RF operation. Looking at subthreshold
curves of a typical LDMOS device (Figure 1.13) taken with a drain voltage of 0.1 V and
28 V there is an observed shift in the curves. The threshold voltage (VT ) is lower when
28 V is applied to the drain. This is due to a short-channel effect within the field-effect
transistor (FET). At the surface of the channel a larger depletion region extends into the
channel when larger drain voltages are applied. This uncovers fixed negative charge in the
channel. When a positive gate voltage is applied, it is looking to generate an equivalent
1.3 Device physics
21
negative charge in the channel. This leads to inversion as electrons are created at the
channel surface and the threshold voltage has been exceeded. If the larger depletion
region has already created some negative charge for the gate electric field to terminate
upon, then less inversion electrons are required to create a completely turned-on channel.
The result is a lower VT . PA applications will set the DC bias using the 28 V (in this
example) drain supply by increasing the gate voltage above VT until the desired IDQ is
reached. If HCI is occurring during normal device operation, electrons above the channel
will induce a positive charge essentially reversing the increased depletion spread caused
by the 28 V. This increases VT and starts to de-bias the part (i.e., IDQ decreases). Over
time as more electrons are injected, the device slowly loses its bias and the part will no
longer operate as needed in the PA. If the electron is injected above the n-drift region,
the induced positive charge simply increases RDSon which, as stated earlier, will result in
decreased power capability. Robustness to HCI must be designed into the transistor and
characterization performed to define acceptable levels.
Characterization of HCI affects is performed through stress testing at the DC bias
which will be applied to the device in the application. A typical base station PA could
require a drain voltage of 32 V and an IDQ of 4 mA/mm of total gate width. A drain
voltage of 32 V is applied and then the gate voltage is increased until the 4 mA/mm is
reached. A rapid assessment of the HCI would entail applying the steady state DC stress
to the transistor for 1648 hours so that an extrapolation can be made out to 20 years;
the RDSon and IDQ drift are established by taking periodic measurements throughout the
stress period. Care should be taken to control the temperature of the device under
test (DUT) as well as the ambient temperature as VT is temperature sensitive and can
also impact the IDQ readings. As described earlier, HCI into the gate oxide above the
channel region reverses the depletion region spread caused by the DC bias drain voltage.
Referring to our example once again, this means that the VT curve at 32 V begins to
move toward the VT curve at a drain voltage of 0.1 V. This is a self-limiting phenomenon
which means that the initial impact to IDQ is quite large and then additional injection has
less and less effect as time goes on. HCI degradation can be estimated as a logarithmic
response by plotting the IDQ response against the time of stress and (Figure 1.14). Most
of the degradation occurs in the first few hours and then levels off dramatically. Using
this log response, an estimation for the degradation out to 20 years can be made. A
well-designed transistor will keep the 20-year degradation in IDQ below 10%. This is
usually adequate for ensuring that the PA remains within performance specifications.
RDSon increases are also tabulated after the stress testing described above. Again, the 20year response should be below 10% but also of importance is the initial 16 h shift which
should be lower than 5% (preferably lower than 3%). It is important to note that HCI is a
function of temperature, voltage, and current, and that the above DC testing is intended
to provide a device with acceptable HCI sensitivity under most operating conditions.
The final assessment of HCI requires testing in the actual application environment to
properly account for the actual stress conditions.
Many facets of the device structure impact HCI sensitivity, including surface oxide
quality, n-drift junction profiles, shield design, etc. HCI mitigation strategies typically
work against another device parameter (e.g., reduced n-drift doping to lower HCI will
22
0.0024
0.00238
0.00236
0.00234
IDQ (A)
0.00232
0.0023
0.00228
0.00226
0.00224
20 years
0.00222
0.0022
1E+01
1E+02
1E+03
1E+04
1E+05
1E+06
1E+07
1E+08
1E+09
Time (s)
Figure 1.14 HCI induced degradation of the quiescent current (IDQ ) in an LDMOS device.
degrade Rdson and potentially impact BVDSS ). The tradeoffs between BVDSS , RDSon , and
HCI are fundamental to the design of LDMOS and VDMOS transistors. Engineering
various ways of improving these tradeoffs to allow for improvements in RF performance
has driven device development in this application space for more than 10 years and
continues today. Extensive device simulation is needed to fully understand the complex
interactions which are involved with any particular device design. It is also important
to periodically characterize HCI under typical application conditions to ensure that the
DC characterization remains relevant in its ability to predict application HCI behavior.
1.3.4
Snapback/ruggedness
Various RF applications require that the devices be able to withstand different levels of
RF stress they need to be considered rugged enough for the application. Usually what
drives the ruggedness required is the level of RF voltage/current excursions expected to
be experienced by the transistor. These excursions are frequently created by mismatch
conditions that occur at the output of the device. Radar applications, for instance, use
pulsed signals which may incur transients which stress the device, while applications
such as a CO2 laser routinely have the PA operating into what is essentially an open
circuit. Usually various voltage standing wave ratios (VSWRs) are used to stress the
devices to determine the level of ruggedness. Devices are tested at 5:1 or 10:1 (or higher)
VSWRs at different levels of input overdrive to assess robustness. It is also common to
23
1.3 Device physics
Gate
Drain
oxide
gate oxide
metal strap
n + source
n drift region
n + drain
p + sinker
PHV region
p type epitaxy
p + substrate
Source
Figure 1.15 LDMOS cross-section illustrating the parasitic npn bipolar formed between the drain,
channel, and source regions.
characterize ruggedness at elevated drain voltages where the device is more sensitive to
ruggedness failures.
There are two device related design concerns which must be considered when ensuring
adequate transistor ruggedness: breakdown voltage and snapback current. The avalanche
breakdown concept has already been discussed in detail in the previous section. If RF
voltage swings are allowed to exceed the breakdown voltage then the current within the
device rises rapidly and there is a risk of a catastrophic thermal failure of the transistor.
This means that the first measure of defense against ruggedness failures is designing
the part such that the voltage swings spend very little time exceeding breakdown. Of
course one could design the part with an extremely large BVDSS to ensure a high level
of ruggedness but as is made clear in the previous section this would result in a loss
in RF performance. Ideally, the transistor should have the lowest level of BVDSS needed
to provide adequate ruggedness for the application. This means that at the extremes
the BVDSS will be exceeded, therefore the second aspect of ruggedness design involves
increasing the current level which can be withstood while in breakdown. This is most
directly linked to a phenomenon known as snapback.
Referring to Figure 1.15, there is a parasitic bipolar device within the LDMOS
structure (a similar parasitic bipolar device exists within the VDMOS structure indeed,
it is a byproduct of typical MOSFET structures). The emitter is the n+ source, the base is
the body of the device and the collector is the drain. When impact ionization is initiated
and avalanche breakdown occurs, there is a sudden and dramatic increase in the level
of electrons and holes in the drain region of the device. The built-in electric fields pull
0.45
7.0 V
0.40
6.0 V
5.4 V
0.35
on-state
breakdown
5.0 V
0.30
IDS (A)
24
0.25
4.4 V
0.20
4.0 V
0.15
off-state
breakdown
3.4 V
0.10
3.0 V
0.05
VGS = 2.0 V
0V
0.00
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
VDS (V)
Figure 1.16 On-state versus off-state breakdown curves.
the electrons out of the drain of the transistor, while the holes are injected into the
base region of the bipolar transistor. The hole current can forward bias the emitterbase
junction, and so more electrons are injected across the channel and into the high field
drain region which creates more holes and electrons due to avalanching and creating a
feedback loop that can result in extremely large, localized current flows that result in
catastrophic thermal failure of the transistor. This is referred to as snapback, and can be
characterized by both a snapback voltage and current.
The goal of enhancing ruggedness is to prevent snapback from occurring by both
delaying the onset of impact ionization, and to design the transistor to minimize the
injection of holes into the base of the parasitic bipolar once impact ionization has been
initiated. Increasing the snapback voltage typically entails increasing BVDSS . However,
BVDSS is the off-state breakdown voltage; it is equally important to increase the onstate breakdown (see Figure 1.16). The drain region design (doping levels, shields,
etc.) dictates the on and offstate breakdown behavior; design for ruggedness becomes
another of the tradeoffs of the drain engineering process. Strategies to increase the
snapback current entail both moving the location of impact ionization away from the
base of the parasitic bipolar transistor, and designing the device to shunt the hole current
to ground, bypassing injection into the base of the bipolar. Figure 1.17 is an example
illustrating the effect on hole current by modifying the drain of the device to accomplish
both goals (moving the impact ionization away from the base of the bipolar, and shunting
the hole current to ground).
1.3 Device physics
Gate
Drain
Hole current
injected into base
Gate
25
Drain
Hole current shunted

to substrate
Baseline
Optimized
Figure 1.17 TCAD simulation of hole current density for two structures taken into avalanche
breakdown. The one of the left depicts a baseline device with the majority of the hole current
being injected into the base of the parasitic npn, while the optimized structure on the right shunts
the hole current to the grounded substrate, preventing latch-up.
1.4
1.2
TLP Current (A)
snapback
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0
0
10
20
30
40
50
TLP Voltage
Figure 1.18 Typical snapback curve due to turn-on of the parasitic bipolar transistor in an
LDMOS device.
Characterization of snapback voltage and current is typically carried out using a

transmission line pulse generator (TLPG) system, in a similar manner to how ESD
sensitivity is characterized. The system works by charging up a transmission line to
successively higher voltages and then throwing a switch allowing the stored energy
on the transmission line to enter the transistor. At each pulse the voltage and current
are recorded allowing a plotting of the snapback curve (see Figure 1.18). Simple DC
26
measurements will end in destruction once the snapback voltage is exceeded. The TLPG
system allows various design parameters to be investigated for their efficacy in adding
ruggedness to the device. Finally, the fully designed part is tested as described earlier with
various levels of VSWRs and overdrives. This is also a test to destruction where the final
level of survivability is recorded. It is important to note that ruggedness performance is a
function not simply of the device but the complete operating environment (surrounding
circuit, input waveforms, operating temperature, etc.); the final assessment of ruggedness
performance must be conducted in the final application under realistic operational and
stress conditions.
1.3.5
Operating voltage considerations

Although considerable time has been spent in this section discussing ways of designing
the breakdown voltage for a given device, the focus has largely been on base station
type designs where a voltage supply of 2632 V is used. LDMOS and VDMOS devices,
however, can be easily adapted to the voltage supply requirements of a wide range
of applications. The optimum voltage level tends to be proportional to the RF power
requirements of the application.
In general, changing the n-drift region length (laterally by layout for LDMOS and
vertically by epi thickness for VDMOS) and doping level is the easiest way to tailor
the breakdown voltage to a given supply voltage requirement. For lower voltage applications such as handset PAs, the voltage can drop as low as 3 V, while for broadcast
applications 50 V is quickly becoming commonplace. Other applications in the industrial/scientific/medical (ISM) space are amenable to even higher operating voltages, with
VDMOS devices on the market designed for 100 V or higher operation (i.e., BVDSS over
200 V). Typical n-drift region lengths range from 3 m for cellular infrastructures 2832
V requirements down to the range of 0.5 m for the low voltage, low-power applications,
but can be as high as 69 m for the 50 V applications and very high RF powers. Each
end of this range has its own set of design concerns to consider.
At the low-voltage end of the spectrum, such a short n-drift region makes it difficult
to make the part resistant to snapback. Just by the nature of such a small drift region, the
avalanche process is going to occur in close proximity to the base of the parasitic bipolar
transistor. This makes the use of a p+ region around the n+ source to lower the gain of the
bipolar transistor that much more important in these designs. For 50 V LDMOS designs
there is the challenge of achieving breakdowns in excess of 100 V. Long n-drift regions
coupled with intelligent shield designs are needed to optimize the usual set of tradeoffs
(RDSon, HCI, ruggedness, and BVDSS ). But at some point, the vertical breakdown begins to
be the limiting factor as opposed to the lateral breakdown. To circumvent this limitation,
a thicker epitaxial layer must be used to extend the amount that the depletion region
can extend vertically before hitting the highly doped p+ substrate. The link-up between
the p+ sinker and the substrate must be redesigned since there is now a thicker epi layer
through which a low-resistance path must be created. The VDMOS device structure is
more amenable to increasing the operating voltage. In VDMOS the epi layer thickness
and doping level determine the breakdown characteristics. The LDMOS structure has
1.4 Design/layout
27
Figure 1.19 LDMOS discrete transistor layout for an 50 W device with 500 m unit gate width
(UGW).
more flexibility to be designed for very high-power density (W/mm gate periphery) with
low parasitic capacitance due to the lateral structure and access to shield layers, but this
flexibility tends to be limited to breakdown voltages in the 100130 V range. VDMOS
devices, on the other hand, can be designed with breakdown voltages in excess of 200 V,
but with relatively higher parasitic capacitance levels that tend to limit the frequency of
operation.
1.4
Design/layout
1.4.1
Top-down finger layout

LDMOS and VDMOS devices for RF PAs deliver very large amounts of power. It is
not uncommon for a single transistor die to deliver 50 W, and often two to four of these
blocks are arranged in parallel within a package to create a single device which delivers
in excess of 200 W. Generating this amount of power requires a very large gate width.
Single transistor gate widths are routinely over 50 mm and have been known to run to
over 1 m. This is an extremely large amount of gate periphery which must be given a
layout design which is efficient and optimized for RF operation. This section will discuss
the various critical design concerns regarding top-down layout of LDMOS and VDMOS
devices.
The layout of power transistors with very large gate periphery is designed to satisfy a number of considerations, including thermal, aspect ratio for stress and package
compatibility, and frequency of operation. The solution to this challenge is to arrange a
large number of shorter gates in parallel such that they operate in unison as one transistor. This parallel arrangement is referred to as an array of gate fingers. All of these
fingers sit within one large active area surrounded by some type of field oxide isolation.
Figure 1.19 shows a top-down view of a typical LDMOS layout designed for 50 W
RF power at 2 GHz. Each gate finger is 500 m wide and is referred to as the unit gate
width (UGW) of the transistor. Two fingers in parallel yields 1 mm of gate periphery.
The fingers are arrayed such that there is symmetry around the center of each drain and
each source. This leads to twice as many gate fingers as there are drain fingers as each
drain (and source) feeds two gates.
The RF signal and biases are going to be applied to the bond pads at the end of the
fingers. This means that each finger will act as a transmission line as the signal progresses
28
Figure 1.20 Layout showing gate buses feeding gate taps spaced at 100 m intervals along the
fingers in an LDMOS device.
down its length. To minimize the transmission line losses or phase delays which can
result, the concept of gate taps is introduced. Notice in Figure 1.20 that there is a gate
contact every 100 m attached to a metal line connected to the gate bond pad. This gate
metal line or gate bus is used to carry the input signal down the length of the finger
with minimal transmission line effects due to the high conductivity of the aluminum
alloy. This bus is then electrically connected to the gate itself such that each 500 m
gate is actually five 100 m gates in parallel. Recall that the gate itself also typically
has a silicide atop the polysilicon to keep the intrinsic gate resistance low. This silicide
resistance, however, is two to three orders of magnitude higher in resistance than the
metal gate bus, illustrating the necessity of the gate bus. Other unit gate widths and gate
tap spacings are employed, typically dictated by the power level and frequency. Larger
and larger UGWs eventually generate transmission line losses even within the gate bus
while very small UGWs make for very poor aspect ratio devices. Higher frequencies
will cause transmission line losses to appear sooner due to the shorter wavelengths and
it is therefore more common to see large UGW devices operating in the 900 MHz space
and below in the cellular infrastructure arena.
Finally the device pitch must be considered. The drain-to-source pitch for LDMOS
or source to gate pitch for VDMOS of a given layout is the distance between each axis
of symmetry within a single finger (i.e., from the center of the source to the center of
the drain for LDMOS, or center of gate to center of source for VDMOS). The LDMOS
drain region is typically kept to a minimum because the n+ implant region needed to
1.4 Design/layout
29
make a good drain contact is a large contributor to the output capacitance within the
device. Therefore, the minimum n+ drain is determined by the minimum drain contact
dimension plus enclosure rules for the n+ implant. The rest of the drain contribution
to pitch is set by the n-drift region requirements of the transistor. The source side of
the device allows for more flexibility and can usually be expanded or contracted to fit
a given package space or meet a thermal requirement. When shrinking the source area
for LDMOS care must be taken that the p+ sinker implant does not get too close to the
channel of the device. Recall that the p+ sinker undergoes an aggressive thermal drive
to diffuse the dopant down through the epi to meet the p+ substrate. Lateral diffusion of
the dopant is occurring at the same time and typically reaches several microns. Device
pitch, unit gate width, and gate tap spacing are all flexible design parameters that are
adjusted based on the performance requirements of the part.
1.4.2
Bond pad manifolds

To provide an RF signal to the transistor, wires much be connected from the leads of the
package to the silicon die. In the case of LDMOS there are only gate and drain wires
since the source is connected through the package flange to ground. This seemingly
simple electrical connection turns out to be quite complex in the field of RF device
design, since these elements are not merely electrical conductors but instead these
conductive elements have capacitance, inductance, and transmission line behaviors that
are fundamental to the RF performance. Despite the design considerations mentioned in
the previous section, the transistor die still has a large aspect ratio. It is not uncommon to
have die which are 13 cm wide with an array of fingers spanning most of the length (see
Figure 1.1). Placing one gate wire in the center of this array will cause a transmission
line affect to be present from the center fingers to the outside fingers. Each finger will not
receive the same RF stimulus and this can introduce nonuniformities in device operation
due to phase differences between the individual fingers. To remedy this situation, a large
number of wires in parallel are bonded from the package lead to a bond pad which
spans the entire width of the device. The bond pads incur parasitic capacitance but this
is minimized by placing them on top of the field oxide. The goal is to feed the array of
fingers as uniformly as possible to maximize performance. This parallel arrangement
of wires introduces inductance at the input and output of the device and this must be
incorporated into any matching intended for the transistor. Moreover, this wire array is
typically utilized and optimized by designers to present a desirable level of impedance
at the package lead to ease the customers use of the part.
At a finer level of detail, there is design of the metal which connects the bond pad
to the finger itself. The primary consideration in this region of the device is resistive
losses due to large amounts of RF current being funneled out of each finger into the large
expanse of bond pad metal. However, designing to meet electromigration requirements
typically minimizes this resistive loss (see Section 1.4.3), so this is not typically a
problem. Nevertheless, flares such as shown in Figure 1.21 can be used to minimize the
impact.
30
Figure 1.21 Drain metal flare designs for transitioning from drain bus to drain bond pad.
1.4.3
Metal design electromigration

Electromigration is a phenomenon which occurs in metal lines when the DC current
density within the lines becomes excessive in conjunction with elevated temperatures
conditions that are easily met in RF power devices. Momentum transfer due to collisions
between electrons and the metal conductor atoms can displace the metal atoms which
leads to resistance increase and eventually an open circuit under severe conditions. This
is a wearout mechanism which occurs over the lifetime of the part and, as such, is a
reliability consideration. Electromigration is discussed further in Chapter 10, but this
section discusses how to design a device properly such that adequate electromigration
lifetimes are achieved.
To begin designing for electromigration robustness, the metal being used must be
characterized with various current and temperature stress tests. Different metal alloys
and metal types vary widely in their electromigration responses. Gold, for instance, has
much higher electromigration resistance than aluminum. Aluminum alloys, typically
formed by the addition of a small percentage of copper [27] have been developed
and are in widespread use in the semiconductor industry; AlCu alloys have excellent
electromigration properties compared to pure Al. Copper is another conductor with good
electromigration properties. It is important that the electromigration characterization of
the metal conductor uses the same processing and structures (linewidth, topography) as
the actual device to accurately reflect the microstructure and stresses in the conductor.
Once the necessary material constants for the chosen conductor and design have been
generated, a simplified form of Blacks equation [28] can be used to begin the design
calculations.
A
MTTF = 2 e
J
EA
KT

(1.5)
where MTTF is the median time to failure (typically defined as a certain percentage
increase in line resistance), A is a material constant (includes geometry effects), J is
the current density, EA is the activation energy, k is Boltzmanns constant, and T is the
temperature.
1.4 Design/layout
31
Figure 1.22 Top-down illustration of the current flow in an LDMOS device.
One of the first things to notice about Blacks equation is that the lifetime it predicts
is inversely proportional to the square of the current density. Assuming that the material
properties of the conductor have already been optimized to maximize the MTTF performance, the current density is the next parameter that the device engineer will manipulate
to improve the MTTF. The current density is typically controlled by using a thick top
metal layer, consistent with fabrication design rules and the device structure, stacking
metal layers to reduce the current density, and finally by drawing wider and wider lines to
lower the current density until the target MTTF is reached. There are of course limits to
how wide the metal layers can be due to parasitic capacitance considerations, so careful
consideration of electromigration is required in the design of the device. In LDMOS
devices, the drain lines carry the largest currents. A top-down view of the current flow
(Figure 1.22) shows that there is a greater and greater amount of current being carried by
the line as it nears its connection with the drain bond pad. Therefore the electromigration
critical design point is the end of each drain finger as it enters the drain bond pad. One
common practice is to flare the metal making it wider as it approaches the end of the
finger. This keeps the current density relatively constant along the finger length. The
downside is that extra parasitic capacitance is generated between the drain metal and
the underlying structure (i.e., the gate and source).
One technique that can be used to enhance electromigration performance is to design
the high-current conductors so that they are in the so-called bamboo regime [29]. Each
metal line is comprised of metal grains (see Figure 1.23). If the metal linewidth is
kept below the median grain size the line begins to look like a piece of bamboo with
the grain boundaries traversing the line laterally. Electromigration occurs preferentially
along grain boundaries, so keeping the metal line within the bamboo regime results in
32
Figure 1.23 The figure on the left is a cross-section TEM through the drain metal of an LDMOS
device showing the intersection of three aluminum grains; the image on the right is a
contrast-enhanced optical microscope view of the aluminum drain bondpad, showing the
distribution of grains in the film.
greatly enhanced electromigration lifetimes. Typical grain sizes can range from less than
1 m to greater than 5 m depending on the metal deposition process.
The other critical parameter to note in Blacks equation is temperature. The lifetime is
exponential with temperature. Given that many PA power transistors run at high-power
densities, temperatures can get as high as 200 C. Hence, the thermal performance of the
device and package are important considerations that affect the peak temperature. It is
common to find RF power transistors designed to occupy a larger area than is necessary
to reduce the areal power density and thereby lower the junction temperature. Once the
device design is completed a design curve or calculator is typically generated and made
available to enable the customer to calculate the MTTF for their application condition
(see Figure 1.24).
1.4.4
Thermal
Given the large amount of power dissipated in LDMOS and VDMOS transistors for
PA applications, thermal heating within the device must be accounted for. Excessive
temperatures will degrade both the performance and reliability. This means that the
thermal resistance of the part must be engineered to manage the heat generated during
operation. The factors which contribute to the thermal resistance are the materials which
the heat must pass through as well as the cross-sectional area through which the heat
passes. LDMOS and VDMOS transistors are made from silicon which is given a metal
backing (typically gold or a solderable metal film) which is attached either eutectically or
soldered to the package flange, which in turn is mounted to the heat sink. Factors which
must be considered in the thermal design include layout (increasing the source-drain
pitch reduces the power density), substrate thickness (5075 m is a typical thickness
for high-power parts), die attach technology (gold eutectic being the best, followed by
33
1.4 Design/layout
Pout (W)
25
Vdd (V)
28
Drain Eff (%)
42
10,000
Electromigration MTTF vs. Temperature
MTTF (Years)
1,000
100
10
110
120
130
140
150
160
170
180
190
200
210
Temperature (C)
Figure 1.24 A graph of the electromigration MTTF vs. temperature. The variables are output
power, drain voltage, and drain efficiency. The equation for the curve is based upon Blacks
equation.
solder), voids formed during die attach (paradoxically, accounting for voids can actually
cause the optimum substrate thickness to increase since it acts as a heat spreader around
the void), and flange thermal conductivity and thickness (thermal performance is an
important driver of package technology).
The heat in a DMOS transistor is generated within the primary parasitic resistance of
the device: the n-drift region. Looking at the top-down view of an LDMOS transistor
(see Figure 1.1) there is an array of drain regions which are all generating heat during
operation. From each of these regions the heat will fan out laterally as it moves towards
the backside of the wafer. It is therefore a very good approximation to use the total active
tub area as the cross-sectional area driving thermal resistance. There are exceptions to
this such as when a device is quite small and the edge effects begin to become a large
34
contributor to the overall thermal resistance cross-section, but for large transistors the
approximation is valid. This begins to play a role into how the UGW and pitch are
chosen when designing the transistor. Choosing the largest pitch possible for a given
package area will yield the best thermal resistance. For a given amount of gate periphery
and a given package constraint, moving to the largest UGW that is consistent with
electromigration and performance considerations allows the source-drain pitch to be
increased, improving thermal performance. It is apparent that there are a wide range of
considerations that must be managed during the device design process to achieve the
best balance of performance and reliability.
Over the years these techniques have held increasing importance as power density
within the device has improved. Customers are always seeking more power out of
a given package footprint, which places continued challenges on maintaining good
thermal resistance. One aspect of device design which helps is the increase of efficiency.
As devices have become more and more efficient, either through intrinsic performance
or through high-efficiency architectures like Doherty, the heat dissipation has improved
for a given amount of delivered power. Thus, a 50 W part with 45% efficiency generates
significantly less heat than a 50 W part with 35% efficiency, making thermal resistance
design a more important factor for the 35% efficiency part (these are typical efficiency
levels in cellular base stations operated in Doherty or simple Class AB, respectively).
It should also be mentioned that thermal properties affect the uniformity of the
transistor. Figure 1.25 shows an infrared scan of a typical LDMOS transistor. The center
of a transistor generally runs hotter than the edges. This creates nonuniformity within the
device as the edge fingers will have a slightly different threshold voltage, etc., due to the
heat profile. Good thermal design practices will minimize these temperature variations.
1.4.5
Operating voltage considerations

This book is focused on RF technologies for power levels exceeding 1 W, or to generalize,
noncellular handset RF power applications. For these powers levels and for frequencies
up to 3 GHz, silicon technologies and in particular LDMOS and VDMOS dominate.
The reasons are fairly simple a low-cost structure, good performance (gain, efficiency,
linearity), excellent reliability, and relatively straightforward scalability to powers up
to 1 kW. The market has segmented by application voltage into three primary bands:
12 V, 2832 V, and 50 V or higher. As would be expected, the range of device power
levels also scale with operating voltage. The 12 V market ranges up to 70 W devices,
the 2832 V market ranges up to 300400 W, and the 50 V + market includes devices
rated at over 1 kW.
The 12 V market application is primarily for land mobile applications (fire, police,
taxi, etc.). The specified maximum application voltage is typically 16 V to allow for
automotive battery chargers operating in worst case conditions. Excluding low cost, the
most important requirement of this market given the harsh environmental and application
conditions that can be encountered is ruggedness. Ruggedness considerations dictate
BVDSS in the 50 V or higher range. The land mobile market is characterized by slices
of spectrum that vary by country, but in general operate at frequencies under 1 GHz;
35
7S18125AH
Temperature (C)
GATE
DRAIN
1.4 Design/layout
Figure 1.25 Thermal scan for a 125 W LDMOS device. The PA is typically designed to limit the
maximum junction temperature below 150 C, although the devices are typically rated to operate
up to 200 C to 225 C.
efficiency at these power levels and frequencies can reach in excess of 70% at P1 dB for
class AB operation. Linearity requirements are fairly modest compared to cellular. The
dominant technology for this market segment is LDMOS.
The 2832 V market application is dominated by cellular infrastructure, but also
includes broadcast, avionics, and other noncellular applications. The cellular infrastructure market is also dominated by LDMOS. This market segment is very performance
competitive, requiring state-of-the-art gain, efficiency, and linearity. The application
ruggedness requirements are less demanding than for land mobile. Cost is an important
consideration, so long as performance is competitive. The cellular infrastructure market
has been under significant cost pressures for the past decade, which has driven packaging innovation such as high-power over-molded plastic transistors that have a lower cost
structure than the historical ceramic air-cavity packages. The BVDSS minimum for these
voltages is typically 65 V. LDMOS products are on the market for frequencies up to
3.8 GHz for WiMAX applications; VDMOS devices compete in the subGHz, noncellular
arena where their more limited frequency capability is not a limitation.
The 50 V and higher markets are concentrated in the relatively broad noncellular
application space that includes ISM, avionics, and broadcast markets. These markets
36
have a very diverse set of performance requirements, with certain applications requiring
high-pulse CW with no linearity requirements, while others demand stringent back-off
linearity with good efficiency. These devices require excellent ruggedness performance;
certain applications like CO2 lasers routinely subject the transistors to open circuit
conditions at high power levels, representing a testing ground for a transistors ruggedness
capability. This application space typically requires higher power transistors than are
practical with 28 V devices, with products on the market at power levels exceeding
1 kW. 50 V devices tend to have minimum BVDSS values in the 105 V120 V range, but
applications with extreme ruggedness requirements could have even higher breakdown
values. It is only within the past several years that 50 V LDMOS devices have been on
the market [1921]. VDMOS competition is robust, particularly at lower frequencies
and high power levels. The vertical structure of VDMOS also enables scaling of the
breakdown voltage to allow operating voltages of 100 V [1718]. The lateral LDMOS
structure does not scale as readily to support BVDSS values of 200 V or higher that are
necessary to operate at 100 V.
1.4.6
Frequency considerations: gate length, gate width, resistors

Before delving into frequency considerations, it is worthwhile to consider the impact of
transistor gain on efficiency and cost. It becomes challenging to design stable parts with
good isolation if the gain exceeds about 25 dB in a single stage transistor (multistage
lower power ICs have been designed with gain up to 35 dB [3031]). The desire for
high gain is primarily cost a higher gain, high-power final stage in the PA lineup
will require a lower power and hence lower cost driver, potentially fewer devices in the
lineup, and require less space on the printed circuit board (which also translates into
cost savings). There are also lineup efficiency benefits with a high-gain final stage. The
power-added efficiency (PAE) is a metric that tracks the conversion efficiency of DC
from the power supply into RF power, and is defined by the equation:
PAE =
Pout Pin
PDC
(1.6)
where Pout is the RF output power, Pin is the RF input power, and PDC is the power from
the DC power supply to the device. PAE, as the name indicates, is a measure of how
efficiently the device converts DC power to RF power, and hence can be used to determine
power dissipation in the device. A 50% PAE device must dissipate an amount of power
equal to its output RF power while a 25% PAE device dissipates three times as much
power as it transmits. The highest possible PAE that meets other system requirements is
clearly the goal. By manipulation of the variables, PAE can also be written as:

1
PAE = D 1
(1.7)
G
where D is the drain efficiency (defined as the ratio of Pout to PDC ), and G is the RF
power gain. For a gain of 20 dB (a factor of 100), the PAE is within 1% of the drain
efficiency. As the gain falls below 15 dB, the PAE begins to fall rapidly, degrading
1.4 Design/layout
37
overall efficiency and increasing operating costs in addition to requiring more expensive
techniques and mechanical items to manage the dissipated heat. By the same token, there
is little efficiency motivation for the gain to exceed 20 dB from an efficiency perspective,
although there are still cost and board space considerations.
Simple filter theory predicts for a single pole transfer function that power gain will
follow a 6 dB/octave rolloff with frequency, i.e., a 20 dB gain part at 2 GHz will have
26 dB gain at 1 GHz, 32 dB gain at 500 MHz, etc. A common approach during device
design is to develop the transistor to have as high a gain as possible at its maximum
operating frequency without compromising other parameters (i.e., reliability, ruggedness, etc.), and then to limit the gain increase at the lower frequencies to maintain a
stable device and circuit. Maximizing performance at the highest frequencies of operation causes the device designer to migrate towards the classical solutions of shorter gate
lengths, thinner gate oxides, and aggressively reducing all parasitic capacitances and
resistances. The LDMOS structure is more amenable to optimizing for high frequency
compared to VDMOS, with LDMOS dominating the cellular infrastructure frequencies.
Excessive gain at lower frequencies can be countered by degrading the intrinsic gate
of the transistor (longer gate length, thicker gate oxide). Another approach that offers
ancillary benefits is to add series resistance to the gate feed network, which not only
decreases the gain to manageable levels but also lowers the Q of the input network,
facilitating the design of broadband matching networks.
High-power device design also requires careful optimization to the layout of the
individual fingers. Practical limits of gate width at frequencies of 13 GHz are of the
order of 1000 m, with the maximum gate width decreasing as the frequency is increased.
Excessive gate widths exacerbate distributed effects (transmission line delays, phase
shifts, etc.) and lower the gain and can impact efficiency and linearity. As frequencies
decrease below 1 GHz, these distributed effects become less important and the device
layout tends to be dictated by package constraints and reliability considerations, such as
electromigration.
1.4.7
HVICs
High voltage integrated circuits (HVICs) in the context of high-power RF devices
typically refers to having at least two stages of amplification along with elements of
the matching network (e.g., inductors, capacitors, resistors) all integrated onto the same
semiconductor substrate. HVICs in cellular infrastructure were first introduced as driver
devices that were designed to power the final stage of the PA lineup. The first highpower cellular infrastructure HVIC in production was the MRFIC5001, introduced by
the semiconductor sector of Motorola (now Freescale) in 1999. The MRFIC5001 is a
10 W, 900 MHz GSM driver HVIC; this HVIC is a two-stage device having 26 dB gain
at 26 V, and was based on the third-generation HV3 LDMOS platform from Motorola.
The design of both driver stage and final stage high-power HVICs has flourished since
this time, with almost all PA designs now including HVICs in the lineup [3235].
The advantages of integration are well known, and include a dramatic reduction
in component count and board space, lower cost, and reduced overall performance
38
Output
stage
Input
stage
GND
VD1
NC
NC
NC RF in RF in
NC
VG1
VG2
NC
GND
Figure 1.26 Assembly drawing of a 2 GHz, 100 W LDMOS high-power IC. This is a 2-stage IC,
with a fully integrated input and interstage match (input impedance is 50 ), and an integrated
shunt-L output match.
variation. Modern HVICs are two stage designs due to the high gain of the individual
LDMOS stages. A traditional discrete design matching network is constructed using
high-Q inductors and capacitors. The inductor is formed from wirebonds and can have a
Q in the 50100 range. The matching network passive elements in HVICs include spiral
metal inductors and integrated series and shunt capacitors. The most challenging passive
to integrate into the LDMOS flow is the spiral inductor which, due to the heavily doped
substrate, is limited to Q values in the 510 range; integrated capacitor performance
does not tend to be the limiting factor in HVIC designs. The relatively low value of the
integrated inductors is adequate for the design of input and interstage matches, but is too
low for the output stage. Wirebonds continue to be employed at the output of the final
stage of HVICs where the much higher currents require the highest possible inductor Q
to achieve target performance levels.
The performance of HVICs has advanced over the past decade. This has been enabled
not only by the improved performance of the LDMOS transistor, but also by passive
component optimization and refinements in the design methodology to extract as much
performance as possible. An example of the state-of-the-art in IC design today is the
MW7IC18100N [36], which is a two-stage IC rated at 100 W at 1.8 2.0 GHz with
30 dB gain, designed as a high-gain, high-power output device for GSM and GSM
Edge applications (see Figure 1.26). Another example of the progress made in HVIC
performance is found in the MW7IC3825N [37]. This IC is designed for 28 V operation
References
39
in the 3.43.6 GHz band, is rated at 25 W P1 dB , and has been characterized for WiMAX
operation. These examples illustrate the significant progress made in both the process
technology as well as the design methodology to enable the design of high-performance,
high-power HVICs.
Summary
The application space for high-power RF transistors is broad and growing, ranging
from the ubiquitous cellular base station to avionics, broadcast, industrial, scientific,
medical, etc. The requirements placed upon the RF power transistor varies depending
upon the application requirements, including power gain, linearity, efficiency, reliability,
thermal management, bandwidth, ruggedness, linearizability and, last but certainly not
least, cost. LDMOS and VDMOS technologies dominate these applications due to an
excellent combination of these factors. VDMOS is strongest at lower frequencies and
higher power levels where the vertical structure can best be leveraged into a higher
operating voltage capable of very high power levels. LDMOS is the dominant device
technology for cellular infrastructure basestation PA applications, and has over the past
few years been introduced into markets that were traditionally the domain of VDMOS
and silicon bipolar transistors. VDMOS and LDMOS together dominate the market
for high-power PAs from frequencies in the low MHz range up to 4 GHz, and for
power levels that exceed 1 kW. Investments continue to be made in both VDMOS and
LDMOS to further improve performance and meet the evolving requirements of the end
applications.
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to acknowledge the support and assistance provided by our
colleagues at Freescale, without which much of this chapter would not have been possible.
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GaAs FETs physics, design,

and models
Rob Davis
RFMD
2.1
Introduction
The manufacture of Gallium Arsenide FET devices and integrated circuits is now a
mature industry. The GaAs FET was first developed in the 1960s and 1970s [1], with
the impetus to establish a manufacturing capability coming in the 1980s driven by
governmental support most notably the comprehensive MIMIC programme in the
United States. In the intervening time the GaAs FET became the default solid-state
device for all manner of RF and microwave applications. However, the position of the
GaAs FET in this arena has not gone unchallenged. It was soon joined by the GaAs
HBT which has dominated the cellular handset power amplifier market. The upper frequency limit of silicon LDMOS technology has steadily increased over recent years
as its highly mature technology was further refined with the result that this technology currently dominates high-power RF applications below 3 GHz. More recently,
gallium nitride devices join the fray. The GaN FET is a device technology of great
promise that is steadily being made available by more vendors as its reliability is
established. Initially, gallium nitride is also targeting the lower frequency bands but
is capable of being developed for applications across the whole microwave bandwidth.
For the higher millimetre-wave frequencies indium phosphide technology has a place.
However, GaAs FET technology is proven, competent, mature, and remains a good
choice for many applications including high-frequency power and high linearity. GaAs
technology also has significant cost advantages over its nonsilicon competitors. The
economies of scale that the cellular communications market has brought to GaAs
technology has revolutionized the manufacture of GaAs products and has given rise
to dramatic reductions in cost. It is in the area of continued cost reduction that the
most significant new developments in GaAs device and associated technologies are
focused.
This chapter aims to introduce contemporary GaAs-based power FET technology. It is
written with the perspective of the user of the technology in mind. The material properties
and the pertinent device physics are reviewed and relevant concepts are recapped briefly
as necessary. The device design issues are described followed by a section on fabrication
with particular focus on low-cost manufacture. The chapter concludes with a discussion
of device models for circuit design.
43
2.1 Introduction
Table 2.1 GaAs FET materials properties [2, 3]

Parameter
Si
GaAs
Al0.22 Ga0.78 As
In0.2 Ga0.8 As
Units
Band gap, Eg
Conduction band step,
Ec (wrt AlGaAs)
Electron mobility, (undoped)
Electron mobility, (Nd = 3E17 cm3 )
Lattice constant
Breakdown field, EBR
Thermal conductivity,
1.12
1.424
0.17
1.698
0
1.14
0.31
eV
eV
1400
8500
4000
5.653
4 105
0.44
3600
6900
5.655
(46) 105
0.2
5.734
(24) 105
0.05
Cm/V.s
Cm/V.s
A
V/cm
W/cm.C
2.1.1
3 105
1.3
Properties of GaAs and related compounds

GaAs and its related compounds offer inherently good electronic properties for
microwave semiconductor devices. Key material properties of GaAs and two common
partner materials AlGaAs and InGaAs are given in Table 2.1 with the corresponding values for silicon provided for reference. The GaAs-based materials shown have
direct band-gaps and high electron mobilities. High mobility results in lower access
resistance and rapid acceleration of channel electrons to their saturated velocity over
a short distance. These are important benefits for microwave devices. Further performance enhancement may be engineered by combining compatible materials with
differing band-gaps to form heterojunction devices. Suitable combinations of materials allow very effective device structures to be manufactured that can provide a high
degree of spatial control of the charge thereby allowing device performance to be
optimized. AlGaAs has a wider bandgap than GaAs or InGaAs material. The resulting step in the conduction band when AlGaAs is used in conjunction with GaAs or
InGaAs channel layers allows the current to be confined in the narrower band-gap
material. The step in the conduction band edge between AlGaAs and InGaAs can
be engineered to be considerably greater than that between AlGaAs and GaAs, and
therefore the former combination provides a significantly higher degree of electron
confinement.
Heterojunction devices are only possible if the desired material combinations are
sufficiently compatible to allow defect free growth across the crystal interfaces. The
AlGaAs crystal has the same face-centered cubic structural form as GaAs with a lattice
constant that remains very close to that of GaAs for all fractions of aluminum composition. Consequently Alx Ga1x As is crystallographically compatible for all values of mole
fraction x. Unfortunately, high values of aluminum composition x are unattractive for
other reasons. The first limiting factor is the emergence of a high density of deep levels
called DX centers [4] which are formed for x 25% and their density rises sharply for
values of x above this value. For the case of InGaAs, high indium fractions are desirable
as the conduction band offset and mobility improve with increasing indium content.
InGaAs also has the same crystal form as GaAs, however the indium atom is relatively
large compared to gallium with the result that the lattice constant of Iny Ga1y As increases
44
with mole-fraction y. Consequently, when a thin channel layer of InGaAs is grown on

a GaAs or AlGaAs crystal the InGaAs layer structure pseudomorphically adopts the
template of the host crystal and this gives rise to a strained (compressed) layer. Naturally, there is a limit to this behavior and for a given thickness of the Iny Ga1y As layer
there is a maximum value of y which should not be exceeded in order to maintain an
acceptable degree of strain [5]. For thicknesses or mole fractions beyond the critical
limit then the crystal strain will be relaxed by the generation of misfit dislocations. For
useful AlGaAs/Iny Ga1y As devices with a channel thickness in the region of 10 nm, the
maximum useable value of y is of the order of 2022%. The above issues therefore constrain the molecular compositions that are possible for practical AlGaAs/GaAs/InGaAs
devices and the compositions of AlGaAs and InGaAs given in Table 2.1 are chosen
to satisfy the constraints described above and are typical of those used in practical
device structures. Although the bulk material data given in the table does not strictly
apply to thin or strained-layer structures with adjacent heterojunction interfaces affecting electron transport, the data shown is indicative and useful in conveying the basic
principles.
A further important attribute for a semiconductor for microwave applications is the
ability to engineer substrates with very high electrical resistivity in order that RF signals
carried by the tracks on the finished device should experience low attenuation. GaAs
is naturally blessed in this regard due to the relative ease with which the material may
be made into a good insulator. High-purity GaAs naturally has a high resistivity and is
deemed to be semi-insulating (SI). The high resistivity arises because the Fermi-level is
pinned very deep in the forbidden band by a naturally occurring crystal defect known as
EL2 (Electron Level 2). EL2 is a near mid band-gap electron trap which effectively
clamps the Fermi-level so deep that very few free electrons or holes are available for a
meaningful current flow. The natural resistivity of pure GaAs is typically 106 107 -cm
at room temperature. Substrate manufacturers further refine the degree of insulation by
incorporating very small amounts of carbon during the crystal growth process. Carbon
is a p-type dopant in GaAs and this is used to counter-dope the slightly n-type nature
of pure GaAs. By compensating the high density of deep-donor EL2 defects with a low
concentration of shallow acceptors from the carbon doping, the resulting resistivity can
be fine-tuned. A typical commercial SI GaAs substrate exhibits a resistivity >108 -cm
at room temperature.
Of course no semiconductor material is ideal and GaAs and its related compounds
come with some natural drawbacks that must be accommodated in the design of successful products. Notable disadvantages of GaAs are a relatively low thermal conductivity
and the absence of a native oxide or similar passivant. The former issue limits the ability
of GaAs devices to dissipate heat through the substrate thereby making thermal design
an area of particular attention in the design of high-power products. The second issue
of imperfect passivation gives rise to slow-state phenomena. A number of alternative
terms are used here to describe the mechanisms and their effects. The terms: traps,
deep-levels, surface-states, and dispersion are all commonly used. They refer to
an undesirable feature of semiconductor devices where crystalline imperfections result
in electron or hole states that are of intermediate depth in the band-gap such that they
2.1 Introduction
45
interact with the free carriers at noticeable levels but at rates which are slow compared
to the intended transistor response. The result is that, in addition to the desired fast
response, there follows a secondary slow tail that can compromise the device performance in a variety of ways. Effective control of dispersive phenomena in GaAs devices
took many years to adequately resolve. Both of these topics are addressed in more detail
in the sections to follow.
2.1.2
The Schottky barrier gate and the MESFET

A class of transistor which is very suitable for GaAs is the Schottky-gate FET. This form
of FET is a natural choice for GaAs because, unlike the MOSFET, the Schottky-gate
FET can accommodate an imperfectly passivated surface. A host of device variations
have followed since but the primary device of the family is the MEtal-Semiconductor
FET or MESFET. This is essentially a Schottky barrier gate between two ohmic contacts
on a layer of n-type semiconductor that forms a conducting channel. A Schottky barrier
is formed when a metal is brought into contact with a semiconductor surface. Given
a suitable difference in material work-functions, charge redistribution in the semiconductor occurs which depletes the adjacent semiconductor region of its mobile carriers
(in the manner of a one-sided p +-n junction). The extent of the depletion depth is controllable by the amount of bias across the junction, and by this means a bias applied
to the Schottky gate will modulate the available charge and hence the current in a
FET channel. The rate that the junction can control the current limits the frequency
response of the device. The limiting processes here are the RC time-constant of the
gate junction and the time for the carriers to travel along the channel. The relevant
key material properties are the mobility and the saturated velocity, and in high-mobility
materials such as the GaAs family then the saturated carrier velocity is the dominating
factor.
2.1.3
The Pf 2 limit
The maximum power obtainable from a transistor manufactured from a given semiconductor material is dependent on the frequency at which the device is required to
operate. The relationship of power with frequency is an inverse-square law, sometimes
referred to as the Pf 2 = constant limit [6]. The factors that determine this relationship are the breakdown field, the saturated carrier velocity, and the physical size of
the device footprint. The rms power density, P , obtainable from a sinusoidally driven
transistor with the peak current density Jmax and voltage swing of Vmin to Vmax is
given by:
P =
Jmax (Vmax Vmin )

8
(2.1)
For a FET with its speed limited by the electron transit-time , traveling at the saturated
velocity vsat , over characteristic length L, with a peak voltage limited by the breakdown
46
field Eb , and approximating Vmin to zero, then:

Jmax E br L
8
Jmax E br vsat
=
8
Jmax E br vsat
=
16 f T
1
fT
P =
(2.2)
(2.3)
(2.4)
(2.5)
where fT is the cut-off frequency. This same analysis is used to define the Johnson figure
of merit for a semiconductor material JFOM [7]:
E br vsat
.
(2.6)
2
Returning to equation (2.4), Jmax is crudely of the order of 500 mA/mm for most flavours
of GaAs power FET irrespective of operating frequency. However, the ability of a FET
to deliver Jmax across the entire gate periphery of a device diminishes as the frequency
increases. This is primarily due to de-phasing of the input signal along gate fingers
and across the multigate manifolds. Consequently, the remote regions of the device are
driven progressively out of phase compared to the region in the immediate vicinity of
the gate terminal thereby resulting in a net reduction in current delivered to the drain. In
order for the phasing effects to remain invariant the physical device width must be scaled
inversely with the frequency thereby giving a further 1/f contribution. In combination
with equation (2.5) the overall effect on the total power, P, is then:
JFOM =
1
.
f T2
(2.7)
Clearly this is a simplification which omits a host of other factors such as RC losses,
matching effects and thermal considerations, but it does capture the dominant limiting
processes for a well-designed microwave power FET. Validation of equation 2.5 is given
in Figure 2.1 which shows the rated breakdown voltages versus process fT for a variety
of commercially available power FET processes of the varieties described in the next
section.
2.1.4
Types of GaAs FET

Four key GaAs FET variants are compared in Figure 2.2. The first type, shown in
Figure 2.2a is the MESFET consisting of a Schottky gate controlling the current in
a simple uniformly-doped channel. The first devices were ion-implanted structures
and this approach became the standard manufacturing technique for GaAs transistors
for a number of years. The MESFET was gradually refined with enhancements that
included optimizing the doping profiles, the use of epitaxially grown layers, and the
development of recessed gate structures for enhanced breakdown. The advent of bandgap engineering introduced AlGaAs as a partner material. A variety of heterostructure
47
2.1 Introduction
0.15 m P
100
0.15 m P
0.15 m P
fT GHz
80
0.15 m P
0.25 m P
60
0.25 m P
0.25 m P
0.25 m P
0.3 m P
40
0.5 m P
0.5 m P
0.5 m M
0.5 m M 0.5 m P
0.5 m H
20
10
15
20
25
30
BVgd V
Figure 2.1 Breakdown voltage frequency relationship for commercial power FET processes
(M: MESFET, H: HFET, P: pHEMT).
Figure 2.2 Key GaAs FET device types; (a) metal-semiconductor FET (MESFET) (b) doped-
channel heterojunction FET (HFET); (c) high-electron mobility transistor (HEMT);

(d) pseudomorphic high-electron mobility transistor (pHEMT).
48
FET (HFET) developments then followed. The most straightforward HFET, depicted in
Figure 2.2b, uses a wide bandgap AlGaAs spacer layer that spaces the GaAs channel from
the gate [810]. This structure constitutes an effective power device with excellent power
and linearity performance [11]. The transconductance achievable from this structure is
relatively modest, however a valuable attribute is the near constant value with gate bias
[8, 12, 13] that is achievable which is important for improving linearity.
A number of developments of the HFET have been investigated, typically involving the
use of InGaP as an alternative wide bandgap layer and with InGaAs as the doped channel
layer. Reference [14] summarizes the benefits and drawbacks of an InGaP barrier layer
including its absence of DX centers and that it is less likely to suffer surface oxidation.
However, it is also has a less advantageous conduction band alignment than AlGaAs,
and its use as an HFET barrier layer has not found widespread use.
The further device developments described here focus on improvement of the channel
properties so as to enhance the frequency performance. A key development was the
AlGaAs/GaAs high-electron mobility transistor (HEMT) or modulation doped FET
(MODFET) [15]. These are equivalent names for a device structure shown in Figure 2.2c
which avoids doping the channel directly and instead dopes the adjacent AlGaAs layer.
Mobile electrons then populate the GaAs channel but, at low fields at least, suffer much
less scattering as the doping impurities have been separated from the conduction channel.
HEMTs of this type have been superseded by the pseudomorphic device discussed
below, but the concept was a key stepping-stone in the development of the microwave
FET.
The pseudomorphic-HEMT (pHEMT) shown in Figure 2.2d is a significant enhancement of the HEMT that introduces the benefit of an InGaAs channel [1618]. InGaAs
is a narrow band-gap material with excellent electron transport properties. The first
incarnation of the pHEMT was a single heterojunction device with an AlGaAs barrier and charge supply-layer above the InGaAs channel. As material growth quality
improved, a second AlGaAs layer beneath the channel was added which provides better
charge confinement and hence higher current capability. The principle of modulation
doping for the double pHEMT is illustrated in Figure 2.3 which shows the idealized
band diagram for a pHEMT channel. However, as described above, InGaAs possesses
a larger lattice spacing than GaAs and AlGaAs which limits the indium mole fraction
to around 20%. This is a fairly modest indium fraction with the result that the exceptionally high mobilities that are the norm in the higher indium composition channels
of the lattice-matched In0.52 Al0.48 As/In0.53 Ga0.47 As/InP HEMT devices are not achieved
in GaAs-based structures. However, it should be realized that the key device benefit
achieved in AlGaAs/InGaAs devices comes not from the fundamental mobility of the
channel material, but rather from the separation of the carriers in the channel from
their dopant atoms in the adjacent wide band-gap region. In this respect the increased
conduction band step introduced by the use of InGaAs for the channel layer is very
beneficial. Although the innate channel mobility is not improved above pure GaAs, it
is substantially improved above doped GaAs and in AlGaAs/InGaAs pHEMT devices
channel mobilities exceeding 6000 cm2 /Vs are obtained. For a MESFET with a directly
doped channel then the achieved mobilities would typically be less than half that of
2.1 Introduction
Doping plane
49
Doping plane
EF
High mobility
channel
AlGaAs
InGaAs
AlGaAs
Figure 2.3 Idealized pHEMT band diagram and modulation doping principle.
the pHEMT value. This improvement is comfortably sufficient to ensure that the device
speed of the pHEMT is not significantly limited by the channel mobility.
The semiconductor band-diagrams that correspond to the key device types of
Figure 2.2 are given in Figure 2.4. The diagrams were calculated using a public-domain
Poisson-Schrodinger equation solver [19] and the figure shows the equilibrium conduction and valence band solutions for the zero-bias condition together with the resulting
electron concentration. The four band diagrams highlight the differences in the nature
of the confinement of the channel electrons (electron density n) in the region between
the Schottky barrier of the gate terminal on the left-hand side and the mid band pinning
of the Fermi-level of the insulating substrate that occurs off-scale on the right-hand
side of the plots. For the MESFET of Figure 2.4a the channel charge distribution is
essentially that of the bulk semiconductor layer with an effective width modulated by
the extent of the depletion of the Schottky gate. The application of negative gate bias
further increases the energy difference between the Fermi-level and the conduction band
and thereby extends the gate depletion reducing the available charge in the channel. For
the situation where a positive bias is applied to the gate then by the reverse process the
depletion depth reduces and the MESFET channel widens towards the gate. The use of
negative, zero and positive gate biases for a MEFSET structure are shown in Figure 2.5a.
The HFET structure with a band diagram shown in Figure 2.4b differs from the previous
case due to the AlGaAs spacer layer beneath the gate, and the mobile charge from the
doping in this layer is transferred to the (also doped) channel where it is energetically
favourable to remain. A change to the gate bias voltage modulates the depletion edge in
the same manner as the MESFET, but now the presence of the heterojunction provides a
constraint on the minimum depth of the depletion layer edge. As shown in Figure 2.5b,
under positive gate bias conditions the electron concentration remains largely confined
by the heterojunction barrier and so, unlike the MESFET, the upper extent of depletion
layer edge is constrained and does not move significantly towards the gate. The HEMT
50
Ec
Ef
0.6
0.5
0.4
1.0
Ev
0.2
2.0
50
(a)
100
150
Depth (nm)
1.0
0.8
Ef
0.6
0.4
1.0
Ev
0.2
1.5
2.0
(c)
50
100
150
Depth (nm)
0.2
n
0
50
100
150
Depth (nm)
200
200
1.0
x1018
0.5
n (cm3)
0.5
Ev
1.0
Energy (eV)
Ec
0.6
0.4
1.0
(b)
0.0
Ef
0.5
2.0
200
1.0
x1018
0.5
0.0
1.5
0.8
n (cm3)
0.0
1.5
Energy (eV)
0.5
0.8
n (cm3)
Energy (eV)
Ec
Energy (eV)
0.5
1.0
x1018
1.0
Ec
0.8
Ef
0.6
0.0
0.5
0.4
1.0
Ev
0.2
1.5
2.0
(d)
n (cm3)
1.0
x1018
1.0
50
100
150
Depth (nm)
200
Figure 2.4 Zero-bias band diagrams and electron densities for key GaAs FET device types;
(a) metal-semiconductor FET (MESFET); (b) doped-channel heterojunction FET (HFET);
(c) high-electron mobility transistor (HEMT); (d) pseudomorphic high-electron mobility
transistor (pHEMT).
structure of Figure 2.4c has a similar AlGaAs/GaAs heterojunction to the HFET just
discussed but with the difference that the GaAs region is undoped. The band-bending of
the junction creates a small well that is populated with carriers from the doped AlGaAs
region. The mobility of the channel is intended to be that of the intrinsic material as the
scattering from the dopant ions is eliminated now that they are spatially separated from
the path of the mobile electrons. However, the confinement capability of this modest
well is quite limited and this structure is therefore not effective as a power device. This
issue is resolved in the pHEMT of Figure 2.4d with an InGaAs channel. Here the deeper
conduction band offset between AlGaAs and InGaAs provides a high degree of confinement and the use of a double heterojunction with doping provided from both the upper
and lower AlGaAs barrier layers achieves a high sheet-charge density. Also employed
51
2.2 Power device physics
Ec
0.0
Ef
0.6
0.5
0.4
1.0
Ev
0.2
1.5
(a)
n
0
50
100
150
Depth (nm)
200
1.0
x1018
0.5
0.8
n (cm3)
Energy (eV)
Ec
Energy (eV)
0.5
2.0
1.0
1.0
x1018
0.8
0.0
Ef
0.6
0.5
0.4
1.0
Ev
0.2
1.5
2.0
(b)
n (cm3)
1.0
n
0
50
100
150
Depth (nm)
200
Figure 2.5 Effect of variation of gate bias on device band diagrams and electron density for (a)
MESFET and (b) HFET. Solid line is the zero gate bias condition, long dash is for reverse bias
and short dash is for forward bias.
here is the use of delta doping. In conventional doping the dopant atoms are included
uniformly in the crystal at modest concentrations. However, in delta-doping the silicon
dopant atoms are deposited in a continuous thin layer just a few atoms deep. This has
benefits to device operation in that the dopant atoms are all very close to the channel
ensuring maximum transfer of electrons into the channel the so-called modulation
efficiency. A further benefit is that it is easier to manage the MBE growth reactor to
dope in this way.
2.2
Power device physics
2.2.1
The device IV characteristic and loadline

An idealized IV characteristic is shown in Figure 2.6. The knee voltage, Vknee , is the
voltage where the current saturates. Below this point the device is a voltage controlled
resistor and above Vknee the DC current is saturated and ideally is independent of drain
voltage. The maximum current Imax is typically defined just above the knee voltage and
is the maximum current the device can supply before the gate junction becomes forwardbiased and starts to draw gate current. Another key parameter for a power device is the
breakdown voltage as this limits the peak voltage that the device load-line can swing
up to. The pinch-off voltage Vp is the gate voltage required to turn-off the drain current
(typically to a threshold value of order 1 mA/mm).
The detailed behavior of the FET IV characteristic is determined by the combination of the Schottky gate depletion dependence on the gate-channel potential and the
velocity-field characteristic of the source-drain channel. In reality this is a complex and
interdependent 2D problem. However, for submicron gate GaAs-based devices where
the electron velocity saturates under the gate over much of the IV space then a useful
52
Imax
Vgs > 0
Idss
Ids
Vgs = 0
QA
Vgs < 0
QB
V knee
Vds
Vgs = Vp
Vmax
Figure 2.6 Ideal FET DC IV characteristic with class A and B loadlines.
simplified description can be considered. In this model the current is determined by

the saturated electron velocity and the number of available carriers. The fraction of the
maximum channel current that is available is determined by the extent that the gate
depletion region extends down into the channel. An important benefit of the saturated
velocity mode of device operation is that over the main part of IV space the drain
current is generally a more linear function of gate voltage. Good linear behavior may be
pictorially observed from the family of Id Vd curves that make up a device IV graph
having approximate equal spacing as Vg is varied. Such behavior is unlike the long-gate
or gradual channel case of the traditional JFET where saturation is a low-field and
constant mobility process resulting in a square-law dependence of drain current on gate
voltage [3, 20].
It is readily apparent that a good power device has high peak current Imax , a high
breakdown capability, a low Vknee and equally spaced curves on the IV characteristic.
Figure 2.6 illustrates the maximum power class A and class B load-lines that may be
supported on the idealized IV characteristic. The class A loadline is the simplest to
understand and the figure shows the IV locus swinging from the peak current value Imax
and minimum voltage value Vknee to a maximum voltage at zero current limited by the
device breakdown. The resultant quiescent bias point is QA . The maximum output power
for the idealized class A situation is given by equation (2.1). The class B loadline is
achieved by reducing the operating current to bias point QB . The same load resistance is
required and a similar maximum power is delivered but with higher efficiency achieved
due to a reduced DC dissipation.
For a real device the IV characteristic departs from the ideal in a number of important
ways. Figure 2.7 highlights some key features of a more realistic DC IV characteristic
which would be observed using a slow-sweep curve tracer. The figure illustrates thermal
droop where self-heating of the device causes a reduction of electron velocity and
mobility. The spacing of the lines of constant gate voltage is also no longer ideal and
exhibits compression at the limits of the gate voltage range.
53
Imax
Vgs > 0
Idss
Ids
Vgs = 0
Vgs < 0
Vknee
BVds
Vds
Figure 2.7 Practical FET DC IV characteristic exhibiting breakdown, thermal droop, and
transconductance compression.
100
DC
Q A (6V, 0V)
Q AB (6V, -0.3V)
Q B (6V, -0.6V)
80
60
Id mA
QA
40
Q AB
20
QB
Vd V
Figure 2.8 Measured pulsed IV characteristic for 0.25 m pHEMT process at class A, AB, and B
bias points.
2.2.2
The dynamic IV characteristic

A further departure from the ideal characteristic occurs when the dynamic response is
considered. Figure 2.8 shows typical pulsed IV characteristics that have been measured
with a commercial system [21, 22]. A set of dynamic IV plots are overlaid onto a
conventional DC IV measurement. In the pulsed case the device is biased at quiescent
bias points indicated on the figure and short, low-duty cycle pulses from this bias point
are then used to explore the IV plane and map out the characteristic. The bias point
should be chosen to be typical of the intended operating point with the aim that the
measured dynamic IV will replicate the RF behavior of the device. As is apparent in
Figure 2.8 the dynamic behavior differs significantly from the static case. The difference
54
is, for the most part, due to the presence of slow traps in the semiconductor. Traps are
deep-level states that can capture and retain electrons or holes for extended periods. The
possible causes and locations are numerous [2326] and include traps at the un-gated
semiconductor surface and the substrate interface, DX levels in AlGaAs, and free ions
in passivating materials. A concise overview of the phenomena for both GaAs and GaN
devices is given in reference [27].
The traps are energy states that have energies sufficiently deep into the semiconductor
forbidden band that the likelihood of a carrier interacting with the state is relatively small
and when a carrier does occupy such a state then a further low probability event is needed
in order for it to be released again. The result is that the lifetime in a deep-level state can
be quite long, and time constants of microseconds to milliseconds are commonplace.
The impact of the trapped charge in the deep states is that the associated field affects the
passage of the free carriers in the channel thereby modifying the device characteristic.
Because the capture and release time constants of the traps are very long compared to the
period of a microwave signal, the RF (carrier) signal and trap occupancy do not directly
interact. However, the trap occupancy is affected by the mean bias condition giving rise to
the situation that the dynamic IV changes slightly as the mean bias position changes. A
useful way to think of this is that there isnt a unique and definitive IV characteristic for
a particular FET, but rather there is a slightly modified one for every mean bias condition.
A helpful physical model is that of the field associated with the trapped charge acting as
a slowly varying virtual gate that modifies the effect of the physical gate. A particular
area of concern for trapping effects is the semiconductor surface. Without a suitable
passivant material there are inevitably a large number of surface states present. Indeed,
it is worth noting that the density of available surface states is typically comparable with
the intended doping of the device channel. It therefore becomes an important device
design task to minimize their impact on the device performance. This is achieved by such
measures as keeping the etched surface area to a minimum, maximizing the distance of
such areas to the channel and the use of charge-screening layers to isolate the channel
from changes to the surface potential. In contemporary optimized FET structures the
trapping effects have been addressed to a substantial degree. Improved materials growth
quality, improved wafer processing techniques, and advances in device design techniques
have reduced the density of available states and mitigated their impact on the device
response. Nevertheless, discernable slow-state effects are the norm and these effects
have an impact that can limit the device performance and introduce difficulties in device
characterization and modeling.
2.2.3
The consequences of trapping effects

The physical processes described above give rise to a multitude of observable device
effects to be minimized by the device designer and accommodated by the circuit designer.
The effects are summarized in the following paragraphs.
Reduced output power: For devices operating as an amplifier and biased as such, the
resulting equilibrium trapping state reduces the peak device current due to increased
surface depletion and increases the effective knee voltage by increasing the dynamic
55
Id
Time
(a) Gate lag
Time
(b) Drain lag
Figure 2.9 Typical GaAs FET gate and drain lag responses; (a) gate lag; (b) drain lag.
channel access resistances. These modifications to the device IV are illustrated in

Figure 2.8 and reduce the maximum output power that a device can deliver.
Gm and gds dispersion: Measurements of device transconductance (gm = dId /dVgs )
and output conductance (gds = dId /dVds ) with frequency are observed to undergo a
transition from their DC values, and this variation with frequency is called dispersion
[25, 26, 28]. The transition frequency range is typically in the 1 kHz to 1 MHz range
with the transconductance decreasing from the DC value and the output conductance
increasing from the DC value. Historically, dispersion measurements were a primary
assessment tool for device trapping effects before pulsed IV assessment came to the
fore. For contemporary GaAs power devices transconductance dispersion is usually small
and the dispersion of the output conductance is the dominant phenomena. This is clearly
observed in FET DC IV characteristics such as Figure 2.8. The spacing of the lines
of constant gate voltage has remained largely invariant indicating minimal difference
in transconductance. However the increase in the slopes for the pulsed characteristic
demonstrates the increased output conductance experienced by a dynamic stimulus.
It should be realized, however, that the difference between the DC and dynamic IV
slopes does not indicate that slow-states have compromised the output conductance for
the RF signal. It is more accurate to view the dynamic IV measurement as revealing the
underlying true output conductance that is obtainable from the short gate structures
that are typically employed in GaAs-based devices. For the DC case, the aforementioned
underlying IV is modified by changes in the equilibrium trap occupations which evolve
with the (slowly varying) bias voltage in such a manner so as to supplement the action
of the gate and so reduce the resulting output conductance. The mechanism can be
visualized such that as the drain voltage is increased then the amount of trapped charge
in the vicinity of the gate also increases and the field associated with the trapped
charge acts in concert with that of the Schottky gate bias thereby helping to suppress the
increase in drain current that would otherwise occur.
Gate and drain lag: Gate and drain lag are terms that describe the delayed response
of the drain current to changes in the gate and drain voltages, respectively [26, 2932].
Typical gate lag and drain lag responses are illustrated in Figure 2.9 and show how the
dominant fast response is followed by a slow tail. The tail can persist for timescales
56
ranging from a few microseconds to milliseconds depending on the detail of the device
construction and the fabrication techniques employed. The plots relate to the same
physical test as is performed in the pulsed IV plot of Figure 2.8; however, the x-axis on
the plot is now time rather than drain voltage and the traces show the time evolution of
just one sample point on that IV plot. With gate-lag the drain voltage is held constant
and the gate voltage is stepped from the quiescent value to the required sample point,
and with drain lag the gate voltage is held constant and the drain voltage is stepped.
Memory effects: In addition to the modifications to the device characteristics described
so far, the dispersion mechanism also results in hysteresis in the device response, or in
other words the device can exhibit a memory of a recently applied stimulus. As discussed,
the trapped carrier population is a function of the mean bias condition. For a highfrequency continuous-wave signal where the period of the RF is short with respect to
the trap time-constant then an equilibrium trap occupation will be achieved and a stable
dynamic device characteristic is observed. However, for low-frequency signals or, more
likely, an RF carrier modulated with a modulation frequency that is comparable with
the trap time-constant, then the trap occupation can be influenced by this low-frequency
variation. The result is that the RF characteristic can be subtly modified by the lower
frequency component of the signal thereby giving a dependence on the recent history.
Of course this is a familiar problem for all semiconductor devices even if trapping
mechanisms were to be completely controlled as thermal time constants have similar
consequences. The impact of trapping effects on a modulated signal is simulated in
reference [33].
Inaccuracy in large-signal models: Traditional device models are based on IV
characteristics measured at DC. However, as has been shown, the trapping effects give
rise to dynamic IVs which are noticeably different from the static one. This means that
models which simply use the static characteristic do not accurately predict the device
performance. Invariably, the real device will provide less power and exhibit less gain than
the DC-derived model. Techniques for the generation of improved large-signal models
are addressed later in the chapter.
Increased breakdown voltage: So far the list has given a series of detrimental effects
that arise from the presence of surface states. However, they do have an important
beneficial impact on breakdown voltage. As will be discussed in more detail in the
next section, the associated surface charge located in parallel with the channel has the
positive benefit of assisting to spread the electric field in the gate-drain region over
a longer distance thereby reducing the peak field developed and hence increasing the
device breakdown voltage.
Kink effect: The list ends with a phenomenon that has long been observed where
traces on the IV characteristic can exhibit a kink to a higher drain current as if
the gate bias was suddenly adjusted higher as the drain voltage is swept. Similar
effects have been reported in various kinds of semiconductor transistor, such as silicon MOSFETs, GaAs-MESFETs, doped channel HFETs, AlGaAs/InGaAs-HEMTs,
and InAlAs/InGaAs-HEMTs [34].
Various mechanisms have been explored and it is clear that there are a number of
different kink-effect processes that may be present depending on the detailed device
57
D
BVgd
BVds
G
BVgs
S
Figure 2.10 Breakdown voltage definitions.
construction. It is possible to observe mechanisms that affect the DC characteristic but

are not observed at RF [35], while for other structures they may be observed also or
exclusively in the dynamic characteristic [34, 36]. The possible mechanisms that may
be involved include field ionization of traps where an increase in the drain voltage
induces release of trapped electrons thereby allowing the associated channel depletion
to lessen [34, 37]. Other processes involve the presence of hole charge generated by
impact ionization. Here a build up of hole charge at the source end of the gate can give
rise to a parasitic bipolar effect that can cause current injection thereby reducing the
effective source resistance [38]. It is also possible that associated change in the channel
potential reduces the effective pinch-off voltage [39]. A further mechanism suggested
by 2D simulation is for impact ionization generated holes to interact with and partially
discharge surface electron traps thereby widening the channel [40]. Other simulations
indicate a possible contribution from redistribution of the 2D electric field when the
lateral extension of gate depletion reaches the edge of the recess [36].
2.2.4
Device breakdown
The three breakdown conditions generally quoted for FETs are the Gate-Source, GateDrain and Drain-Source breakdown voltages BVgs , BVgd , and BVds , respectively, as
illustrated in Figure 2.10. The typical definition employed is the voltage for which a
current of 1 mA/mm of gate width is observed. BVgs and BVgd are so-called two-terminal
tests (i.e., with the third terminal floating) and, with the notation used here, are negative.
In power devices the gate is usually positioned asymmetrically to optimize the gate-drain
breakdown value. BVds is a three-terminal test with the gate bias set to a sufficiently
negative value so as to ensure that the device is pinched off. BVds is positive. It is common
for only two-terminal tests to be quoted on data-sheets or in wafer acceptance criteria.
However, the three-terminal drain-source breakdown is also an important parameter,
particularly so for power devices, as this configuration corresponds to how the device is
actually used. Different physical mechanisms are generally observed for the breakdown
processes experienced under two and three-terminal conditions with the result that BVds
can be significantly less than might be expected from a simple consideration of the
58
combination of the gate-drain breakdown and the applied gate voltage (i.e., Vgs -BVgd )
[41].
2.2.5
Breakdown mechanisms and optimization

Significant attention has been paid to the optimization of breakdown performance in
order to optimize output power, and breakdown performance for power devices has been
developed to the point that power GaAs FET devices are usually thermally limited rather
than being limited by device breakdown. A number of physical processes are involved
in the evolution of the breakdown process and depend on the precise device construction
and on the operation of the device. The key processes described here are [4247]:
r thermionic field emission (TFE) over the reverse-biased gate barrier;
r tunneling through the gate barrier which narrows as the device is heavily reversebiased;
r impact ionization in the channel;
r parasitic bipolar effect;
r electric field spreading due to the surface potential.
These processes can all operate in concert to give a variety of interesting behaviors. A
typical evolution of a breakdown event begins in a high-field low-current condition with
increased gate-drain leakage caused by field-emission of current over the reverse-biased
gate-drain barrier. It is normal for the field to be so high that the barrier becomes thinned
which causes the field-emission to be enhanced by quantum-mechanical tunneling. Energetic electrons can then find themselves injected into the high-field channel with excess
energy. The electrons will relax their energy by various means and one possibility is
impact ionization where electron-hole pairs are created caused by collisions with the
lattice. Impact ionization is self-reinforcing in a high-field channel as the electron-hole
pairs produced can go on to seed other ionization events in an avalanche multiplication
process. Breakdown tends to be a fairly gradual process at first as the applied voltage is
increased and steadily over several volts the total breakdown current becomes progressively dominated by the impact avalanche component. Detailed studies analyzing this
behavior in GaAs FETs have used the differing temperature dependence of the TFE and
impact ionization processes to identify the relative contributions.1 The picture so far
then is that of energetic electrons defeating the gate barrier, seeding impact ionization
and the breakdown current running away with a positive feedback mechanism. However,
this is not necessarily quite the end of the story. On some devices it is possible to observe
a snap-back effect where, as a certain current threshold is crossed, the device can
no-longer support the breakdown voltage resulting in the breakdown characteristic of
Figure 2.11. In this event then the voltage collapses to a low value and the device current
rises markedly [48]. This process may or may not be fatal depending on the device
1
TFE has a positive temperature coefficient which is to say the current over the barrier increases with
temperature [42, 46]. Conversely, in GaAs devices, the temperature dependence of the ionisation coefficients
acts in the opposite sense.
59
Id
Snap-back
Impact ionization
TFE/Tunnelling
Vd
Figure 2.11 Breakdown snap-back caused by a parasitic bipolar effect.
and the circuit. The mechanism giving rise to the snapback is a by-product of impact
ionization where the resulting equilibrium hole concentration can induce a parasitic
bipolar effect (PBE). Once created, the ionized holes can follow a number of paths:
They can be collected by the gate terminal and add to the gate current, they can escape
into the substrate, or they can flow to the source. A common understanding of the parasitic bipolar effect is that the holes collecting in the substrate act as a parasitic back
gate and have the effect of opening the channel from the back [49, 50]. However, in
a heterojunction FET holes tend to be confined in the channel by the valence band well
and in this case may not readily flow into the source contact or substrate. Instead they
will drift to the source region and an equilibrium hole charge is developed there. This
localized positive charge favours injection of electrons from the source contact into the
channel thereby inducing an increased drain current by another means [49]. Parasitic
bipolar effects are well known in silicon devices [51, 52] but appear less so in the GaAs
community.
2.2.6
Comments on GaAs FET breakdown ratings

GaAs FET circuits are often designed to operate quite close to the transistor rated
breakdown limits with safety margins less than are typically employed with other technologies. A number of factors make this a safe thing to do. The nature of GaAs FET
breakdown is such that it is typically quite gentle in its onset and results in significant
circuit performance reduction before device degradation is observed [43]. Also, the
typical dominant aging mechanism of devices operating under high-field conditions is
a hot-electron induced surface degradation. The surface damage leads to a subsequent
increase in trapped surface charge causing increased spreading of the electric field and
hence an increase in the breakdown voltage [53]. This so-called breakdown walkout
provides a fail-safe mechanism where the failure process effectively hardens the device
against further degradation.
60
Lg
Cgd
Rg
Cgs
Rd
Ld
Rds
--
Cds
Ri
gm
Rs
gm = gm0.e
Ls
Figure 2.12 Common GaAs FET equivalent circuit network.
A further relevant phenomenon is the observation that the RF breakdown of GaAs

FETs can be frequently higher than their DC breakdown data would suggest [54]. The
literature is not comprehensive but the perception of devices safely operating at values not
commensurate with their DC breakdown values is a common one. A popular explanation
is that of avalanche delay [55], which can inhibit the onset of breakdown because the
period of a microwave signal is typically comparable with the characteristic delays of
the avalanche process. An attempt to quantify the effect was given by Shrikov [56] who
measured a modest one volt enhancement to the drain-source breakdown. Snap-back
effects (if present) may also be too slow to respond to the RF signal which in that case
could be expected to give an apparent RF breakdown enhancement.
2.2.7
The FET equivalent circuit

The usual small-signal equivalent circuit network used to represent a GaAs FET is shown
in Figure 2.12. The prime elements are the voltage-dependent drain current generator of
transconductance gm0 and the gate capacitance Cgs across which the controlling voltage
is developed. The remaining elements are unavoidable parasitic components whose
presence degrades the device performance and so whose values are minimized as much
as possible in the device design and the fabrication approaches employed.
Figure 2.13 illustrates the mapping of the equivalent circuit onto the physical structure. The parasitics which are commonly particularly significant are the shunt feedback
capacitance Cgd and the access resistances Rg , Rs , and Rd . The gate and source resistances
Rg and Rs compromise gain by reducing the fraction of the input signal that reaches the
intrinsic gate. The source and drain Rs and Rd compromise output power and efficiency.
The source inductance, Ls , is often a critically important parasitic which, together with
Rs , gives rise to series feedback compromising device gain. However, the value of Ls is
dominated by the interconnection network including the via to ground and therefore not
shown on the cross-section view of Figure 2.13. The remaining parasitics usually have
a lesser impact though can still be significant.
n+
D
n+
Rg
Ledge
Ledge
Rs
Cgs Cgd
Ri
Channel
61
Rd
gm
Rds
Substrate
Cds
Figure 2.13 Correspondence of GaAs FET physical structure and equivalent circuit network.
An area of particular note in the mapping of the equivalent circuit is the network of
elements used to model the depletion region. The depletion region is a single entity that
delineates a single region of space-charge. However, it is accessed by all three device
terminals and so in the equivalent circuit the depletion region must therefore have a
connection to the three terminals. This is achieved in the lumped model by the use
of two capacitance elements Cgs and Cgd . The gate-source capacitance, Cgs , connects
across the depletion region from the gate metal to channel forming the main contributor
to the input capacitance. The gate-drain capacitance, Cgd , connects from the gate metal
across to the drain-side of the depletion region and forms a shunt feedback capacitance.
Modulation of gate depletion region edge requires charge to be added to or removed
from the depletion region. In the low-field region this process is dielectric relaxation [57]
modeled by the Cgs -Ri arrangement where the gate-charging resistance, Ri , represents
the nondepleted low-field channel resistance of the channel under the gate. In the highfield region the modulation of the depletion region edge is limited by the finite saturated
velocity of the channel carriers limiting the rate that carriers can be supplied or be swept
away. There is therefore a time delay given by the product of the length of the saturated
region and the carrier velocity that limits the speed of this process and this gives rise to
a delay term, , for the current generator equivalent circuit element.
2.2.8
Device gain and figures of merit

The key gain quantities for a microwave FET are illustrated in Figure 2.14 which shows a
set of typical commonly used gain curves for a pHEMT device. The most straightforward
microwave gain quantity is the power gain in a 50 system. In Figure 2.14 this is shown
as S21 . This curve shows a one-pole response dominated by the 50 source impedance
and the device input capacitance. Once above the 3 dB corner frequency S21 falls at
6 dB/octave. In order to achieve a useful gain performance the device must be presented
with more appropriate terminating impedances. The remaining curves on the plot are the
Gain (dB)
62
MSG
S21
h21
MAG
log(Frequency Hz)
fT
fmax
Figure 2.14 Microwave gain curves and figures of merit.
quantities generally employed to indicate what performance is achievable from a device

for specific terminating conditions.
h21 : The hybrid parameter h21 is the current gain into a short-circuit load. The intersection of this curve with the unity gain axis is a key device figure of merit called the
transition frequency, fT which is discussed in more detail below.
Gmax: The Gmax curve is the composite plot of the maximum available gain and
maximum stable gain curves (MAG and MSG, respectively). MAG is the gain obtained
when the input and output are both simultaneously matched for optimum gain. This
quantity may only be determined when the device is unconditionally stable. Where it
is possible that a combination of source and load impedances will cause the device
to oscillate then MAG is undefined and so instead the MSG is plotted. MSG provides
the theoretical gain obtained immediately before oscillation occurs and has a slope of
3 dB/octave. The slope of MAG is of the order of 6 dB/octave but varies due to
the variation of the optimal termination conditions which are frequency dependent.
Figure 2.14 shows just one transition frequency between MSG and MAG. In highperformance FETs it is quite common for there to be a further transition at higher
frequencies back to MSG as the device becomes conditionally stable again. In practice,
Gmax can be thought of as the best gain obtainable but its interpretation is complicated
by the conditional stability issue.
U: A somewhat theoretical gain quantity often favoured by device specialists is
the Unilateralized gain U [58], also known as Masons invariant gain [59]. For this
quantity the feedback has been perfectly neutralized to give a gain measure that is free
from complications of the effects of conditional stability.
fT and fmax : Two popular figures of merit for RF devices are fT and fmax . They assist
in the ready assimilation of a devices performance and to allow convenient comparisons
of different devices. The transition frequency fT is the unity gain frequency of h21 the
2.3 Device design
63
frequency for which the current gain of the device has fallen to 0 dB. fT is a useful
and reasonably unambiguous figure of merit that is convenient to measure and relates
directly to the primary equivalent circuit elements that determine the device RF gain. The
elements concerned are the intrinsic transconductance of the gate gm0 and the associated
capacitance Cgs that limits the rate at which the input voltage may be varied. The usual
approximate expression for fT is given in equation (2.8).
fT
gm0
2 (C gs + C gd )
(2.8)
A significant weakness of fT as an indicator of device performance is that it neglects

other important parasitics, and in particular takes no account of device input resistance.
This is because h21 is the current gain for the case of an input current generator with
infinite output conductance. It is therefore quite possible for a device with a high fT
rating to actually have a relatively poor power gain. Clearly however, a device chosen
for a power amplifier should have a low input resistance and high power gain. A figure
of merit that addresses this requirement is fmax , the so-called maximum frequency of
oscillation. This parameter is the frequency for which the power gains U and Gmax
have fallen to 0 dB, as a power gain of unity is the minimum gain required for a device
to be able to oscillate (see Appendix 2.1 and reference [60]). The expression for fmax can
be determined for the network of Figure 2.12 [61] and is given in equation (2.9) which
illustrates the relative significance of the various parasitic components.
f max =
fT
2 (Rg + Rs + Ri )/Rds + 2 f T Rg C gd
0.5
(2.9)
A difficulty with fmax is that there is no universally adopted approach to its determination and it is commonly overestimated. This is discussed in Appendix 2.1 where
recommended methods for the practical determination of fT and fmax are described.
2.3
Device design
2.3.1
Power device design

The process of optimizing a power device comprises three main steps: (a) designing
the basic FET device structure, (b) designing the power cell where a set of gates are
assembled to form a stackable unit, and (c) forming a composite device from a set of
cells to provide a device with the required power for a given requirement.
2.3.2
FET channel and recess design

Here the task is essentially to select the FET type and gate length appropriate for
the operating frequency and to optimize the current density capability and breakdown
voltage without unduly compromising the other competing specifications such as gain
and linearity. Key areas of attention are the epi-design and the gate recess.
64
Epi-layer design: GaAs FET epitaxial layer structures vary in complexity from the
simplest uniformly-doped MESFETs [62], through reasonably straightforward multilayer designs for HFETs [8], to complex many-layer quantum-well structures for
pHEMTs [63]. In uniformly-doped MESFETs the epi-layer design choices are fairly
limited. High power requires high current which is achieved by a high doping density
and/or a thick channel. Both of these factors have limits. For the case of doping density,
then as this parameter is increased the breakdown voltage falls due to the increased
electric field that is developed. In addition, the semiconductor mobility is degraded due
to increased scattering associated with the dopant atoms. Alternatively, as the channel
thickness is increased then, for a given gate length, the output resistance falls and this
can compromise the devices ability to deliver current into the desired load resistance.
To prevent this problem the gate aspect ratio (the ratio of gate length to channel depth)
should be maintained to be of the order of five or more in order to ensure a satisfactory
output resistance. The aspect ratio constraint presents no issues for longer gate devices
but for higher frequency applications requiring submicron gate lengths, then the restriction on channel depth forces high levels of channel doping to achieve the desired current
density thereby resulting in a compromised breakdown voltage and undesirable channel
mobility.
MESFETs with tailored doping designs are employed with the aim of achieving
improved device characteristics such as linearity and noise. More ideal device performance is achieved by concentrating the doping deeper into the device with the objective
of achieving, for example, a step-doped or similar profile. A desirable outcome from
this measure is to introduce less variation in depletion depth as the channel is modulated
thereby resulting in a more constant device transconductance and gate capacitance. However, this benefit comes inevitably at a cost of reduced current density for a given peak
doping and gate length. Such devices therefore tend to have lower current capabilities
than uniformly doped FETs.
The limiting case for a step-doped profile is the HEMT which seeks to restrict the
current flow to a narrow plane at a fixed depth into the semiconductor. The HEMT
achieves this while being substantially free from the mobility degradation associated
with increased doping densities as described above for the MESFET. This is because
in the case of the HEMT the current-carrying channel is physically separated from the
donor ions and so much higher doping levels can be used without adversely impacting the
mobility. GaAs-based HEMT structures typically achieve sheet-charge densities above
would correspond to an
1.5 1012 cm2 which, for channel depths of order 100 A,
20
3
equivalent bulk-doping density in excess of 1 10 cm . Even if such a bulk-doping
density was a practical proposition (which it isnt as this density is considerably greater
than the solubility limit of the n-type silicon dopant in GaAs), the mobility would be
enormously degraded and not be more than a few hundred V/cm2 s at best. In the HEMT
the doping limit now becomes that for which the associated electrons can be effectively
contained in the heterojunction channel. For the AlGaAs/GaAs HEMT the difference
in band-gaps between the two materials is relatively modest with a commensurately
limited degree of charge confinement. Consequently this device has a modest peak
current capability. However, as shown in Table 2.1 the AlGaAs/InGaAs pHEMT has
2.3 Device design
Gate metal
Inner recess
65
Outer recess
n+
n+
Ledge
Cap layer
Channel
Figure 2.15 GaAs Power FET recess structure.
a much more substantial band-gap difference with the result that the pHEMT device
variant allows a high current density of order 500 mA/mm to be maintained for all
practical gate-lengths.
The gate-recess design: A most significant advance that allowed the GaAs FET to be
developed into a useful power device was the development and optimization of the double
gate-recess. The earlier devices had a simple single recess that was typically created by
simply etching into the channel until the desired current was achieved. At this point
the gate metallization would be deposited within the recessed region. The breakdown
voltage is enhanced by increasing the width of the recess, thereby giving an increased
separation between the gate metal and the drain n + contact region and reducing the peak
field. However, in practice the increased expanse of free surface typically results in poor
device performance with significantly reduced current and slow-state effects.
The solution for this problem is the double recess [6467] depicted in Figure 2.15.
Here the gate is deposited in a small inner recess that lies within a larger outer one. In
this construction the outer recess is larger on the drain side to provide the gate depletion
with room to extend towards the drain as the gate-drain voltage is increased thereby
reducing the peak electric field developed. In contrast to the single recess structure, the
variations in surface depletion on the extended etched surface caused by changes in trap
occupations now usefully attenuated by virtue of increased physical separation from the
channel. This attenuation is generally further enhanced by the inclusion of moderate
levels of n-type doping which act as a charge screen.
Considerable attention has been paid to optimizing GaAs FET breakdown in the
recent past. A significant driver has been cellular base-station PAs requiring a few hundred watts of peak power at 0.82.1 GHz. For a technology that hitherto operated power
amplifiers with a typical drain bias of the order of 68 V, this application provided
a significant challenge. Initial attention focused on optimization of the design of the
epi-layers and of gate-recess structure. Figure 2.16 shows the impact of one design
50
BVdg
BVds
40
Breakdown Voltage (V)
66
30
20
10
0
0.0
0.5
1.0
1.5
2.0
2.5
3.0
Lgd (micron)
Figure 2.16 Breakdown voltage dependence of gate-drain voltage separation.
variable, namely the length from the gate to the edge of the outer recess on the drain side
(Lgd ), on breakdown voltage for a 0.5 m gate power device. The two-terminal breakdown BVgd is seen to be readily controlled by the size of the recess but the three-terminal
breakdown BVds exhibits a more limited dependence. The figure provides a reminder
that even though BVgd is the normally quoted breakdown voltage measurement, in
reality the device operates in a three-terminal condition and for a power amplifier the
drain-source breakdown voltage, BVds cannot be neglected. Fortunately, in practice, commercially available device power processes are appropriately designed and the quoted
BVgd data is generally a good indicator of the breakdown capability in a power amplifier
configuration.
Optimization of the recess gave a significant step forward in increasing the breakdown
voltage but its ability to spread the field is limited. To improve further a greater degree
of field spreading is required. Some attempts were made to employ reduced surface field
p-layers as used to great effect in silicon LDMOS [69, 70], but most focus has been on
the use of field-plate electrodes located in the gate-drain recess area [68].
Field-plates: As discussed above, the charge trapped in deep-levels on the surface
of the gate recess provides a naturally occurring assistance in the field spreading. The
use of field-plates makes it possible to engineer a more substantial effect and this has
been an area of significant attention for higher voltage GaAs devices. In this context
a field-plate is an extra electrode positioned on an insulating layer in the high-field
gate-drain recess region. Its function is to provide a controlled potential that acts to
suppress the peak field at the gate edge. The simplest construction is the gate-connected
2.3 Device design
67
field-plate investigated by a number of groups [7175]. As the normal shape for a

power FET gate is a T-shape (as discussed in Section 2.3.3), the simplest form of
field-plate construction is merely an extension of the top of normal T-shaped gate in
the direction of the drain to form a so-called -gate (gamma-gate). The field-plate
approach can be very effective in increasing the breakdown field, and research work
achieved device operation at and beyond a drain bias voltage of 28 V. Unfortunately
however, the impact on the device gain is significant [76]. Both the gate-source and gatedrain capacitances are compromised making the technique unattractive for frequencies
above L band. A more recent development has been the source-connected field-plate
[77]. This configuration requires a more complex manufacturing process but has the
great benefit of shielding the gate-drain coupling thereby reducing Cgd and actually
improving Gmax. The input capacitance is still significantly affected and the device fT is
consequently compromised, however for applications such as cellular communications
for which the technology was targeted then this additional input capacitance can be
accounted for in the input matching circuit. Significant effort was deployed on fieldplate technology for GaAs devices and with notable success. However, the efforts were
largely overtaken by wideband gap technology such as GaN which has now become the
preferred technology for high-voltage RF FET devices.
2.3.3
Power cell design

Gate width: Power FET cells invariably require as much gate periphery as possible and
a key factor which inhibits increasing the width2 of the gate finger is the impact of
the cumulative loss and delay of the gate signal as it travels along the gate electrode
[7880]. The gate electrode is depicted in Figure 2.17a which shows a discretized model
of a loaded transmission line. The gate metal is modeled by the incremental series
resistance and inductance elements dRg and dLg with the associated gate capacitance
elements dCg . The gate voltage waveform applied to the gate finger propagates along the
structure and is progressively attenuated as it travels thereby reducing the overall device
gain. In addition the finite time to traverse the structure further degrades the signal by
introducing a progressive phase delay that adds to the overall signal degradation. In
order to improve matters attention must be paid to the gate cross-section as the short
gate length required for fast transit along the channel length would otherwise result in
a reduced cross-sectional area thereby providing high series resistance and inductance
along the finger width. The solution widely employed as shown in Figure 2.15 is to form
a T-shaped gate to improve the propagation along the gate metal while still maintaining
a short gate contact length for good gain performance.
Power cell manifold issues: Having optimized the unit finger the next task is to
design an assembly of unit fingers suitably combined so as to achieve an optimal power
performance that has scaled well with respect to the innate performance of the unit
finger [7981]. Figure 2.17(b) illustrates the principle for an example network of four
2
By convention, the width of a gate is the long dimension perpendicular to the channel direction and the
length of a gate is the dimension in the direction of channel current flow.
68
dRg
Gate
Terminal
dLg
dRg
dLg
dCg
dRg
dLg
dCg
dCg
(a)
Drain
Gate
(b)
Figure 2.17 Power FET cell; (a) gate finger equivalent circuit; (b) gate manifold with four fingers.
fingers combined to make a modest multifinger cell and shows the fingers connected
by an assembly of short transmission lines. As fingers are added then the overall device
gain is further impaired due to the successive phase delay contributions experienced by
the additional fingers. At first thought it might be imagined that this phase difference
could be corrected by the use of an alternative layout which collected the drain currents
with compensating delays in the output circuit. However, this neglects the impact of the
high capacitive loading on the input network by the gate capacitance resulting in this
network being relatively slow compared to the output network. The high impedance of
the drain side of the device means that the output current contributions are collected
with relatively small phase differences compared to the cumulative phase differences in
the input that build up from the interfinger and along-finger delays. Another approach
to maintain the gain would be to minimize the fingerfinger phase delay by designing
the device with fingers as close together as possible. Unfortunately the heat generated
in power FETs is usually substantial and so the design freedom here is usually quite
limited in order to maintain an acceptable channel temperature required for reliable
device operation.
Common-lead inductance: As the gate periphery is increased to achieve higher current capability then the importance of the inductance of the source connection becomes
2.3 Device design
D
G
(a)
D
G
69
(b)
(c)
Figure 2.18 GaAs FET power-cell layout variants; (a) gate-side source vias for high packing
density; (b) source-bridge for reduced inductance of smaller cells; (c) individually viad source
stripes for highest frequency performance.
increasingly significant. The negative feedback generated by the common-lead inductance can be a significant factor reducing the gain of the power cell and close attention
to minimizing its value is often required. A very common topology for power FETs is
shown in Figure 2.18a which provides two vias per cell. The vias are located to the side
of the device and connection to the source fingers is made by an air-bridge over the
gate manifold. This layout is very effective for power cells as it allows multiple cells
to be efficiently stacked in a row for a high density of fingers. The disadvantage of this
configuration is that it results in a relatively long path from the via to each source finger.
Higher gain can be achieved with the source-stitched layout of Figure 2.18b. Here the
vias are located adjacent to the first and last unit fingers and connected to the source
stripes by a low inductance bridged feed. The improvement is particularly significant for
a modest numbers of gate stripes, however the via location does not make efficient use
of die area for arrays of many fingers. Figure 2.18c makes use of recent improvements in
via technology and the ability to fabricate narrow width slotted vias. Narrow via width
allows source fingers to have directly attached ground vias and the slot shape allows the
amount of via wall presented to the device source connection to be maximized keeping
the source inductance per finger to a minimum. In general, the style for Figure 2.18a is
most efficient on semiconductor area but styles (b) and (c) have gain benefits that can
be attractive for higher frequencies.
Many of the factors in the design of the power-cell are amenable to mathematical
analysis and modeling [82]. However, the pragmatic and most accurate approach to the
determination of the scaling behavior is merely to design a mask set of device variants
that covers the required set of layout styles, gate widths, number of fingers per cell and
gate spacings, and then fabricate the devices and characterize them. The results of such
an exercise for a 0.5 m gate power FET process are illustrated in Figures 2.19a and b.
Figure 2.19a shows the fT of the power cell as the unit gate width is varied for a range
of gates per cell. Figure 2.19b shows the corresponding curves for fmax . In general, the
performance reduction with unit gate width is driven by the combination of increased
gate finger resistance and increased via inductance/mm of gate periphery. The reduction
with number of gates is dominated by the via inductance/mm of gate periphery.
25
8 gates
10 gates
12 gates
14 gates
20
fT (GHz)
15
10
0
100
200
300
400
500
Unit gate width (micron)
(a)
50
8 gates
10 gates
12 gates
14 gates
40
fmax (GHz)
70
30
20
10
0
100
(b)
200
300
400
500
Unit gate width (micron)
Figure 2.19 GaAs FET power-cell performance; (a) fT as a function of unit gate width and number
of gates; (b) fmax as a function of unit gate width and number of gates.
2.3 Device design
2.3.4
71
Power cell combination

Power-cells are required to be combined to form a composite high-power device. Of
course, combining has to be done in a manner that takes into consideration the same
gain degradation issues that arose in the design of the power cell. Furthermore, the
approach has to contend with the issue that the input impedance of the cell is likely to
be challengingly small.
The simplest approach, commonly done for modest frequencies and impedance levels,
is to combine the required number of cells, provide each one with appropriate sets of gate
and drain bond pads, and leave the end-user free to combine in the circuit as required.
The individual cells can have common gate and drain bus bars, or be wholly separate
cells depending on the size of the cell and the approach used to achieve satisfactory
stability. Some examples of the variety of power device layouts used in GaAs device
technology are given in Figure 2.20. The devices shown range from 200 mm discrete
devices able to provide output powers of 100 W at 2 GHz to mm-wave power cells with
a power capability of 0.5 W.
The die can be supplied either packaged or as bare die. The latter approach provides
the highest performance as it avoids the introduction of significant package parasitics
in a sensitive part of the circuit. However, the assembly costs are higher and the circuit
module has to provide a higher degree of environmental protection. The circuit designer
will face the task of stabilizing, matching and combining the cells to achieve the required
power amplifier performance. At this level the device combination cannot be treated as
a lumped problem and is typically done with a corporate combing approach using
a distributed network [83, 84]. One to three levels of corporate combining can be
considered which combine 2, 4, or 8 die, respectively. Unfortunately the losses associated
with each level of the combination build up and so the benefit diminishes. Generally up
to two levels of combination are effective but going beyond three levels is unlikely to be
worthwhile.
In order to achieve optimal performance from a packaged power device then it is
common to perform at least some of the impedance matching and combining functions
inboard of the package parasitics. By including matching circuitry at the device terminals the impact of the package is incurred at a less sensitive part of the circuit. This
approach is very common for high-power devices [8588], so much so that the name
internally matched FET (or IMFET) has emerged as almost a device type in its own right.
It is normal in IMFET products to combine the functions of prematching with power
combining techniques in order to combine the power of multiple devices. An illustration
of the typical circuit topology used to achieve this is shown in Figure 2.21. Another
aspect that can make large power die difficult to deal with is their propensity to oscillate.
Their large periphery gives huge low-frequency gain which must be accomodated. Even
more problematic is the risk of odd-mode oscillation which can arise due to loops in the
combiner networks. Internally matching provides the opportunity to substantially alleviate this problem for the customer by including suitable internal stabilization techniques
within the package [89]. A further option is to provide internal control of the harmonic
terminating impedances as required for high-efficiency amplifier modes [90, 91].
72
(f)
(g)
(e)
(a)
(b)
(c)
(d)
Figure 2.20 Power FET photos: (a) 200 mm multicell L-band power FET; (b) 60 mm power
L-band FET; (c) C-band power FET; (d) power combination in X-band power MMIC;
(e) conventional power cell evaluation structure (BCB coated for mechanical handling
protection); (f) source bridge power cell evaluation structure; (g) electron microscope image
of power cell (evaporated second metal).
2.3.5
Thermal design
Thermal design is a critical part of a power FET design process. The junction temperature
must be maintained within operational limits in order to ensure reliable operation. Ohmic
contacts to GaAs are observed to degrade at elevated temperatures, but normally the
dominant degradation mechanism is gate-sinking. Here the gate metal diffuses into
the semiconductor thereby moving the effective location of the Schottky junction and
so reducing the device current [92]. A typical requirement is to maintain the junction
temperature below 150 C in order to achieve a predicted operating life of 1 million
hours. Gate sinking is discussed in greater detail in Section 10.7.1.
A difficulty encountered in this endeavor is the level of uncertainty in the determination
of the channel temperature. The available methods all have significant potential sources
of error. Commonly available measurement methods are infra-red imaging, use of the
2.3 Device design
73
D
G
Figure 2.21 Corporate combining and prematching circuit topology used in IMFETs.
liquid crystal transition temperature, or use of the gate junction as a thermometer [93
99]. Infra-red imaging is relatively convenient for surface temperature measurement,
but FETs present difficulties as the gate-drain area that needs to be resolved is small
with respect to the infrared wavelength. The liquid crystal approach is limited in that it
can only indicate when the transition temperature threshold is crossed rather returning a
value for the peak temperature for a given operating condition. The electrical approach
inevitably returns a measure of the average temperature across the device rather than
the peak temperature and, for the traditional switched approach of reference [98], error
is introduced by the delay involved in switching from the active operating mode to
passive sensing mode. Newer measurement techniques being developed are Raman
spectroscopy [100] and scanning thermal microscopy [101]. A recent advance to the
electrical approach has also been published that uses the gate junction state directly in
an admirably simple manner obviating the need to switch the gate into a sensing mode
[99]. In this latter approach a change to the base-plate temperature is compensated by
an adjustment to the drain voltage in order to return the gate junction thermometer to its
original condition before the base temperature was adjusted. From this measurement a
value for the mean thermal resistance can be obtained.
An alternative approach is to use thermal simulation. The detailed device structure
and the thermal properties of the materials used are well characterized and 3D thermal
simulation tools are comfortably able to model structures to the required degree of
problem complexity [102104].
There are also numerous approximate methods in common usage. Typical techniques
are 2D analytic solutions or basic numerical methods limited to linear thermal conductivities. Such approaches should be treated with some caution [102] as the approximations
involved frequently do not apply to GaAs FET devices, and in the case of power FETs
the thermal operating window available can provide significant design constraints with
minimal margin for error. Table 2.2 shows the results of a series of calculations of
thermal resistance for a microwave power FET that illustrates the variation in predicted
values for different calculation methods and for different levels of physical detail that
are included.
It is also important to realize that the there is the potential for inaccuracy with even the
most comprehensive simulation tool. For example, there remain some unknowns such as
the contributions of thermal interfaces [100, 104], and usually some uncertainty over the
precise construction of the thermal problem. It is clear then that whatever the approach
74
Table 2.2 Comparison of peak thermal resistance calculations for a 4 120 m

GaAs FET cell with a junction temperature Tj of 150 C on 100 m substrates
mounted with 15 m epoxy (the linear analytic cases use an empirical
approximation to include the contribution of the epoxy)
Rth C/W
(Tj 150 C)
Calculation method
2D linear analytic [107]
2D linear analytic with end-effect included
3D linear semianalytic (TXYZ) [107]
3D linear finite difference
3D nonlinear finite difference
3D nonlinear finite difference with surface metallization
3D nonlinear semianalytic [105]
3D nonlinear finite difference with surface metallization and
plated vias
240
206
184
208
237
221
226
213
Table 2.3 Simulated thermal resistances ( C/W) for central finger (RC ) and outer
finger (RO ) compared against measured values (100 C liquid crystal transition
temperature) for packaged RFMD discrete FET devices [105]
Device type
RC
RO
(RC + RO )/2
Measured
FPD1500SOT89
FPD1500DFN
FPD2250SOT89
FPD2250DFN
FPD3000SOT89
75
70
53
50
41
54
51
37
34
28
64.5
60.5
45
42
34.5
60
60
48
40
35
used there is scope for significant error. A good approach then is to support thermal
simulations with experimental evidence of cases that can be accurately measured. An
example of this is given in Table 2.3 where the temperature predicted by simulation is
compared to 100 C liquid crystal transition temperature for a series of packaged discrete
FET devices [105]. A further, particularly detailed comparison is given in reference [108]
where a special device was constructed with one finger of a power cell array connected as
a passive thermometer. A sensible and pragmatic way to mitigate any residual systematic
error is to employ the same technique in the thermal design of product as was used by
the fabrication facility in the generation of the device life data.
2.4
Device fabrication
2.4.1
Overview
In this section GaAs device fabrication techniques are described from the starting point of
the manufacture of blank wafers with suitable active layers on the surface of an insulating
GaAs substrate. For a MESFET a simple doping scheme comprising a channel layer
2.4 Device fabrication
75
accessed by a highly doped upper contact layer is all that is required. MESFET layers
can be created either by using ion-implantation of dopant ions into the substrate, or by
epitaxial growth of layers onto the substrate. For more complex devices such as HFETs
and HEMTs then epitaxial growth is required. These layers are a suitable combination of
GaAs and AlGaAs/InGaAs partner layers doped as necessary to construct the required
devices. The grown wafers are then transferred into a wafer processing facility where the
semiconductor layers are patterned, implanted, etched, metallized and coated as required
to fashion the desired devices and circuits.
In the following discussion the focus will be on epitaxially grown layers, now the more
common approach for GaAs-based FET device manufacture. In commercial devices,
epitaxial layers are grown by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) or metal organic chemical vapour deposition (MOCVD). In MBE, a substrate is heated under high vacuum
and beams of the appropriate proportions of the constituent atoms are directed at the
substrates, condensing on the surface to form very high-quality layers of the required
compounds. The layers can be deposited with very high precision with layer thickness
control down to a few atomic layers. After growth the layers are inspected for accuracy,
typically assessing the sheet charge and layer thicknesses, the molecular compositions
of the AlGaAs/InGaAs ternary layers and the quality of the surface. In MOCVD the
constituent atoms are delivered to the surface of a heated substrate by means of suitable
precursor organic gas molecules that chemically decompose at the heated surface and
deposit the desired atoms at the surface layer by layer. Typical source gases are trimethylgallium, trimethylaluminum, trimethylindium and arsine with a hydrogen carrier gas.
The crystal composition is controlled by adjusting the relative proportions of the gas
flow over the surface.
2.4.2
Key process steps

Upon receipt of the epi-wafers device processing can commence. To form the devices
a set of process modules are developed that perform functions such as creation of
ohmic contacts, recess etching, Schottky gate deposition, metal interconnect deposition,
insulating film deposition and etching, substrate thinning, and via etching. These modules
employ a set of process steps that are optimized to work in concert and are characterized
and maintained to meet the necessary manufacturing tolerances. The menu of process
steps that are typically employed are described in the following paragraphs [109, 110].
Lithography: All of the wafer processing operations need to be selectively applied in
controlled areas. This is achieved by lithography most commonly photolithography.
Here a suitable photosensitive resist film is patterned with an image that has previously
been created on a photographic glass plate called a mask. The resist film is spun onto the
wafer, exposed with the required image and then chemically developed. For so-called
positive resist the unexposed area remains intact thereby shielding the covered region
from a subsequent etching or metal deposition process step. By this means the various
device features may be patterned as required. Alternatively, negative resist can be
used. This behaves in the opposite sense so that the exposed area remains after being
developed.
76
Three types of lithography are in common usage for GaAs wafer processing. The
simplest is contact printing. Here, after the photoresist has been applied, the technique is
to align the mask to existing features previously fabricated, clamp the mask to the wafer
and then expose the assembly to light. This is a low-cost approach capable of feature sizes
down to 0.5 m and is quite suitable for small-volume manufacture. It does however
suffer from mask wear and registration accuracy issues across the wafer. The resolution is
fundamentally limited by diffraction of the incident light source and for higher resolution
other approaches are necessary. For GaAs FETs the highest resolution requirement is for
the gate metal which is usually of the order of 0.5 m or less. Traditionally, electron-beam
lithography has been the solution adopted for fine geometry gate definition below 0.3 m.
Here the gate pattern is created by steering an energetic electron beam to the desired
areas and thereby exposing a suitable resist material in those regions. This eliminates the
optical diffraction problem (the electron de Broglie wavelength for kV electrons is below
0.1 nm), and gives a resolution limited by the scattering in the resist and backscattering
from the wafer. For research devices E-beam gate lengths have been driven down to
0.05 m or less. In commercial devices E-beam gates are typically available down to
0.15 m. The chief disadvantages of E-beam lithography are complexity and throughput.
The serial nature of the writing process means the exposure times are lengthy.
The third lithographic technique in common usage is the optical stepper. Here the
pattern is imaged on a portion of the wafer with refractive optics. The mask is usually
enlarged, typically 5 times greater than the final image and the pattern, or shot, is
stepped and repeated to cover the wafer. Shot sizes are typically up to the order of
20 20 mm2 . The use of optical steppers is the dominant approach for high-volume,
high-yield processing. The precision of the stepper optics is extremely stringent and
requires associated control of vibration and temperature, compensation for air pressure
variation coupled with precise alignment tools, stage-stepping control, and complex
focusing systems capable of adapting to lens aberration.
Liftoff: In the patterning of metals on GaAs devices much use is made of a procedure
called liftoff. This is a different approach to that used in silicon processes where
the aluminum tracks are formed by depositing the metal film, applying and patterning
the photoresist and then etching back where the metal is not required. The situation is
different for GaAs devices which make use of gold tracks and composite metal stacks
which are not readily etched. The approach for these metals is to apply and pattern the
resist before the metal is deposited and therefore to use the resist to control where the
metal is deposited. When the resist is dissolved, the unwanted metal that was deposited
on the resist film is lifted off and removed. To facilitate this process the edge profile of
the resist apertures is fashioned by various means so as to have an overhang or lip and
the metal is evaporated with a near normal incidence to the wafer so that a clean break
in the metal film is created by the shadowing effect of the overhang.
Device isolation: Wafers with epitaxially grown active device layers require that the
individual devices on the wafer be isolated from each other. This is either done using
mesa etching or ion implantation. With mesa etching, islands of active material are
retained and the regions of interconnecting epi-layers are removed by an etching process.
Mesa etching is an effective approach that avoids the need for expensive implantation
77
equipment. However, it introduces undesirable surface relief and introduces increased

gate leakage at the point where the gate metal stripe rises up the side of the mesa and
crosses the active layer. Any surface relief is unwanted from a processing perspective as
it inhibits uniform photo-resist coverage for subsequent process stages, and steps tend
to compromise the integrity of any metal tracks that have to go over them. With ion
implantation the active device regions are protected with thick photo-resist and the areas
to be isolated are deliberately damaged by an energetic beam of ions thereby rendering
the exposed regions to have high resistivity.
For ion-implanted MESFETs then device isolation may not be necessary as the doping
for the device active areas can be done selectively in the regions where it is required. In
this case implantation is serving the opposite purpose to the isolation case above. Silicon
donor ions are implanted with energies to achieve the required depth profile. The wafer
is then heated so that the damage done to the crystal structure during implantation is
annealed out and the dopant ions incorporated into the crystal lattice in order to activate
them as donors. Alternatively, a blanket doping implant over the whole wafer can be used
and the active areas are then isolated either with an isolation implant or mesa etching as
for epi-wafers.
Ohmic contacts: The function of an ohmic contact is to make a low-resistance electrical connection from the metal tracks to the semiconductor active layers. Ohmic contacts
to GaAs are made by the use of a nickel, gold and germanium metal stack deposited
on to a heavily doped GaAs contact layer and annealed at approximately 400 C. The
essential purpose is to reduce the thickness and effective height of the Schottky barrier
that forms at metal-semiconductor junctions to such an extent that the behavior is ohmic.
The exact mechanism remains somewhat elusive but involves the generation of a highly
doped surface layer of germanium substituting for gallium in the crystal lattice. The
nickel component first acts as a wetting agent for the GeAu but it is also believed to
enhance the diffusion of germanium into GaAs [109].
Gate Etch: Prior to the gate formation a recess is etched into the semiconductor
material to remove the highly-doped contact material above the channel. Historically,
this was an etch-to-current activity where the etch rate would be carefully calibrated
and a timed etch would be used to target the desired recess depth. Subsequent verification
by testing the drain current of the etched structure would result in the wafer being
returned for a top-up etch if the measured current was too high. Such crudity was
eliminated with the advent of etch-stops where the etch chemistries are chosen so as
to be selective to the various heterojunction layers. The heterojunctions may therefore
be used to stop the etch process at precise depths with high accuracy and, crucially, the
accuracy is maintained over the whole wafer. This advance was key to the development
of high-yield manufacture and the use of large area wafers. For example, reference [111]
demonstrates that the use of an AlGaAs etch-stop layer for a GaAs MESFET reduced
the process standard deviation for Idss from 25% to 5%. Layers that are already present
in the epi-stack for their electrical function may be employed if appropriate [111] or
specific etch-stop layers may be added to the epitaxy design that are there purely for
control of the etch process. Alternative dedicated etch-stop layers are AlAs [112] and
InGaP [113].
78
There are two main approaches to GaAs etching: wet or dry. Wet etchant solutions consist of an oxidizing agent to oxidize the surface and a second component to
dissolve the oxide. Commonly used etches able to provide etch selectivity with AlGaAs
are dilute hydrogen peroxide/ammonia, hydrogen peroxide/citric acid and hydrogen peroxide/succinic acid [111, 114, 115]. Dry etching uses plasma chemistries involving a
combination of chlorine and fluorine radicals in concert with energetic ion bombardment
[115, 116, 117]. The chlorine produces the etching reaction and the fluorine produces
an etch-stop reaction with aluminum due to the formation of a nonvolatile aluminum
fluoride protective layer on the surface. Both approaches have relative advantages and
disadvantages. A wet chemical etch provides a low-damage surface and for this reason
is often preferred. However, wet etching is isotropic and so has less dimensional control.
Dry etching has the advantage of good directionality giving a high degree of dimensional
control, but this can come at a cost of some surface damage from the ion bombardment.
However, it is found to be possible to tailor the dry etch recipe so as to minimize the
ion energy towards the end of the etch process and suitably control the degree of etch
damage [116]. Therefore both wet and dry etches can be used for GaAs FET gate etching
and both are in use in commercial processes.
Schottky gate electrode: The gate structure must make a good Schottky barrier contact
to the semiconductor, one that is stable over the life of the device and that provides a low
resistance along the gate finger. The Schottky barrier height is largely pinned by surfacestates to about 0.7 eV rather than controlled by the relationship of the semiconductor and
gate metal work-functions as normally described in introductory text books. Therefore in
principle many metals will provide adequate Schottky barriers. In reality, considerations
such as metal adhesion and thermal stability provide the practical selection criteria. The
result is that there is a choice of two approaches to the formation of the gate electrode:
an evaporated gold-based gate or a sputtered refractory metal approach [118, 119]. The
most common technique is to use an evaporated gate typically using a titanium-platinumgold (Ti-Pt-Au) metal stack. Here the titanium layer ensures good adhesion, the gold
provides low feed resistance and the intervening platinum layer acts as a diffusion barrier
keeping the gold safely from diffusing into the gate junction. The second approach is the
use of a wholly refractory metal approach, generally using tungsten-silicide or titanium
tungsten. The Ti-Pt-Au approach is a simpler technology however refractory gates are
more thermally stable. This is advantageous not just for device operation but also for
device fabrication. The thermal resilience of a refractory gate allows the gate metal to be
deposited before the ohmic contact metal thereby making the critical gate lithography
much easier and allowing the ohmic metal to be self-aligned to the gate [120]. With the
conventional Ti-Pt-Au stack the ohmic contact anneal step must be completed prior to
the gate metal deposition.
For power FETs it is generally the case that in order to obtain high power it is essential
to be able to operate with as wide a device finger as possible. A limiting factor here
is the gate metal resistance and so power FETs usually use some form of T-shaped
gate where the top of the gate metal is widened to reduce the resistance along the
stripe. In the case of E-beam gates the T is achieved by a multilevel resist approach,
typically employing PMMA (polymethyl methacrylate) thermoplastic resist materials in
79
a typically bi- or tri-layer scheme to produce a mushroom-shaped profile in the resist

comprising a narrow stem and a wider T or mushroom top. This is typically achieved
by using layers of resist that differ in their sensitivity to the developer solution and to
use the more sensitive material for the definition of the T-top. A final thin layer may be
employed to create a lip for improved liftoff. Following the creation of the mushroom
cross-section in the resist the gate metal stack is deposited over the wafer and the resist
developed away lifting off the unwanted metal and leaving the gate structures behind.
An example of a developed PMMA resist cross-section that provides a good illustration
of the approach is given in reference [121]. The result of the multilayer approach is to
create the desired T shape with minimized gate resistance and capacitance.
The use of stepper-based lithography introduces a different method of forming the
gate. Here the approach is to form the T-gate with the T-top supported on a dielectric
layer [122124]. The gate-support layer is deposited, a T-stem is defined and etched
in this dielectric layer and the T-top is defined in photo-resist on the top. Gate metal
is then evaporated to form a gate of the required shape thereby giving the resistance
benefit required. The drawback relative to the E-beam gate process described previously
is that the gate capacitance is increased slightly due to a higher degree of dielectric
loading associated with the dielectric layer supporting the T and typically, a larger
T-top overlap area.
Dielectric layers: A number of dielectric layers are required for a variety of purposes
including protective coatings, supporting metal track cross-overs, and for the formation of integrated capacitors. A commonly used material for GaAs processes is silicon
nitride deposited using plasma-enhanced chemical vapour deposition (PE-CVD). This
technique is compatible with the modest thermal constraints of GaAs device manufacture. In this approach silicon nitride films are deposited during a plasma-enhanced
reaction of silane, ammonia and nitrogen gases. Careful process optimization is required
for the successful deposition of device films, with particular attention to film stress
and plasma-induced damage. Film stress is a significant factor for GaAs devices as the
material is piezo-electric [125]. The plasma is typically generated with a 13.56 MHz RF
power source and the resulting film from this arrangement is stressed and typically tensile
in nature. Control of the stress from tensile to compressive can be achieved by a number
of methods including adjustment of gas composition or the addition of a component of
lower frequency power, typically 12 MHz [125, 126]. The latter approach introduces
a high energy ion-bombardment of the growing silicon nitride film and this results in a
controllable change to the resultant stress state. Although effective in controlling the film
stress, ion bombardment employed in the vicinity of a GaAs surface introduces unacceptable degradation of the surface thereby introducing a tradeoff of film-stress against
surface degradation. However, devices are usually fabricated with a number of film layers
and a good degree of stress control can be achieved by designing the stack of composite
layers appropriately so that the overall film stress is acceptable and the surface damage
arising from the near-surface layers is minimal. In order to pattern a silicon nitride film
after deposition it must be etched and either dry or wet etching approaches may be
used. Dry etching is preferred due to its superior dimensional control. It is typically performed using a sulphur hexafluoride (SF6 ) plasma diluted in helium in order to achieve a
80
controllable etch rate. Wet etching of silicon nitride is uncommon but can be performed
using a buffered Hydrofluoric acid etch.
Interconnect metals: Usually, two levels of interconnect metal are required in order to
make connections between devices and other components and external bond-pads. The
first level metal is generally evaporated gold and is generally deposited to a thickness
of 12 m. A second level metal is needed so that one track may cross-over another,
for capacitor formation, and to provide thicker tracks in order to carry high currents.
Second metal tracks are usually electro-plated gold onto a sputtered seed layer. More
recently some manufacturers are now employing evaporated second metal rather than
using electroplating [127]. This can have cost advantages particularly for high volumes
as the highly uniform finish of evaporated metal is more easily compatible with automatic
visual inspection tools.
Backside processing: GaAs RF technology is usually of the microstrip variety requiring a ground-plane on the backside of the wafer. Connection to the ground plane is
made by through-wafer vias. Processing of the underside of the wafer therefore consists
of thinning, via etching and metal deposition. The completed front surface is protected
and then temporarily adhered to a supporting carrier with a wax or photoresist. The
wafer is then ground down to the desired thickness. For power devices the final thickness
requirement is normally governed by the thermal design and is typically in the range
50120 m. Through-wafer via etching is performed using directional dry etching. The
backside is then metallized using electroplated gold onto a sputtered seed layer.
Process Monitoring: In order to evaluate the performance of each wafer and to provide
data for statistical control of the process, a number of standardized test cells are included
on each wafer. The cells are called process control monitor (PCM) cells or the coupon.
The number used per wafer varies and depends on the wafer size, the maturity of the
process and local policies and can vary from ten to a hundred. The PCM contains both
structures to assess individual process steps and standard devices which are evaluated
at various points in the process flow. Structures are included to assess the contacts, the
efficacy of the isolation, the quality of each of the various metal and dielectric layers,
and any GaAs or thin-film resistors that might also be in the process. These and the
standard device cells are typically assessed after the gate has been deposited, after the
front-face has been completed, and finally at the end of the process. The device tests
performed while the device is in the production line concentrate on cardinal parameters
including the pinch-off voltage, drain current for Vg = 0 V (Idss ), maximum drain
current, breakdown voltage, diode built-in voltage and ideality, gate leakage and the DC
transconductance. These are monitored with a view to obtaining constant feedback on
the process so as to keep it in control and for identifying occasional errant wafers so
that they can be scrapped as soon as possible to eliminate the cost of further processing.
Upon completion of the wafers, a standard PCM FET structure designed to be suitable
for on-wafer RF testing is usually assessed with some level of RF test. This typically
consists of a measurement of S-parameters at a specific standard bias point from which
an indication of RF performance is obtained by extraction of fT , fmax , or Gmax. Some
manufacturers also perform equivalent circuit extraction in order to be able to monitor
key equivalent circuit parameters.
81
At the end of the production line a set of the most critical parameters that have been
tested are collated and used in the wafer acceptance test (WAT). For this test a defined
fraction of the PCM structures have to be within the specification limits for the wafer to
be acceptable to go on for visual inspection and release to the customer.
2.4.3
Low-cost GaAs device fabrication

The recent increase in GaAs production volumes and the cost pressures of the cellular
handset market that have driven that volume have revolutionized GaAs device manufacture and the capabilities that can be brought to bear. Key developments here are an
increase of GaAs wafer diameter from 4 to 6 and the use of stepper-based lithography
with its inherent benefits of high throughput, uniformity and yield. As discussed in the
Schottky gate electrode part of Section 2.4.2, dielectrically defined gate techniques used
in stepper-based processes inevitably have higher parasitic gate capacitance than unsupported approaches used by e-beam processes. However, the reduction of performance is
acceptable for many applications and the benefits of lower cost and greater uniformity
are substantial. Furthermore, the higher degree of die encapsulation required in order
to provide the level of environmental protection that is increasingly demanded anyway
involves an increased amount of encapsulating dielectric material. In this case, the fact
that dielectric-defined gate processes start with a higher degree of dielectric loading
becomes less of an issue. The substantial advantages of 6 stepper-based wafer fabrication has therefore led to the major manufacturers adopting this approach and offering
optically defined gate technologies [128130]. The initial use of optical steppers was
for 0.5 m applications and made use of relatively affordable i-line steppers (365 nm
wavelength). This technology is suitable for devices with fT s of the order of 25 GHz
and for applications to X band. More recently processes have been developed to be able
to fabricate smaller gates for higher performance devices. The options here are to use
a deep-UV stepper or one of a number of gate-shrink approaches. With a deep-UV
stepper a shorter wavelength of 248 nm is employed to directly image gates down to
the order of 0.25 m [131]. Alternatively, or in combination, one of the gate-shrink
approaches can be employed to pattern the gate dimension below the resolution of the
stepper. Techniques that have been successfully employed include the use of dielectric
sidewall spacers [120], chemical shrink [132], reflowed resist [133, 134] and the use of
phase-shift mask technology[135]. With these techniques stepper-based approaches can
be employed in production at and below 0.15 m.
2.4.4
Packaging
Packages are used for ease of handing the fragile die and for environmental protection.
The range of available package types is extensive reflecting diverse requirements that
stretch from DC to millimetre wave. The packaging solutions range from plastic molded
structures for high-volume applications to hermetically sealed ceramic housings with
high-quality integral heat sinks for the highest performance products. Figure 2.22 shows
a selection of packages used for GaAs power devices.
82
AF
SOT89
(a)
(b)
QFN
AS
(c)
(d)
Figure 2.22 Typical power FET packages; (a) SOT89; (b) ceramic flange mount; (c) leaded
ceramic surface mount; (d) leadless plastic surface mount (QFN).
Traditionally, the packaging route for microwave power transistors was essentially
limited to the metal-ceramic air-cavity package consisting of an alumina housing brazed
onto a metal flange such as the AF package in Figure 2.22. This approach provides good
heat dissipation properties, a good RF ground, a well-controlled parasitic environment,
and hermetic sealing options. This approach remains the highest performance packaging
option but this is achieved at a significant cost. Not only is the package cost the most
expensive component in a packaged power transistor part, they are also expensive to
assemble and the resulting components are not amenable to high-volume circuit board
manufacturing processes.
The high cost of conventional ceramic packaging encourages the development of
alternative technologies and a sustained focus has been on the development of plastic
packages [136]. The use of plastic packages introduces a number of difficulties compared to ceramic technology including increased ground inductance, substantial dielectric loading, and thermal dissipation and expansion issues. Established over-molded
plastic packages such as the SOT89 style equipped with a reasonably heavy lead-frame
are employed for modest power and frequency applications. More demanding situations
have driven appropriate technology developments. Silicon LDMOS devices targeting
83
(a)
(b)
Figure 2.23 QFN package cross-section; (a) over-molded package; (b) air-cavity package.
frequencies up to the order of 2 GHz have pursued over-molded plastic encapsulation

of devices mounted on an integral copper heat spreader. Such solutions are suitable for
in excess of 100 W [137]. However, GaAs devices generally address higher frequency
and lower power applications. Surface mount packages, such as the AS and QFN styles
in Figure 2.22 are desirable for high-volume assembly requirements. Leaded and leadless surface mount ceramic packages are well established and plastic surface mount
techniques are currently receiving much attention. Of particular note is the example
of the QFN package (Quad Flat No leads, JEDEC standard MO220 [138]) of which a
3 3 mm 12-pad style is shown in Figure 2.22. This package standard was originally
developed for low-speed general electronics, however its construction is amenable for
development for microwave frequencies and QFN packages have found application for
a range of microwave devices and MMIC circuits. Standard plastic QFN packages such
as is depicted in Figure 2.23a are used in applications up to 18 GHz and approximately
1 W dissipation. Developments have included power variants with a heavier duty lead
frame and employing solder die attach [139, 140]. For higher frequencies the use of
alternative materials and constructions are attractive in order to achieve lower dielectric
loading. Significant attention has been paid to organic polymers which have superior microwave properties to plastic [141, 142]. Millimetre-wave capable approaches
have been developed using multilayer approaches with air cavities as illustrated in
Figure 2.23(b) [143]. Ceramic implementations are also pursued for higher frequency
applications due to the superior mechanical precision of those materials and 40 GHz
operation has been demonstrated [144].
An activity of significant interest for low-cost manufacturing is the optimal route to
achieving acceptable environmental protection. Traditional ceramic packages were able
to provide high levels of hermeticity. Alternatively, the environmental protection could be
provided at the module level. However, the continual drive for lower manufacturing cost
now increasingly excludes such options and recent work has focused on the development
of hermetic low-cost packages [143] or adequate encapsulation at the die level. The latter
objective is achieved by ensuring that the finished semiconductor die survive standard
84
tests for hermeticity and are sufficiently robust that the encapsulation survives the
mechanical handling encountered in the plastic packaging process. Two standard tests
here are the 85/85 THB and HAST tests which are discussed in more detail in Section
10.9.3. In the former the packaged parts must survive 1000 h at 85 C temperature,
85% humidity and the operating bias. The latter highly accelerated stress test aims to
replicate the same stress in a much shorter time frame. The standard HAST conditions of
130 C with 85% relative humidity is achieved at approximately 18 psi overpressure.
The standard assumption is that the 1000 h THB test is equivalent to 96 h of HAST based
on earlier work on silicon device technology. This equivalence has been questioned for
the case of compound semiconductor devices by a number of workers [145, 146] and the
GaAs device industry has found the routine satisfactory attainment of the 96 h HAST
requirement a difficult hurdle [147].
2.5
Models
2.5.1
Device models
Device models are employed to simulate device behavior in circuit design. The accurate
simulation of GaAs FET power amplifiers can present a number of difficulties for
the presently available modeling techniques and the degree of success achieved varies
considerably depending on the precise application. Available models for moderatelysized devices (up to a few mm of gate periphery) can generally predict first-order
parameters satisfactorily such as terminal impedances, gain, power and power saturation,
and give a reasonable indication of efficiency. However, the situation for more demanding
requirements such as accurate modeling of very large devices, for the precise prediction
of large-signal nonlinearity and for the impact of some transient phenomena such as selfheating and slow-state effects on digitally modulated waveforms is often less satisfactory.
2.5.2
Small-signal models
Extraction of the parameters of the equivalent circuit model of Figure 2.12 is well
established. For devices of gate peripheries up to the order of a millimeter or so, this
model is readily extractable from a suitable set of bias dependent S-parameters using
the direct extraction technique introduced by Dambrine et al. [148] and subsequently
further refined by numerous authors. The essential technique relies on a set of off-state
or cold-FET biases to extract the embedding parasitic elements from a simplified
equivalent model applicable to this bias condition. The embedding parasitics obtained
for this simpler network are assumed to be also appropriate for the on-state or hot-FET
bias condition. These parasitic values may therefore be used to de-mbed the hot-FET
data, thereby obtaining the y-parameters of the intrinsic FET equivalent circuit and, at
this point, solving for intrinsic elements is straightforward. The model obtained from
this process is usually acceptable for frequencies below around 10 GHz. At higher
frequencies it is normal to find that the accuracy of the reverse isolation parameter S12
2.5 Models
Lg
Cgd
Rg
Cgs
Rd
+
--
Ri
85
Ld
Rds
Cdc
gm
Cds
Rs
Ls
gm = gm0.ej
Figure 2.24 High-frequency GaAs FET equivalent circuit network.
becomes unacceptable. The reason for the discrepancy is due to the inadequacy of the
equivalent circuit topology. Better fits than that obtained from direct extraction methods
may be readily obtained but it is generally found that this involves non-physical values
for some of the elements. Alternatively, modified equivalent circuit topologies may be
employed which attempt to address the additional complexity in the frequency response
at the higher frequencies. Such factors as dipole capacitance and distributed effects
[148152] give rise to modified equivalent circuit models such as that of Figure 2.24.
These more complex equivalent circuit topologies dont lend themselves to a wholly
direct extraction algorithm, however the Dambrine model can be taken as the starting
point and strategies developed to deal with the additional elements in a structured
manner [153].
As mentioned above, direct extraction performs well for devices of modest size.
As the device size is increased above a few mm of gate periphery the device becomes
increasingly distributed in nature, and also the device measurements become less reliable
due to the low impedance level that results. Very low impedances are difficult to measure
accurately in a 50 system and the obvious solution of scaling up smaller device
measurements to replicate a very big device is not straightforward. A particular issue is
that the thermal environments can be very different [154]. However, for the most part,
at least for devices that are directly measurable, the development of small-signal models
is a reliable activity.
2.5.3
Large-signal models
The situation for large-signal models is less straightforward. Here the desire is to model
the device response to an arbitrary signal. The difficulty of this challenge is perhaps not
always fully appreciated. The normal approach is to use large-signal equivalent circuit
models which have been created by transforming a set of bias-dependent linear models
into a single nonlinear one. At the heart of this approach, at least for commonplace
models, lies the quasi-static assumption where it is assumed that the instantaneous
86
values of the equivalent circuit elements are uniquely dependent on their controlling
voltages [155]. In other words the device is assumed to be memory-less. As has already
been discussed this actually isnt the case and both thermal effects and dispersion
effects cause this assumption to be violated. Consequently, large-signal models employ
various measures in attempt to account for these effects and a range of large-signal
model formulations have been developed over the years. They typically have focused
on particular aspects of device behavior and a Darwinian process of natural selection,
skewed by the choices of models that the simulator vendors have chosen to support has
resulted in a range of models coming to the fore.
A FET model for PA applications should possess the following attributes:
1.
2.
3.
4.
Replicate the DC IV well in order to accurately reproduce the correct bias point.
Account for the effects of dispersion so that the RF swing is accurately modeled.
Properly represent the bias-dependence of the capacitances.
Accurately reproduce differentials of the bias dependent parameters as well as their
absolute values.
5. Include the impact of temperature on device characteristics.
6. Include time delays for high-frequency models.
The commonly available models tend to have strengths that have addressed a subset of
the above requirements and there is no obvious best model. For example, the Triquint
TOM series of models introduced an effective approach to model the bias dependence
of the drain conductance [156] whereas the Angelov/Chalmers model [157] is notable in
including the characteristic peak in the transconductance dependence on gate bias typical
of HEMT devices. The IV characteristic is the focus of the ParkerSkellern model
[158] which has a flexible functional form and well-behaved continuous derivatives.
Many models include dispersion effects with various degrees of sophistication with
the extended Angelov [159, 160] and ParkerSkellern models being comprehensive
examples. It is not unusual for models to concentrate heavily on the device IV, however
for accurate simulation of linearity as frequencies increase then the accuracy of the
reactive elements is also important [161]. The Angelov [160] and TOM3 models [162]
have comprehensive bias dependent capacitance models. Another development is the
(unpublished) Auriga model which is a further development of the Angelov model and
which claims improved capacitance models and a modified drain current equation [163].
The popular EEFET3 and EEHEMT models [164] bring together a number of these
features in two widely used forms.
An appreciation has grown with time of the importance of charge conservation for
the gate capacitance. As discussed in Section 2.2.7, the gate depletion region is a
single entity but is accessed by all three terminals. It is seemingly straightforward to
extend the small-signal model to employ two bias-dependent capacitors Cgs (Vgs , Vds )
and Cgd (Vgs , Vds ) to represent the depletion reactances with independent charge or
capacitance functions of the remote controlling voltages. However, this approach will
generally result in a non-conservative system so that the total gate charge is (Vgs , Vds )
path dependent. The consequences of this are the possibility of an unintended net gate
current [165] and, as circuit simulators are required to maintain charge-conservation
2.5 Models
87
at each node, then simulator non-convergence and spurious results can occur. Other
work has demonstrated that charge conservation is important for accurate prediction of
nonlinear effects [166, 167]. Two approaches to resolve the problem are possible. The
direct and conceptually straightforward approach is to construct the model in terms of a
single gate charge entity that is a function of the local variables Vgs and Vgd . This is the
approach used in the widely available TOM3 model [162]. The charge function cannot be
directly measured and must be inferred from the small-signal Cgs and Cgd capacitances.
The resulting model is fundamentally and unequivocally charge-conservative [167].
Alternatively, the charge may be separated into independent functions Qgs (Vgs , Vds )
and Qgd (Vgs , Vds ). To achieve charge conservation these elements must be augmented
by additional charge control elements called trans-capacitances which are required in
order to properly account for the contributions to the partitioned reactive currents that
arise from both controlling voltages [168, 165, 169]. An example of a gate-charge
model employing separate gate-source and gate-drain functions and employing transcapacitance to restore charge conservation is the formulation used in the EEFET3 and
EEHEMT models. The functions employed are charge-conservative in the saturation
region of the device IV and so are valid for power amplifier circuits. However, the use
of smoothing functions in order to force symmetrical behavior of the charge functions
around Vds = 0 results in non-physical (negative) drain-source capacitance in the linear
(i.e., subknee) region [170].
Large-signal models are developed by fitting the model equations to measured data
by numerical optimization. The number of fitting parameters can be extensive and so
to obtain good models robust methodologies are required to segment the problem into
parameter subsets and to select good initial values. The most straightforward procedure
is to use measured DC data for the IV equation and to use bias-dependent S-parameter
data to extract the charge functions and to model the correction terms necessary to
modify the dynamic response of the IV. The impact of dispersion can be a significant
source of error for PA design and a more accurate approach can be to directly measure
the dynamic IV with a pulsed IV measurement system [21, 22, 171, 172] and to use
that to represent the model IV [173]. This approach provides a direct model of the
dynamic IV at the quiescent bias point of interest and avoids the need to develop a
complex empirical correction factor. The main drawback of this approach is that the
resulting IV model is no longer applicable for the whole bias plane but is specific to
operation points in the vicinity of the quiescent point in the pulsed IV set.
The traditional compact device models generally do a reasonable job of describing
first-order amplifier performance and adequately represent the terminal impedances
and power saturation behavior. However, they are usually less successful at next-level
parameters such as linearity measures, and usually do not include such refinements as
self-heating or accurate bias-dependence of trapping phenomena. These shortcomings
have inspired a lot of efforts spanning many years to enhance commonly available
models.
A substantial degree of improvement was obtained by augmenting the quasi-static
models with corrective terms for trapping effects. Measures to accomplish this include
empirical methods to modify the large-signal IV response by means of corrections to the
88
dynamic output conductance [174]. Later developments have been to make use of pulsed
IV data to frame the construction of more physics-based trapping models [175177].
Thermal effects are also be included in this work by the use of self-heating terms and a
thermal impedance model [178]. The next stage of this approach is to include the impact
of the self-heating on to the trapping state by including a temperature dependence to the
trap correction terms [179, 180].
The refinements to the trapping models have successively improved the state-of-art in
this aspect of modeling. However, an area somewhat less developed is the provision of a
satisfactory approach for the modeling of large periphery devices. A common experience
is that conventional circuit model approaches do not satisfactorily scale above a few mm
of gate width. However, such devices are required for numerous applications in the L
to C band range. GaAs devices with 100200 mm of periphery are capable delivering
50100 W from a single die at 2 GHz but the circuit design approaches are largely
cut and try. Conventional modeling approaches are ill-equipped to cope with this
distributed problem and a number of new dimensions need to be added if models are
to be adequate. Such devices have many fingers frequently over a hundred which
see differing and coupled thermal and electromagnetic (EM) environments. A particular
problem is also to model accurately the stability of such devices. The complete model
for this highly complex situation is a coupled electro-thermal and EM model. There is
an emerging body of academic literature on this topic with recent developments towards
simplification and manageable computation speed. Reference [181] describes circuit
simulation software coupled with a highly efficient thermal solver. Individual fingers
of a power cell are modeled with a compact equivalent circuit model and the fingers
are thermally coupled by a thermal circuit. Reference [182] specifically addresses the
topic of large power devices with a similar approach that also includes coupled EM
simulation. The latter approach is notable for being deployable on standard commercial
simulators.
Another direction in modeling aims to avoid the whole messy business of trying to
persuade an equivalent circuit model with elements that follow prescribed bias-dependent
functions into representing the measured data. An alternative approach instead employs
table-based techniques where the nonlinear data is accessed and interpolated from lookup tables. The most well-known implementation of this approach is the Root model
[183] available as a turn-key commercial modeling solution. Subsequent developments
of this approach make use of more sophisticated interpolation schemes which provide
better simulation of nonlinearity [184, 185].
A further theme receiving much recent attention has been the use of direct large-signal
measurement [186]. Techniques explored here include fitting conventional equivalent
circuit model parameters directly to observed large-signal behavior [187] and the direct
extraction of extrinsic current and charge functions to describe the nonlinear behavior
directly at the device terminals [188]. However, the ultimate logical end-point of this
direction is to eliminate any level of equivalent circuit description altogether and instead
to implement a wholly mathematical black-box or behavioral description of the
data. The approach that has been adopted to achieve this is based on poly-harmonic
distortion (PHD) modeling [189] which describes large-signal behavior by means of an
2.5 Models
89
extension to linear S-parameters. In this scheme additional terms are added to the linear
parameters to account for harmonics and intermodulation frequency components. By
this means complex waveforms may be described. The term X-parameters has been
coined to describe the new nonlinear parameters and a commercial nonlinear vector
network analyzer capable of their measurement are available. In order to be useful
for characterizing transistors the X-parameters must be measured over the appropriate
region of the Smith chart requiring the X-parameter characterization to be combined with
a load-pull system [189, 190]. The resulting dataset is large requiring the dimensions
of frequency, bias, signal amplitude and impedance state all to be characterized and
recorded. However, the approach is mathematically rigorous and has been verified to
high levels of compression [191].
In many ways conventional empirical models and new behavioral data models are
complementary. The former possess such benefits of an innate generality, compactness and scalability by virtue of the underlying physics embodied in their construction.
These are attractive qualities for device manufacturers who need to characterize a process in a general fashion. They also make use of relatively straightforward and widely
available test equipment. Black-box behavioral models offer the prospect of automatic
generation of high-accuracy models for specific devices and operating conditions. This
latter picture is attractive for specific design requirements focused on particular devices
where the generation of large datasets and a lack of model scalability are manageable
issues.
2.5.4
Load-pull
A long established, pragmatic, and reliable alternative to the nonlinear device model
is the long-standing load-pull measurement. Here the device performance is explored
with carefully characterized tuners and the circuit is designed to replicate the desired
matching impedances. This approach has evolved to employ computer controlled tuners
that are now able to include effective control of the source and load harmonic impedances
[192]. The key limitation of the passive tuners provided by commercial vendors is that
the losses arising between the tuner instrument and the device under test restricts the
maximum reflection coefficient that can be attained and this rather limits the size of the
device that can be characterized. Pre-matching circuitry can help here but the ultimate
solution is achieved by the use of an active load-pull system such as that described in
reference [193] where the reflected signal is synthesized as required to account for the
loss so as to achieve the effective impedance as if an ideal lossless tuner were used.
Active load-pull systems have been successfully demonstrated by a number of workers
over many years but they have yet to achieve widespread use outside of the R&D lab due
to reasons of cost and complexity. In this light it is interesting to note that a remarkably
effective but simple and extremely low-cost alternative to load-pull test equipment is
available using nothing but a simple linear model for the device output impedance [194].
Experience has shown that the estimate for the output power match condition obtained
from this approach is consistently in excellent agreement with load-pull measurement
and the technique remains a popular approach for first-cut circuit design.
90
2.6
Concluding remarks
This chapter has reviewed GaAs power FET technology. It has covered materials properties, device types and their operation, key device physics, and critical aspects of power
device design. A summary of GaAs device fabrication has been provided contrasting
established processes with new low-cost approaches and the chapter concludes with a
brief review of device models.
The wide range of subjects covered spans several decades of development by numerous
research groups and industrial companies. It is therefore impossible to fully reference
such a body of work and a balance had to be struck that weighed recognition of historical
significance with clarity and brevity for the contemporary reader. A further limitation
is this authors limited capacity to read, digest and retain the breadth of literature. It is
consequently inevitable that omissions will have occurred and for which it is hoped the
relevant parties will understand.
Acknowledgment
The author would like to thank the engineering team at the RFMD facility in Newton
Aycliffe (members past and present) who have all contributed to the understanding that
is contained in these pages. Particular appreciation is expressed to Mike Brookbanks,
Richard Davies and Rob Dry who gave helpful support in the writing of the chapter.
Appendix 2.1
Comments on the determination of fT and fmax
The h21 function is generally very well behaved and is easy to calculate in an unambiguous manner. This should be performed from a linear part of the h21 versus log. frequency
curve where the first pole of the frequency response dominates. For a microwave device
a frequency of around 510 GHz is typically a good frequency to use. An extrapolation
to 0 dB at 6 dB/octave will give a reliable value and this may be simply calculated thus:
f T = f h 21 ( f )
(A1)
= f 10
(A2)
h 21 d B( f )/20
where f is the frequency of evaluation, h 21 is the magnitude of the forward hybrid

parameter and h 21 d B is its value in dB. The measurements should be properly deembedded to the device reference plane for the appropriate terminating impedances to
apply. A useful rule of thumb for a well-designed device is that it will likely be an
appropriate choice for an application for frequencies up to fT /2.
The situation for fmax is not as straightforward. In theory there is no issue as both Gmax
and U both cross the 0 dB line at the same frequency and this point uniquely defines
fmax [60, 195]. However, in practice for microwave FETs, fmax is usually somewhat
References
91
higher than the upper limit of the available test equipment and examination of the gain
curves for frequencies well below fmax invariably suggests Gmax and U will have distinct
intercepts. The situation typically observed is that of Figure 2.14 with U following a
well-behaved 6 dB/octave roll off and giving no hint that it will converge with Gmax.
Vendelin [60] explains how additional terms in the frequency response will ultimately
restrain the U curve; however, a judgment has to be made on the data that is available. In
practice one of the U or Gmax curves is chosen and extrapolated to determine the 0 dB
intercept. It is also very common not to specify which curve was used for this procedure.
Many workers choose a 6 dB/octave extrapolation of U. For some this is due to a belief
that it is the correct one or because of its apparent well-behaved slope. Others choose
Gmax and return a commendably more conservative value; however the complicated
Gmax curve provides ambiguity as to how it should be extrapolated. Given these issues
there is a good argument not to quote fmax at all but to provide explicit Gmax curves
or quote Gmax at particular frequencies. In any event, a degree of caution is required
when comparing devices based on fmax values that one has not measured for oneself.
Should a value for fmax be required and it is beyond the frequency range of available test
equipment then, in this authors opinion, a reasonable approach to its determination is to
extrapolate Gmax at 6 dB/octave from a frequency where the device is unconditionally
stable and with stability factor, k, comfortably above unity so as to be reliably free of the
gain-peaking near the MAG/MSG stability break-point.
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Wide band gap transistors SiC and

GaN physics, design and models
R. J. Trew
ECE Department, North Carolina State University
3.1
Introduction
Although solid-state transistors have replaced vacuum electronics in the vast majority
of microwave electronic systems over the past 40 years the revolution is not complete.
In particular, the areas of high RF power for microwave and millimeter-wave radar
and communications transmitter applications, the ability to produce adequate RF power
levels at frequencies greater than 100 GHz, and the ability of devices to operate at
high temperatures greater than about 250 C remain dominated by microwave tubes.
Further solid-state material and transistor developments in these areas are among the
last frontiers for semiconductor electronics. In these areas solid state transistors have
not been able to compete with vacuum tube devices, and most systems that must deliver
kW to MW power levels are designed using various types of microwave tube.
The current state-of-the-art for microwave solid-state devices and for microwave tubes
is shown in Figure 3.1. As indicated, solid-state devices produce RF power levels less
than about 100 W and operate with reasonable RF output power to frequencies of about
100 GHz. The RF performance status shown in Figure 3.1 is for single device operation,
and does not necessarily represent a true comparison of the RF output power capability of
a system. Power combining and phased array technology permit the outputs of many solid
state transistors to be combined, thereby producing significantly improved RF output
power and solid state systems can, in practice, compete in terms of RF output power
with tube-based systems in some cases. Combining technology can raise microwave
RF output power into the kW range, at least through S band and into Ku band [14],
and theoretically to much higher power levels. However, such multidevice concepts are
increasingly difficult to apply as operating frequency increases and cannot extend the
upper frequency limit beyond the present state-of-the-art. Operation at frequencies above
X band and up to 100 GHz with RF output power in the hundreds of watts or kW range
will require new semiconductor materials and/or transistor concepts.
The upper frequency capability of a solid-state transistor is fundamentally dependent
upon the charge carrier velocity in the semiconductor material from which it is fabricated, and the physical dimensions of the device. Modern semiconductor material growth
technology and fine line lithography permit transistors with critical dimensions less than
a micron (<106 m) to be readily fabricated, which permits transistors with high cutoff
frequencies to be realized. At high electric fields most common semiconductor materials demonstrate a saturated charge carrier velocity on the order of v s 107 cm/s,
104
Wide band gap transistors SiC and GaN physics, design and models
Figure 3.1 Average RF output power versus frequency for various semiconductor and vacuum
electronic devices [5].
or less. Although GaInAs-based HEMTs demonstrate good RF performance up to

approximately 300 GHz, this performance results primarily from high sheet-charge
density and resulting high device current. These two factors permit transistors with
good RF performance at high frequency to be achieved. However, the RF output power
from these devices is very low, and not suitable for most practical applications. Standard
semiconductor devices such as field-effect transistors and bipolar transistors designed
for high frequency are fundamentally limited in their RF power generation capability
by low breakdown voltage, which prohibits their operation at the voltages necessary to
generate high RF power. Also, relatively poor thermal conductivity makes it difficult
to engineer the device for adequate thermal resistance, and devices designed for high
RF output power tend to operate at elevated temperature, which limits device performance. Also, power devices must be designed for high current and this necessitates
devices with large cross-sectional area. This, in turn, produces low impedance inputs
that are difficult to impedance match, especially in power-combined schemes. All traditional semiconductor devices (i.e., those fabricated from Si, GaAs, InP, etc.) are limited
in operating temperature by relatively low barrier energy, and the electronic barriers
become increasingly leaky as temperature increases.
Advances in semiconductor materials engineering, device design, and fabrication
are providing solutions to many of these limitations and devices for high-power, highfrequency, and high-temperature applications are being developed. These devices are
expected to find wide application due to the high reliability, small size, and potential low
cost offered by solid-state electronics. One very promising approach is the development
of microwave transistors fabricated from wide bandgap semiconductors, particulary
SiC, GaN, and heterostructures of the III-Nitride system. Although research in these
3.2 Background
105
semiconductor materials has been pursued for many years, the technology for producing
high-quality bulk SiC material for substrates has been demonstrated only in the last
few years, and epitaxial SiC material of sufficient quality for device fabrication is now
available. Bulk GaN substrates are not yet available, although device quality GaN and
AlGaN epitaxial layers can be grown on sapphire and SiC substrates. A variety of electronic devices fabricated from these materials have been demonstrated and the results are
promising for the development of transistors that can be used in high-power and hightemperature microwave transmitters. Due to high electron velocity (v s 2 107 cm/s)
and high sheet-charge density (ns 1013 cm2 ) III-Nitride heterostructure devices show
promise for producing heterojunction FETs (HFETs) with improved mm-wave RF performance, potentially up to 300 GHz and above. At lower frequencies, on the order of X
band and possibly as high as K band, SiC and GaN-based devices should be competitive
with GaAs-based and InP-based transistors for many applications [5], particularly for
improved RF output power capability. However, the higher current capability of the
GaN-based heterostructures over SiC-based devices provides a fundamental advantage
for higher frequency operation and improved RF output power above X or Ku band.
In this chapter, the physical operation, design, and modeling techniques for wide
bandgap transistors are presented. The microwave performance and status of transistor
development from the wide bandgap semiconductor materials are presented. Problem
areas that are presently limiting device performance are indicated. It is demonstrated
that microwave power amplifiers fabricated from 4H-SiC MESFETs and AlGaN/GaN
HFETs offer excellent RF power performance, particularly at elevated temperature. Theoretical transistor models predict room temperature RF output power on the order of
530 W/mm with PAE approaching the theoretical limits for class A and B operation for
amplifiers fabricated using 4H-SiC MESFETs and AlGaN/GaN HFETs. Experimental
results verify the theoretical predictions. Also, theoretical transistor models indicate that
practical operation at elevated temperature, at least up to 500 C, is possible. The RF output power capability of devices fabricated from wide bandgap semiconductors is almost
an order of magnitude higher compared with transistors fabricated from Si or GaAsbased materials. The wide bandgap semiconductor devices are finding application in
RF sources and power amplifiers for base station transmitters for cellular telephone systems, satellite transmitters, HDTV transmitters, power modules for phased-array radars,
surveillance and air-traffic control radars, wide-band amplifiers, and other applications.
The transistors are particularly attractive since they are readily combined for high RF
power applications. They are also attractive for applications that require operation at
elevated temperature since they require minimal heat sinking.
3.2
Background
A variety of electronic devices for high-power and high-frequency applications can be
fabricated from SiC and GaN, and various heterostructures can be based upon these
materials, particularly GaN-based heterostructures. Devices for power applications [6]
include PIN diodes, SchottkyBarrier Diodes, MOSFETs, BJTs, JFETs, thyristors, and
106
various ICs fabricated by combining the basic devices into complex structures. Highfrequency devices include MESFETs, HFETs, SITs, BJTs and HBTs, and IMPATTs.
A variety of electronic devices, including both high-power RF and microwave devices,
can be fabricated from nitride-based semiconductors. Microwave devices include MESFETs, static-induction transistors (SITs), Heterojunction bipolar transistors (HBTs), and
HFETs. Devices for high-power applications include diodes, MOSFETs, MOSHFETs,
and bipolar transistors. Excellent performance has been demonstrated from research and
prototype devices, although many of these devices have not found widespread use or
insertion into commercial systems. Microwave AlGaN/GaN HFETs are finding application for communications band base station amplifiers and microwave radar transmitters.
The performance of SiC and GaN-based transistors are reviewed in this section.
3.2.1
SiC transistors
Bipolar transistors (BJTs) have been fabricated in SiC. However, due to high resistance
associated with the low mobility of p-type material, the base resistance for npn transistors
is high, which limits the frequency response for the transistor [7]. It is shown that 6HSiC BJTs are limited in frequency response to about S band (i.e., 24 GHz), but good
gain and RF output power are possible, with RF output power on the order of 50 W
predicted. Power-added efficiency falls rapidly above about 1 GHz. The BJT device
operation is dominated by minority carrier (electron) transit-time across the p-type base
region. The use of 4H-SiC results in improved performance, and it is shown that electron
mobility in the p-type base region can be on the order of 215 cm2 /V-s for a base region
doped with Al to a concentration of NB = 4 1018 cm3 [8]. For this device, the basecollector depletion region charging time, c , and the parasitic charging time, p , from the
capacitance between metal pads and the underlying collector region dominate the overall
electron transit time and, therefore, the fT of the device. The transistor demonstrated a
peak fT = 4 GHz at a collector voltage of VCE = 20 V, and an emitter current density
of JE = 10 kA/cm2 . The parasitic charging time can be minimized by improved device
design and removal of the parasitic charging time produces a peak fT = 15 GHz. An
improved device design by the same authors [9] yielded an fT = 7 GHz and an fmax =
5.2 GHz. Fabrication of the transistor on a semi-insulating substrate with resistivity
greater than 105 -cm permitted the parasitic charging time to be minimized. The
transistor was biased at VCE = 20 V, and operated at an emitter current density of JE =
10.6 kA/cm2 . The calculated maximum available gain (Gmax ) was 18.6 dB at 500 MHz
and 12.4 dB at 1 GHz.
A 4H-SiC BJT with good gain has been reported by Huang and Cooper [10]. This
transistor utilized a thermal oxidation procedure, similar to that employed in 4H-SiC
MOSFETs, to passivate the transistor surface. Previous SiC BJTs suffered from high
surface leakage currents due to surface recombination velocity in the range 104 105 cm/s
[11, 12]. The passivated BJT had a current gain = 55 and breakdown voltages of
BVCEO = 500 V and BVCBO = 700 V. The current gain remained above 50 with the
current density above 700 A/cm2 . A record low on-state resistance for 4H-SiC BJTs
was reported by Zhang et al. [13]. The 4H-SiC BJT used a 12 m thick drift layer and
3.2 Background
107
produced an on-state resistance of 2.9 m-cm2 , with an open-base collector-to-emitter

blocking voltage of VCEO = 757 V, and a current gain of = 18.8. The transistor
conducted a current of 5.4A (Jc = 859 A/cm2 ) at a forward voltage of VCE = 2.5 V.
The same authors previously reported a 4H-SiC BJT that supported a voltage of 9.2 KV
[14]. high-power SiC BJTs have been fabricated at UHF, and 215 W of pulsed class A
power at 450 MHz has been reported [15]. The transistor was biased at VCE = 180 V
and pulsed with a 0.1% duty cycle to avoid self-heating. The gain was 7.5 dB, and the
RF power density was 4.3 W/mm when normalized to emitter finger length.
SITs look very promising for RF power applications [16]. A SIT is basically a vertical
FET. The device operates under space-charge-limited (SCL) electron transport conditions, and is very similar to a vacuum triode in operation. The device demonstrates
low current gain (fT ), but excellent voltage gain and high power gain is possible. The
low gain prevents the SIT from producing good performance much above C band, but
excellent UHF and S-Band devices and amplifiers have been fabricated. Both 6H and
4H-SiC have been used. The first SITs were fabricated from 6H-SiC and a device with
11 cm periphery produced about 38 W at 175 MHz with 60% PAE [16]. The 6H-SiC
SITs produced very low current, and the low current was found to be associated with
anisotropic electron transport behavior. Currents traveling in a direction parallel to the
c-axis of a 6H wafer were about five times lower than currents normal to the c-axis for
the same voltage. This resulted in work shifting to the use of 4H-SiC, and a 4H-SiC SIT
with 38 W RF output power, 9.5 dB of gain, and 45% drain efficiency at 3 GHz was
developed [17, 18]. The device was operated under pulse bias and is useful for radar
applications. Further progress includes a 800 W UHF SIT and a 900 W L-band SIT [19].
A two-stage amplifier with 1 kW RF output power using these devices was reported
for the HDTV market [20] and other applications. The most recent result makes use
of ion-implantation to produce a unit cell device that generates 107 W output power
with 8.7 dB gain and 59% PAE under CW operation at 750 MHz [21]. The device
was biased at Vds = 81.8 V and Ids = 1.87 A. This unit cell device is being used in
a ten cell structure to produce a 10 kW RF solid state driver amplifier for commercial
applications.
The MESFET is a majority carrier device that can be fabricated using n-type SiC
material so that only electrons are involved in current transport [22]. The MESFET
is very attractive for fabrication of high-performance devices for use at microwave
frequencies. The first SiC MESFETs were fabricated from 6H-SiC and MESFETs with
current gain-bandwidth products of fT = 25 GHz were reported [23]. These devices
produced 3.5 W (1.75 W/mm) RF power with 45.5% PAE at 6 GHz. Although the RF
output power from the 6H-SiC devices is about three times that generally obtained from
GaAs MESFETs, 4H-SiC has a low field mobility about twice that of the 6H-SiC and
most device development has focused upon this material. Early 4H-SiC MESFETs with
RF output power on the order of 2.8 W/mm at 1.8 GHz [24], and 2.27 W/mm with
65.7% for a class B amplifier were reported at 850 MHz [25]. In later work, a 4H-SiC
MESFET with an fmax of 42 GHz was reported [26], indicating that these devices should
be capable of producing excellent RF performance through X-band, and potentially
to K-band. This device had a gate length of Lg = 0.5 m and produced 5.1 dB gain at
108
20 GHz. high-power amplifiers have been produced and a SiC UHF television module has
demonstrated good signal fidelity at the 2000 W PEP level. S-band 4H-SiC transistors
with over 200 W peak power have been produced for radar applications and X-band
power of over 6 W has been obtained [27]. A 4H-SiC MESFET with 42 mm of gate
periphery on a single die produced 53 W of RF power with 37% PAE at 3 GHz [28].
X-band SiC MESFETs have produced 2.5 W/mm of RF power and 41% PAE at 8 GHz,
and 30 W RF power from a 12 mm gate device at 9.7 GHz [29], and excellent RF
power density of 5.2 W/mm at 3.5 GHz and 4.5 W/mm at 10 GHz were obtained. As the
material quality improved RF output power has improved and a 4H-SiC MESFET has
produced 56 W with 53% PAE at L-band [30]. The device had a fT = 12 GHz and an
fmax = 17 GHz, and demonstrated minimal current drift up to 1100 h. A 4H-SiC
MESFET has produced 20 W output power with 60% PAE in S-band [31].
A major limitation to RF output power is breakdown of the gate electrode on the drain
side. The electric field at the gate edge can achieve a very high magnitude, particularly
when the device is biased to high drain voltage and operated with large RF terminal
voltages consistent with high RF power drive. It has been shown that the gate can
leak current, and may demonstrate breakdown. The use of field-plates [32] has been
demonstrated to result in significantly reduced electric field magnitude at the gate edge,
thereby reducing gate leakage. The field-plate can be connected electrically to the gate,
the source, or left floating. The use of the field-plate permits higher voltages to be
applied, with improved RF output power. A field-plate 4H-SiC MESFET with a buriedgate design produced very high RF output power with a power density of 7.8 W/mm and
70% PAE at 3 GHz [33]. The device was operated in class A/B. The field-plate permitted
a drain bias of Vds = 65 V to be applied. A two-stage broadband integrated amplifier
circuit that produced 5 W over 10 MHz to 2.4 GHz was reported [34]. The integrated
amplifier produced 22 dB gain, 37 dBm output power and 28% PAE. The third-order
intercept was 47 dBm.
A novel FET which used a -SiC nanowire as the conducting channel has been
reported [35]. The device consisted of a SiO2 layer grown on top of a Si substrate. The
-SiC nanowire was located on the surface of the SiO2 between two metal contacts. The
Si substrate was used as the gate electrode, and application of a varying voltage permitted
control of the current flowing in the SiC nanowire. Nanowire diameters varying from
1025 nm with a length of 10 mm were used. The device demonstrated good hightemperature performance and it was concluded that the transistor could find application
as a high-temperature gas sensor.
3.2.2
AlGaN/GaN transistors
The AlGaN/GaN HFET demonstrates excellent RF performance. High sheet-charge
density resulting from high Al incorporation in the AlGaN layer permits high channel current to be obtained [36]. Initial HFETs were fabricated on sapphire substrates,
but recent work has focused upon the use of semi-insulating or p-type SiC substrates
[3739]. Excellent RF performance has been achieved at S-band through Ka-band frequencies, with the greatest RF power density obtained at S-band and up to X-band.
3.2 Background
109
Most AlGaN/GaN HFETs are fabricated with unintentionally doped AlGaN and GaN
epitaxial layers. However, it is also possible to fabricate AlGaN/GaN HFETs with good
RF performance using doped channel designs [40], and 1.73 W/mm RF output power
with good gain was obtained at 8.4 GHz. The small signal performance of these devices
demonstrated gain bandwidth products of fT = 39 GHz and fmax = 45 GHz. Small-signal
performance with intrinsic current gain-bandwidth products up to fT = 106 GHz for
a device with a gate length of Lg = 0.15 m has been obtained [41]. These devices
produced about 4 W/mm RF power and 41% PAE at 4 GHz. Very high RF power density
has also been obtained and 9.8 W/mm RF power density with 47% PAE at 8 GHz has
been reported [42]. The devices had gate widths of W = 2 mm and the devices were
flip-chip mounted to AlN substrates for improved thermal conductance. Other devices
fabricated using SiC substrates produced RF power as high as 10.7 W/mm at 10 GHz
with 40% PAE [43], with further improvements yielding slightly over 11 W/mm. Devices
fabricated using AlN interfacial layers between the AlGaN and GaN produced RF output
power of 8.4 W/mm with a PAE of 28% at 8 GHz [44]. The introduction of field-plate
technology suppresses the electric field at the gate edge and permits larger drain bias
to be applied resulting in higher RF output power. A high RF output power density of
>30 W/mm was reported for a field-plate device biased at a drain voltage of 120 V
[45]. High PAE has also been reported, and an AlGaN/GaN HFET grown by MBE
on a 4H-SiC substrate produced 8.4 W/mm with 67% PAE with a drain bias of 30 V
[46]. Silicon has emerged as a viable substrate material for AlGaN/GaN HFETs and
excellent RF performance has been obtained. Johnson et al. [47] reported RF output
power of 12 W/mm with 52.7% PAE and 15.3 dB gain for a 0.7 m gate length device.
The HFET was biased at 50 V and operated at 2.14 GHz. The transistor is intended
for communications band applications. Dumka et al. report 7 W/mm with 38% PAE
and 9.1 dB gain at 10 GHz from a AlGaN/GaN HFET fabricated on a Si(111) substrate [48]. The device was biased at a drain voltage of 40 V. Reduction of the drain
bias to 20 V resulted in a decrease in RF power to 3.9 W/mm, but an improvement
of the PAE to 52%. high-frequency Ka-band performance has also been reported. At
18 GHz Ducatteau et al. report an RF power density of 5.1 W/mm with 20% PAE and
9.1 dB gain from a nitride HFET fabricated on a Si substrate [49]. The device had a
0.25 m gate length and a current gain bandwidth of fT = 50 GHz. An AlGaN/GaN
HFET fabricated on a SiC produced 5 W/mm with 30.1% PAE and 5.24 dB gain at
26 GHz [50]. Lee et al. [51] report 4.13 W/mm with 23% PAE and 7.54 dB gain at
35 GHz. The HFET was biased with a drain voltage of 30 V. The HFET was fabricated
on a SiC substrate. At 40 GHz an RF power density of 2.8 W/mm, 10% PAE, and 5.1
dB gain was obtained from a device with a 0.18 m gate length device [52]. The performance of the device was sensitive to frequency, and RF output power density increased to
3.4 W/mm by reduction of the operating frequency to 38 GHz. Using a recess gate design
an RF output power density of 5.7 W/mm with 45% PAE was obtained with a drain bias
of 20 V [53]. Increasing the drain bias to 28 V resulted in an increase in RF output
power density to 6.9 W/mm. Palacios et al. [54] report excellent RF performance at
40 GHz from an AlGaN/GaN HFET fabricated on a 4H-SiC(0001) substrate. Devices
with similar structures were fabricated using both OMCVD and MBE. The device
110
produced 8.6 W/mm with 29% PAE and gain of about 5 dB. The OMCVD grown device
had improved performance, with 10.5 W/mm, 33% PAE, and about 6 dB gain. Attempts
to improve device performance include novel surface passivation and charge confinement. Lau and her colleagues [55] introduced a surface passivation technique involving
a fluoride-based plasma treatment. The fluoride-based plasma treatment, along with a
post-gate rapid thermal annealing step, was found to effectively incorporate negatively
charged fluorine ions into the AlGaN barrier and positively shift the threshold voltage.
The technique was used to fabricate an enhancement-mode (E-mode), HFET. Shen et al.
[56] used the fluorine plasma process, along with a deeply recessed gate HFET design,
to fabricate a device that produced 17.8 W/mm with 50% PAE and 15 dB gain at 4 GHz.
The passivation process limited gate leakage and thereby permitted a drain voltage of
Vds = 80 V to be applied, without the use of a field-plate.
The strong polarization effects of the AlGaN/GaN structure may be a source of some
of the reliability problems experienced with these devices. Attempts to investigate this
include utilization of alternate barrier materials that are less polar. One such structure can
be fabricated using InAlN, rather than the commonly employed AlGaN. An InAlN/GaN
HFET with a gate length of 0.7 m produced a gain-bandwidth product of fT =
13 GHz and and fmax = 11 GHz. The 2DEG was very high, with nss = 4 1013 cm2
and an electron mobility of n = 750 cm2 /V-s [57, 58]. An InGaN layer was used as
a back-barrier to improve confinement of the 2DEG electrons [59]. The confinement
improved the output resistance, and a device with a gate length of 100 nm produced a
gain-bandwidth product of fT = 153 GHz and an fmax = 198 GHz. By adjusting the bias
the same device produced an fmax = 230 GHz. A double heterojunction device design
using an InGaN notch fabricated on a sapphire substrate produced RF output power of
3.4 W/mm and 41% PAE at 2 GHz [60]. Good RF performance has also been obtained
from a GaN FET, fabricated using a novel surface passivation consisting of a thin AlN
layer located between the GaN channel and a SiN surface passivation [61]. The resulting
structure is basically a metal-insulator-semiconductor (MIS) FET. A device with a gate
length of 60 nm produced fT = 107 GHz and fmax = 171 GHz.
Most of the early results were for devices with very narrow gate widths to minimize
device heating and thermal effects. More recent work has focused upon producing highpower devices and amplifiers suitable for use in applications such as communications
base station transmitters. Ando et al. [62] reported RF output power of 10.3 W with 47%
PAE and 18 dB linear gain at 2 GHz. This result was for a device with a gate width of
1 mm. Linear gate-width scaling with drain current and RF output power has also been
demonstrated. A high-power integrated circuit using 8 mm of gate periphery yielded
51 W RF output power at 6 GHz under pulse bias conditions [63]. A communications
band amplifier, using AlGaN/GaN HFETs fabricated on SiC substrates, and biased at
48 V produced CW RF output power of 100 W at 2.14 GHz [64]. A C-band amplifier
using a 0.4 m gate length and 50.4 mm gate width AlGaN/GaN HFET fabricated on
a SiC substrate produced RF output power of 140 W with 25% PAE. The amplifier was
operated with a pulse bias of 40 V [65]. A pushpull transmitter amplifier for 3G wireless
base station applications was constructed using AlGaN/GaN HFETs fabricated on SiC
substrates [66, 67]. At a drain bias of 50 V the amplifier produced 250 W RF output
3.3 Material parameters
111
power and, using digital predistortion linearization, an adjacent channel leakage power
ratio (ACLR) of less than 50 dBc for four-carrier W-CDMA signals was obtained.
Very high RF output power was obtained from wide gate width AlGaN/GaN HFETs
fabricated on Si(111) substrates [67]. The individual HFETs had a gate width of 36 mm
and when operated under CDMA modulation produced 20 W RF power with a drain
efficiency of 27% when biased at a Vds = 28 V. The amplifier was fabricated using two
of the devices and produced a maximum RF output power of 156 W with 65% drain
efficiency at 2.14 GHz and no modulation. The same authors report further improvements
by employing a source-grounded field plate on the HFET, and when biased at Vds =
60 V and under pulsed RF conditions, a saturated RF output power of 368 W with 70%
PAE was obtained. Wide gate width devices require effective means for grounding, and
a laser-assisted processing procedure for fabricating via holes was reported [68]. The
process permits wide gate width devices to be effectively grounded, and a 20 mm gate
width device biased at Vds = 26 V produced 41.6 W with 55% PAE at 2 GHz.
Amplifiers fabricated using AlGaN/GaN HFETs have produced over 400 W of pulsed
power with 600 MHz of bandwidth (2.9 to 3.5 GHz) and 50% PAE [69], a two-stage
amplifier has produced 58 W with 38% PAE and 15 dB gain at X-band [70], and a
MMIC amplifier has produced 500 mW RF power with 17% PAE and 12 dB gain in
E-Band (7195 GHz) [71]. The nitride devices are being aggressively developed for
application in amplifiers for S-band communications band base station transmitters, and
as amplifiers for X, Ka, and W-band radar transmitters.
3.3
Material parameters
The DC and RF performance capability of electronic devices is fundamentally dependent
upon the electronic, thermal, and mechanical properties of the materials from which the
devices are fabricated. Of particular importance are the charge transport characteristics as
a function of electric field for the material. Each semiconductor has a different velocityfield characteristic, and semiconductors of most interest for device fabrication will have
high carrier velocity capability. The quality of semiconductor epitaxial material has
continually improved, and the DC and RF performance of semiconductor transistors have
experienced significant performance improvements as a result. A variety of technologies
for growth of semiconductor epitaxial layers, such as molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) and
organo-mellatic chemical vapor deposition (OM-CVD), have been developed and these
technologies permit the growth of epitaxial layers of precise thickness and impurity
doping concentration. It is now possible to fabricate solid state devices with layer
thickness of only a few angstroms with precise defined impurity concentrations, and this
level of control permits devices with frequency performance well over 100300 GHz to
be fabricated.
The advantages of device fabrication from wide bandgap semiconductors can be
seen from a comparison of fundamental electronic transport and material parameters. A
summary of the semiconductor material properties most important to electronic device
performance is listed in Table 3.1 for several semiconductors.
112
Table 3.1 Material properties for several semiconductors

Material
Eg (eV)
(W/ K-cm)
Ec (V/cm)
Si
GaAs
InP
3C-SiC
4H-SiC
6H-SiC
GaN
Diamond
1.12
1.43
1.34
2.3
3.2
2.86
3.4
5.6
11.9
12.5
12.4
9.7
10.0
10.0
9.5
5.5
1.5
0.54
0.67
4
4
4
1.3
2030
3 105
4 105
4.4 105
1.8 106
3.5 106
3.8 106
2 106
5 106
For transistors the most important material properties for fabrication of highperformance microwave structures include a large energy gap, Eg (eV), a low value
of dielectric constant, r , high thermal conductivity, (W/ K cm), and high critical
electric field for breakdown Ec (V/cm). Wide energy bandgap generally translates into
an ability to support high internal electric fields before electronic breakdown occurs, and
also provides for improved radiation resistance. Most transistor fabrication has been in
Si, GaAs, and InP and related compounds and the vast majority of all devices commercially available are fabricated from these materials. The SiC and GaN-based materials
have energy bandgaps about two to three times larger than those in the conventional
semiconductors, such as Si, GaAs, and InP. The dielectric constant is an indication of
the capacitive loading of a device and affects the terminal impedance. Generally, for
solid state devices a low value for the semiconductor dielectric constant is desired, and
this permits a solid state device to be larger in area for a specified impedance value.
Increased area permits larger RF currents and higher RF power to be generated. The
wide bandgap semiconductors have dielectric constants about 20% lower than the conventional materials. This, in turn, permits a wide bandgap semiconductor device to be
about 20% larger in area compared to a comparable device fabricated from Si or GaAs
for a specific impedance magnitude, and increased area permits larger RF currents and
higher RF power to be generated.
The thermal conductance of the material is extremely important since this parameter
indicates the ease with which dissipated power can be extracted from the device. Poor
thermal conductivity results in device operation at elevated temperature with degraded
performance. Conventional semiconductors are, in general, poor thermal conductors,
particularly the GaAs and InP materials. Conversely, SiC is an excellent thermal conductor and GaN is about the same as Si, the best of the conventional semiconductors.
Diamond has the highest thermal conductivity of any known material and is often used
to fabricate heat sinks for semiconductor devices that must operate in high-power applications. Finally, the critical electric field for electronic breakdown should be high. This
parameter is an indication of the strength of the electric fields that can be supported
internally to the device before breakdown. High electric fields permit large terminal RF
voltages to be supported, and this is necessary for the generation of high RF power. The
critical fields for the wide bandgap materials are excellent and very high, typically an
3.3 Material parameters
113
Velocity (x107 cm/s)
10
4H-SiC
GaAs
AIGaN/GaN
6H-SiC
1
Si
GaN
0.1
1
10
100
1000
Electric Field (kV/cm)
Figure 3.2 Electron velocity versus electric field transport characteristics for various n-type
semiconductors (Nd = 1017 cm3 ).
order of magnitude greater than for the conventional semiconductors. In general the wide
bandgap semiconductors have more optimum values for all these parameters compared
to conventional semiconductors.
Basically, a current is defined as the movement of charge and expressed as the product
between the charge density and transport velocity. Therefore, the DC and RF currents
that flow through a device are directly dependent upon the charge carrier velocity versus
electric field transport characteristics of the semiconductor material. Generally, for high
currents and high frequency, high charge carrier mobility and high saturation velocity
are desirable. A comparison of the electron velocity-electric field (v-E) characteristics
for several semiconductors is shown in Figure 3.2. The v-E characteristic is described
in terms of charge carrier mobility n , (units of cm2 /V s) defined from the slope of
the v-E characteristic at low electric field, and the saturated velocity vs (units of cm/s),
defined when the carrier velocity becomes a constant, field-independent magnitude,
generally at high electric field. The high value for electron mobility of GaAs (typically,
n 5000 cm2 /V s) is the main reason that FETs fabricated from this material have such
excellent high frequency performance. A primary disadvantage of fabricating transistors
from SiC and GaN is the relatively low values for the charge carrier mobilities (typically,
n 200500 cm2 /V s). In general, the wide bandgap semiconductors have relatively low
mobility, but very high saturation velocity (typically, v s 12 107 cm/s). However, the
mobility of SiC and GaN is adequate for transistors designed for high power operation
[72] due to the large RF terminal voltages these transistors can sustain. The low mobility
produces a relatively high knee voltage (i.e., the transition voltage between the linear and
saturation regions on the transistor IV curve), but the ability of the device to produce
good RF output power and PAE in amplifier circuits is not seriously compromised by
the relatively high knee voltage due to the large RF terminal voltages, which are on the
order of 1020 times the magnitude of the knee voltage. In practice, near ideal PAE
is obtained for amplifiers fabricated from wide bandgap semiconductor transistors, and
mobility
Sheet Charge Density
1015
1014
1013
1000
10
100
Sheet Charge Density (cm2)
1016
10 000
2DEG Mobility (cm 2/V-s)
114
1012
1000
Temperature (K)
Figure 3.3 Electron mobility and sheet charge density versus temperature for a 2D electron gas
from ShubnikovDeHaas measurements [5].
the AlGaN/GaN HFET amplifiers obtain near-ideal PAE up to X-band, and potentially
higher.
For a typical device doping density of Nd 2 1017 cm3 , the electron mobility for
6H- and 4H-SiC are about 250 cm2 /V s and 500 cm2 /V s, respectively. The factor of two
increase in mobility for 4H-SiC compared to 6H-SiC is one of the major reasons that
the 4H polytype is preferred for device applications. The electron saturation velocity in
both 6H- and 4H-SiC is v s 2 107 cm/s, which is a factor of two higher than for Si
(v s 1 107 cm/s) and a factor of four higher than for GaAs (v s (0.50.6) 107 cm/s).
The mobility and saturation velocity for the 2DEG for the AlGaN/GaN heterointerface
is very suitable for device applications. The room temperature mobility of the 2DEG
is in the range of 10001500 cm2 /V s, which is significantly better than for SiC or
bulk GaN. The sheet-charge density for this structure can be very high and greater than
nss 1013 cm2 due to piezoelectric and spontaneous polarization induced effects. The
measured sheet-charge density is about a factor of five better than is obtained for the more
commonly employed AlGaAs/GaAs heterostructure. The characteristics for the 2DEG
are shown in the Shubnikov-DeHaas and Hall mobility measurements in Figure 3.3 [5]
for an AlGaN/GaN heterostructure grown on a sapphire substrate. The measurement
over temperature indicates that the 2DEG mobility is very sensitive to temperature,
demonstrating about T 2.3 dependence. This indicates that devices fabricated from
this type of structure will be temperature sensitive and performance will degrade rapidly
with elevated temperature.
The magnitude of electric field that produces saturated charge carrier velocity is also
important since the device must be able to develop the saturation field to obtain maximum
RF performance and high-frequency operation. The saturation fields for 4H-and 6H-SiC
are about Es 60 kV/cm and Es 200 kV/cm, respectively, which are high relative to the
comparable values of Es 3 kV/cm and Es 35 kV/cm for GaAs and Si. The saturation
field for the AlGaN/GaN heterostructure 2DEG is less than for either 6H- or 4H-SiC.
3.4 Transistor amplifier operating principles
Zs = Rs + jXS
Pin
Pout
Z in
Z out
115
IL
VL
Network
ZL = RL + jXL
Vs
Figure 3.4 General two-port network used for amplifier analysis.
Hole mobilities in SiC and GaN-based materials are very low, and on the order of
1050 cm2 /V-s, and it is very difficult to observe saturation effects for hole transport.
Extremely low mobility requires very high saturation fields, which approach the critical
field for avalanche breakdown. Low mobility also results in high values for resistance,
which limits device performance. The low hole mobility presents serious problems for
use of p-type wide bandgap material in devices. For this reason, most devices under
development are majority carrier devices, such as FETs and static-induction transistors
that can be fabricated using only n-type semiconductor material.
3.4
Transistor amplifier operating principles

The basic configuration for an amplifier is shown in Figure 3.4 [73]. The amplifier is a
two-port network that consists of a source that feeds the input with a load connected to
the output. The network has gain and thereby amplifies a signal passing through it from
the source to the load. RF power can only be generated from a real source (i.e., resistance)
and delivered through a network to a real load (i.e., resistance). Since electronic devices
and networks, as well as most microwave sources and loads, also include reactance it
is necessary to employ reactive tuning to obtain optimum power transfer. Conjugately
tuned output and load impedances deliver maximum RF output power from the source
to the load.
The power delivered to the load, PL , from the network can be written as
PL =
1
1
Re VL I L = |I L |2 R L
2
2
(3.1)
where VL and IL are the voltage and current at the load impedance, and RL is the real
part of the load resistance. The power delivered to the load can be written as a function
of the reflection coefficient at the load,

PL = Pout 1 | L |2
(3.2)
where Pout is the RF power available from the network and L is the reflection coefficient
at the load. Maximum RF power transfer occurs for no reflection from the load,
L = 0
(3.3)
0.7
0.6
Drain Current (A)
116
1 dB Compression
0.5
3 dB Compression
0.4
0.3
0.2
0.1
0
Linear
0.1
0
10
15
20
Drain Voltage (V)
25
Figure 3.5 Dynamic current-voltage load lines superimposed upon the DC IV characteristics for
a GaAs MESFET amplifier (the three dynamic load lines indicate operation for linear, 1 dB,
and 3 dB compression conditions) [5].
This condition occurs when the load impedance is set to the complex conjugate of the
network output impedance
Z L = Z out
(3.4)
The amplifier PAE is

P AE =
(G 1)
PL Pin
x100% = Pin
x100%
Pdc
Pdc
(3.5)
where Pin is the RF power into the network, PDC is the DC power dissipated in the
network, and G is the network gain, expressed as
G=
PL
Pin
(3.6)
The dynamic characteristics of an amplifier using a GaAs MESFET as the active device
are illustrated in Figure 3.5, which shows dynamic load lines (i.e., IV characteristics) for
three conditions: linear operation; 1 dB in compression; and 3 dB in compression.
The dynamic load lines are superimposed upon the DC IV characteristics for the
active device. For the situation shown in Figure 3.5 the GaAs transistor is biased with
a drain-source voltage of Vds = 8 V, and the network is tuned for maximum PAE for
each dynamic load line. Since RF power can only be generated by a real source and
delivered to a real load, the dynamic load line would be a straight line oscillating up and
down the DC load line for the network. However, since the device has capacitance, the
dynamic load line demonstrates elliptical behavior. While the device is operating below
saturation the load line is confined within the DC IV characteristics. As the device
is driven into saturation the dynamic load line shifts and extends outside the DC IV
characteristics on both the high-current and low-current portions of the RF cycle. The
average value of the RF current also increases, indicating that the device DC current
increases as the device is driven into saturation. The extension of the dynamic load
line outside the DC IV characteristics is possible due to the complex nature of the
network. The total RF current consists of conduction and displacement components and
3.4 Transistor amplifier operating principles
117
although the conduction current is limited by the IV characteristics, the displacement

current maintains current continuity at the terminals. That is, as the device is driven into
saturation the conduction current is clipped by the IV characteristics for the device, but
the total RF current continuity is maintained by displacement current. Device capacitance
increases as it is driven into saturation and inductive tuning is necessary to obtain
optimum RF performance.
Optimizing the inductive external impedance to match the capacitive impedance of the
transistor results in the reversal of dynamic load line direction, as shown in Figure 3.5.
Under optimum tuning conditions the network is essentially a resonant circuit with the
reactive energy shifting between the capacitive and inductive fields. As the network is
driven further into saturation the current clipping behavior increases, with a net increase
in both DC current and device capacitance.
The dynamic behavior of the amplifier network defines the factors that determine
the RF performance limits of the device and the materials from which it is fabricated.
The power delivered to the load is a product of the RF voltage and RF current that can be
established at the load, and this is determined by the active device. Semiconductors are
limited in the bias voltage that can be applied by the critical electric field for breakdown
of the semiconductor material. Therefore, semiconductors that have high critical electric
fields for breakdown are desirable for power device applications. The critical field for
breakdown is a function of bandgap energy and wide bandgap semiconductors are
desirable for power applications.
The IV characteristics shown in Figure 3.5 can be used to explain the basic classes
of amplifier operation. For example, if the transistor is biased at a DC voltage and
DC current located near the middle of the IV characteristic plane, and the input and
output impedances are tuned so that the dynamic RF IV characteristic is confined
completely within the IV characteristic plane, the amplifier will operate under class A
conditions. The transistor is always in an on state and the maximum PAE is 50%. By
changing the gate (or base) bias to reduce the DC drain (or collector) current the dynamic
IV characteristic will begin to clip on the high-voltage portion of the RF cycle. The
waveform clipping will result in no channel conduction current, but the RF waveform
will be maintained by capacitive current. The reduction in the drain current will produce
a reduction in the DC power dissipation within the transistor, and the waveform clipping
will produce a reduction in the RF power delivered to the load. However, the reduction
in the DC power dissipation occurs more rapidly than the reduction in the RF output
power, with a result that the PAE increases. For a bias condition where one half of
the RF waveform is clipped, the RF output power will decrease by a factor of two
(3 dB). The ideal PAE for this mode has a theoretical value of 78.5%. Although the
PAE is increased, the half-sinusoid current waveform produces harmonics at the output,
although it is linear in the sense that an x dB increase in the input power results in an x
dB increase in output power until the device is driven sufficiently hard to cause clipping
of the top of the current waveform. Linearity is very important for amplifiers designed
for communications systems. Using two transistors in a pushpull configuration, where
each transistor is in the on state for one-half of the RF cycle, doubles the output power
and hence extends the linear range while maintaining the high PAE. The penalty is
118
the requirement for the additional transistor, along with the necessary RF circuitry to
accomplish the final circuit. For operation between the class A mode and the ideal class
B mode, the RF waveform is partially clipped and the PAE will be somewhere between
50% and 78.5%. This mode is generally termed class A-B, and many practical transistor
amplifiers are designed to operate in this mode. This is necessary because real transistors
have a soft-turn-on characteristic and so if operated in a pure class B mode then they are
nonlinear at small signals and show a gain expansion region before saturating and then
eventually entering the traditional nonlinear gain compression region. A very high-PAE
mode can be obtained by biasing the transistor well below the voltage that permits channel
conduction current to flow. In this mode, termed class C, the transistor only conducts
during the peak of the voltage during the RF cycle. The current waveform becomes
essentially a pulse. The ideal theoretical efficiency for class C is 100%, although this is
only obtained with no power delivered to the load. Practical class C amplifiers, however,
can be designed to operate with PAE in the 8090% range.
Electronic devices designed for microwave and RF applications operate in a transittime mode and are scaled in size by frequency considerations. Under normal operation
the electric fields within the devices vary from low magnitude near the electron injection
location to a magnitude sufficient to produce electron velocity saturation in the charge
control/modulation region. Therefore, large current capability requires semiconductor
materials that have high electron velocity. In general, both high-mobility and highsaturation velocity are desirable for high RF current. Traditional semiconductors such
as Si and GaAs have electron saturation velocities that are limited to about vs = 1
107 cm/s, and this limits both the power that can be generated and the frequency response
of the device. Wide bandgap semiconductors have electron saturation velocities that can
be a factor of two higher. The combination of high-current and high-voltage capability
make wide bandgap semiconductors very attractive candidate materials for fabrication
of high-power and high-performance electronic devices.
3.5
Device design and RF performance

The most promising devices for high-power, high-frequency RF applications are the
4H-SiC MESFET and the AlGaN/GaN HFET. Since the 4H-SiC MESFET can be
fabricated entirely from n-type material the losses associated with use of p-type SiC
can be avoided. The device is also relatively easy to fabricate due to a simple structure.
The basic MESFET structure consists of a highly doped n-type epitaxial layer grown
upon a highly resistive substrate, as shown in Figure 3.6. The drain-to-source current
is thereby confined to the highly doped n-type layer. A control electrode (the gate)
is located between the source and drain electrodes, which are designed to have ohmic
current-voltage characteristics. The gate electrode is a nonlinear Schottky contact, which
in normal operation is reverse biased, which creates a depletion region in the conducting
channel, thereby permitting control of the drain-to-source current. Modulation of the
voltage applied to the gate electrode permits the channel current to be modulated,
and since a large channel current can be modulated with a small gate voltage, a large
3.5 Device design and RF performance
119
Figure 3.6 SiC MESFET structure.
n+ cap
n+ cap
Figure 3.7 AlGaN/GaN HFET structure.
transconductance (i.e., gain) is achieved. The magnitude of the transconductance and

the upper frequency of operation of the device scale with reductions in gate length, and
for this reason short gate lengths are desirable. In practice, gate lengths on the order of
Lg 0.11 m are routinely realized, and this permits operation with good gain to be
realized above X and Ku-bands for SiC-based MESFETs.
The AlGaN/GaN HFET is also readily fabricated and demonstrates excellent RF
performance. These devices are similar to the MESFET, but differ in the semiconductor
layer structure. A HFET structure is shown in Figure 3.7. Typically, an undoped layer of
GaN is grown upon a highly resistive substrate, often SiC. A GaN buffer layer is often
used to account for the lattice mismatch between the SiC and GaN layers. A thin updoped
AlGaN layer is then grown upon the undoped GaN layer. The energy band discontinuity
between the AlGaN and GaN layers creates an energy notch at the heterointerface, and
this results in the creation of a 2D electron gas (2DEG), which establishes a conducting
path between the drain and source electrodes, which are fabricated in an analogous
manner to the MESFET. A Schottky gate contact is located between the drain and source
electrodes, as in the MESFET, and the same scaling rules apply. However, since the
120
0.7
+Vgs = 1 V
0.6
Ids (A)
0.5
Vgs = 2 V
0.4
0.3
Vgs = 5 V
0.2
Vgs = 8 V
0.1
0
0
10
20
30
40
50
Vds (V)
Figure 3.8 DC IV characteristics for a SiC MESFET (Nd = 1017 cm3 , Lg = 0.5 mm,
W = 1 mm) [5].
electron transport characteristics are much superior in the nitride heterointerface 2DEG
compared to the bulk SiC, the AlGaN/GaN HFET is capable of much improved RF
frequency performance. In fact, the nitride devices are capable of RF operation with
good gain well above 100 GHz.
In the next section the DC and microwave performance of these devices is described,
and performance projections are presented. The investigation makes use of theoretical simulations and the results are compared to experimental measurements. Excellent
agreement between the simulated and measured data is obtained. Once the device simulator is calibrated and verified against experimental data, the simulator is used to determine
the performance for optimized device structures. The optimized device structures are
tuned in Class A and Class A/B amplifier networks to investigate predicted performance.
3.5.1
4H-SiC MESFET amplifier

The MESFET, since it is a majority carrier device, is an ideal transistor for fabrication
using wide bandgap semiconductors [7]. The DC IV characteristics for a MESFET
fabricated from 4H-SiC and with gate length Lg = 0.5 m and gate width W = 1 mm
are shown in Figure 3.8. The device has been optimized for microwave performance in
X-band and has a uniform channel impurity doping density of Nd = 5 1017 cm3 and a
channel thickness of a = 0.15 m. The conducting channel is grown on a high-resistivity,
semi-insulating substrate. The transistor produces a maximum channel current of Idss =
550 mA and a maximum transconductance of gm = 65 mS/mm, which is low by GaAs
MESFET standards where the transconductances are generally in the range of several
hundred mS/mm for an X-band transistor. The IV characteristics indicate a knee voltage
where the channel current saturates, with a drain voltage of about 9 V, which is high by
GaAs MESFET standards where the devices typically saturate at less than a volt.
121
40
H21 (dB), Gmax (dB)
35
30
25
20
Gmax
15
10
H21
5
0
1
100
10
Frequency (GHz)
Figure 3.9 Current gain (H21 ) and power gain (Gmax ) small-signal RF performance versus
frequency for a SiC MESFET amplifier [5].
Po (dB m), PAE (%), G (dB)
60
PAE
50
40
Po
30
20
10
0
0
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
Pin (dB m)
Figure 3.10 Large-signal RF performance versus RF input power for a SiC MESFET amplifier
(Freq = 10 GHz, Vds = 40 V, Class A operation).
The small-signal current (h21 ) and power gains (Gmax) for the device are shown in
Figure 3.9. Although the transconductance for the 4H-SiC MESFET is low by GaAs
MESFET standards, the device produces a gain-bandwidth product of fT = 24 GHz
and a maximum frequency of oscillation of fmax = 56 GHz. The fmax is high due to a
high-magnitude output impedance, which permits high-voltage gain to be developed.
The small-signal RF parameters shown in Figure 3.9 indicate that the device is capable
of producing good RF output power through X-band, and potentially higher. This is
demonstrated in Figure 3.10, which shows the operation of the transistor when operated
in a Class A amplifier circuit. The amplifier is biased at Vds = 40 V and is tuned for
maximum PAE at 10 GHz. The amplifier produces a maximum RF output power of
60
PAE (%), Po (dB m), G (dB)
122
50
PAE
40
Po
30
20
10
0
0
10
15
20
25
30
35
Frequency (GHz)
Figure 3.11 RF performance versus frequency for a SiC MESFET amplifier (Vds = 40 V, Class A
operation).
5 W/mm with a maximum PAE of 50%, the ideal value for Class A operation. The
linear gain of the amplifier is 14.8 dB. These results are excellent and superior to those
obtained from a comparable gate width GaAs MESFET, which can only produce RF
output power on the order of 11.5 W/mm. The relatively low electron mobility of SiC
and high-saturation knee voltage of the transistor do not limit the RF performance of the
device because the 40 V drain bias that can be applied is sufficient for the region under
the gate to operate in velocity saturation conditions and efficient gate modulation of the
channel current is maintained [72]. The gate breakdown voltage for this transistor is
Vg dB = 100 V, thereby permitting the 40 V drain bias to be applied without encountering
RF breakdown phenomena.
The small-signal RF parameters indicate that the amplifier should operate above the
X band. To explore the performance of the amplifier as a function of frequency it
is operated over a frequency range extending from 3 GHz to 30 GHz and tuned for
maximum PAE. The results are shown in Figure 3.11. As indicated the amplifier produces
near ideal class A performance through X-band (12 GHz). At 12 GHz the amplifier
produces 4 W RF power with 48% PAE and 10 dB linear gain. Above X-band the gain
and PAE decrease due to increased losses that result from the low electron mobility.
The PAE decreases from 48% at 12 GHz to 26% at 30 GHz. The high-frequency
gain is significantly reduced and at 30 GHz is only about 3 dB, which is too low for
practical use.
These results stem from extensive investigations and have been calibrated and verified
with experimental results. The study indicates that 4H-SiC MESFET amplifiers will be
useful through X-band, but will have limited application at higher frequencies. The
low mobility of SiC produces relatively high access region and contact resistances that
severely limit RF performance at frequencies above X-band.
123
60
PAE
50
Po
40
30
20
G
10
0
0
10
15
20
25
30
35
Frequency (GHz)
Figure 3.12 Large-signal RF performance versus frequency for an AlGaN/GaN HFET amplifier
(Vds = 25 V, Class A operation).
3.5.2
AlGaN/GaN HFET amplifier

FETs fabricated using the AlGaN/GaN heterostructure offer the potential to produce a
class of devices with excellent DC and RF performance. The charge density and electron transport characteristics of the 2DEG at the heterointerface between the AlGaN
and GaN layers are excellent, with very high sheet-charge density on the order of 1013
cm2 routinely realized. This magnitude is typically a factor of five higher than for the
AlGaAs/GaAs 2DEG used in GaAs-based HEMTs. The sheet-charge density is higher
than would be expected from standard 2DEG theory and this has been shown to be due
to piezoelectric and spontaneous polarization effects. The 2DEG at the AlGaN/GaN heterojunction has excellent charge transport characteristics and the saturation velocity has
a magnitude of about 12 107 v/cm and mobility in the range of 10001500 cm2 /Vs
at room temperature. The combination of high sheet-charge density and high carrier
velocity result in high current capability for the transistor. In practice, high channel current is obtained from these structures, and AlGaN/GaN HFETs with maximum channel
currents over 1 A/mm and approaching 2 A/mm are routinely obtained experimentally.
The simulated microwave performance as a function of frequency for an optimized
AlGaN/GaN HFET Class A amplifier tuned for maximum PAE is shown in Figure 3.12
[7]. The transistor has a gate length of Lg = 0.5 m, and a width of W = 1 mm and
is biased at Vds = 25 V and Vgs = 4 V. This gate bias would be expected from
the DC IV characteristics to place the amplifier in class A operation. However, due
to rectification effects under overdriven large-signal operation the transistor bias point
shifts as a function of frequency and the amplifier shifts between class A and class AB
operation from 3 GHz to 18 GHz. This is evidenced by the PAE, which was over 50%
from 3 GHz to 25 GHz. The PAE peaked at about 58% from 12 GHz to 18 GHz. At
frequencies above 18 GHz the PAE decreases to about 44% at 30 GHz due to increased
60
124
50
PAE
40
Po
30
20
G
10
0
0
10
15
20
Frequency (GHz)
25
30
35
Figure 3.13 Large-signal RF performance versus frequency for an AlGaN/GaN HFET amplifier
optimized for high RF output power (Vds = 25 V, Class A operation) [5].
losses. The amplifier produces RF output power of about 35 W over the frequency
range of 3 GHz to 30 GHz, which is excellent for a HFET with a 1 mm gate width. The
linear gain is above 10 dB from 3 GHz to 18 GHz, and is still at 9 dB at 30 GHz.
FETs can be designed to maximize RF output power, gain, or PAE, but it is, in general,
not possible to obtain optimum performance for all three parameters simultaneously
[74]. For the transistor described here, the modification of the structure for increased
channel current and with retuning of the input and output impedances for an optimized
combination of performance measures, it is possible to get an RF output power on the
order of 1012 W/mm while maintaining high PAE at high operating frequencies, as
shown in Figure 3.13. In fact, even higher RF output power could be obtained, but at the
expense of PAE and gain, which rapidly degrade as operating frequency is increased. In
fact, a spot RF output power density greater than 30 W/mm at 4 GHz has been reported
[45] for a transistor having Lg = 0.5 m with a drain bias of Vds = 120 V. The breakdown
voltage for the transistor was reported to be VdB = 170 V, which indicates that significant
channel breakdown occurred on the high voltage portion of the RF cycle. Nevertheless,
the peak PAE was 54.8% with an associated gain of 14 dB. For the results shown in
Figure 3.13, the device is biased at Vds = 40 V and the gate bias is adjusted for Class A
operation, which results in good PAE. The PAE is about 50% from 3 GHz to 10 GHz,
and declines monotonically above X-band. However, at 30 GHz the PAE is still 30%.
The gain remains above 10 dB up to about 25 GHz, and is still 8 dB at 30 GHz. By
retuning for reduced PAE and gain it is possible to further increase the RF output power
to slightly greater than 12 W/mm.
These results indicate that AlGaN/GaN HFETs are capable of excellent DC and RF
power performance well into the mm-wave frequency spectrum, and potentially well
above 100 GHz. Excellent W and E-band RF performance has been reported [71, 75],
and an E-band amplifier produced 500mW output power with 12 dB associated gain with
about 10% PAE. With transistor power combining technology amplifiers with hundreds
3.6 Transistor DC and large-signal RF models
Iin
Vin
125
Iout
Two-Port
Network
Vout
Figure 3.14 Small-signal two-port network.
to thousands of watts of RF output power should be achievable. These amplifiers may

be capable of competing with vacuum tube amplifiers in many applications.
3.6
Transistor DC and large-signal RF models

Mathematical models for transistors find wide application for both device structure optimization and circuit design applications. Basically, there are two major types of model
in practice: (1) equivalent circuit oriented models that are used in DC and RF circuit and
system design applications; and (2) models that are based upon semiconductor device
physics. The equivalent circuit based models require that the transistor be fabricated and
characterized before the model can be defined. However, once defined, the model can be
used in RF circuit and system design applications and it provides a means to investigate
RF circuit performance and optimization without the need to actually fabricate the circuit until an optimized design is determined. The equivalent circuit models have been
extensively developed and a variety of models are now readily available in virtually all
commercially available simulators. The equivalent circuit based models are only accurate
over the range of parameters for which they were defined, and often fail when extended
outside these parameters. For this reason, new models are continually being derived and
reported in the literature. The physics-based models offer an alternate approach. These
models are based upon the fundamental semiconductor device equations and can be used
to investigate the physical operation of the transistor before fabrication occurs. In this
manner, the physics-based models can be used to investigate anomalous physical phenomena that are observed to occur in the transistor under various operating conditions,
as well as for device design optimization applications. The physics-based models are,
in general, more difficult to develop and require more intense computer resources for
solution. The models are significantly more difficult to integrate into circuit and systems
level simulators, and most of these models have been developed as stand-alone device
level simulators. A variety of these simulators is commercially available and are very
useful, particularly for device design optimization applications.
3.6.1
Equivalent circuit transistor models

Equivalent circuit models for transistors follow from linear two-port circuit analysis.
For example, a linear two-port can be represented by the block diagram shown in
Figure 3.14. The input to the circuit block has input current and voltage, iin and vin ,
126
Cgd
Rg
Rd
g
Cgs
gm
Ri
rds
Cds
Rs
s
Figure 3.15 Small-signal tee-equivalent circuit for FETs.
and the circuit block output has output current and voltage, iout and vout . Any two of the
four variables may be selected as the independent variables, and the other two as the
dependent variables and network equations established. For transistor applications it is
common to select a combination of the input voltage, vin , and the output current, iout ,
as the dependent variables, and the input current, iin , and the output voltage, v out , as the
independent variables. The network can then be described by the matrix equation

vin
h 11 h 12
i in
=
(3.7)
i out
h 21 h 22
vout
This formulation can be used to define the equivalent circuit model for the transistor.
The various h-parameter terms take on a physical meaning. For example, the h11 term
has units of resistance and represents the input impedance to the network when a shortcircuitis placed at the output terminals. Likewise, the h22 term has units of Siemens
(inverse ) and is the output admittance when an open circuit is placed at the input
terminals. The h21 parameter has no units, and represents the output current normalized
to the input current, which is the forward current gain for the network. Likewise,
the h12 parameter is the input voltage normalized to the output voltage, which is the
reverse voltage gain for the network. Other formulations are possible depending upon
the parameters selected as the dependent and independent variables. Since the entire
network is linear, one set of parameters is easily converted to another through simple
linear transformations.
The formulation permits an equivalent circuit for the transistor to be established. All
that needs to be done is to determine a configuration of circuit elements that replace the
general network block and that generate the exact same dynamic response at the network terminals as the original circuit. Various circuit configurations can be developed,
such as the hybrid-pi, or the T (tee) circuit. For microwave transistors the tee circuit is
most commonly used. The basic circuit is shown in Figure 3.15, and various circuit elements are also included to indicate various parasitic elements associated with transistor
operation. The equivalent circuit is exact in that it accurately reproduces the linear
electrical response of transistor performance and the main elements of the equivalent
circuit can be directly derived mathematically from the original two-port network. The
127
equivalent circuit is very useful for small-signal characterization of the transistor since
the equivalent circuit element values can be directly determined from measured data
by a parameter extraction process. Suitable routines are available and numerous practical techniques have been extensively reported in the literature. Parameter extraction
software is commercially available from a variety of vendors.
Nonlinear models for large-signal RF performance have been determined, based upon
the linear equivalent circuit model for the transistor. However, this process is not exact,
and it is, in general, not possible to theoretically derive an accurate nonlinear largesignal model directly from the linear equivalent circuit. Although many large-signal
equivalent circuit models have been reported in the literature and are readily available
in commercial RF circuit simulators, all of the models have been derived by developing
nonlinear expressions for the various equivalent circuit elements and then using the
resulting expressions to define the large-signal equivalent circuit model. The procedure can become complex, and generally the linear equivalent circuit model is reduced
to the most important, basic equivalent circuit elements, which are then characterized
by nonlinear functions of various combinations of input and output current and voltage. The reduced equivalent circuit showing only the basic circuit elements is shown in
Figure 3.16. The most important elements are the current generator and the input capacitance, and nonlinear expressions based upon power law, tanh(Vds ), Volterra Series, etc.
formulations have been developed. As the model development progresses, additional
elements in the equivalent circuit can be formulated as nonlinear functions and included
in the model. The resulting equivalent circuit model can accurately predict the largesignal RF performance of the transistor, but requires that the parameters in the nonlinear
expressions be determined. The only way this can be accomplished is by an experimental
parameter extraction process whereby the nonlinear terms can be determined from measured data. The complete model can be complex, with the requirement to define many
parameter values from the extracted measurement data. Many techniques for accomplishing this have been reported in the literature and most commercially available circuit
and systems simulators include suitable large-signal parameter extraction routines.
A major issue with the large-signal equivalent circuit models is that, since they
are based upon experimental extraction of the nonlinear elements, they are generally
accurate only for the range of parameters over which they have been calibrated. When
the model is driven to regions outside the original characterization space, there is no
reason to expect the circuit response to be accurate. In fact, the models often fail. For this
reason new models are continually being developed and reported. Each iteration and new
equivalent circuit model development effort is directed towards solution of a previously
observed or reported failure. The new model, of course, also requires determination of
the element parameter values by experimental extraction and calibration with measured
data. The process requires that transistors be fabricated and characterized before a
suitable model can be developed, and many transistor manufacturers routinely produce
equivalent circuit models for their transistors. However, these manufacturers models
generally only consider typical operating range data, and specific applications may
require that a new model be defined. However, once the equivalent circuit models are
determined they have proved very useful in circuit design applications.
128
Idg (Vout, Vin)
Cdg
Rg
Gate
Rd
Drain
Cgs (Vin, Vout)

Vin(t)
Igs (Vin)
Ids (Vin,
Vout)
Rds
Rin
Cds
Vout(t)
Rs
Source
Nonlinear Circuit Elements
Idg (Vout Vin)
Drain-gate voltage-controlled current source

due to drain-gate avalanche breakdown
Igs (Vin)
Gate voltage-controlled current source due to

forward biasing of the gate
Ids (Vin,Vout)
Drain-source voltage-controlled current source
Cdg (Vout Vin)
Drain-gate capacitance
Cgs (Vin,Vout)
Gate-source capacitance
Cds (Vout)
Drain-source capacitance
Rin (Vin,Vout)
Gate-source charging resistance
Rds (Vin,Vout)
Drain-source resistance
Figure 3.16 Large-signal tee-equivalent circuit for FETs.
3.6.2
Physics-based large-signal transistor models

An alternate approach to the development of transistor models is based upon solution of
the basic semiconductor device equations. The semiconductor equations consist of:
(a) the current density equations for electrons and holes,
J n = qn n E + q Dn n
(3.8)
J p = q p p E q D p p
(3.9)
and
where J is the current density, is the charge carrier mobility, n, p are the free electron
and hole densities, and D is the diffusion coefficient.
129
(b) The continuity equations for electrons and holes,

1
n
n n0
+ J n
=
t
n
q
(3.10)
p p0
p
1
=
J p
t
p
q
(3.11)
and
where no and po are the thermal equilibrium density of electrons and holes, and n and
p are the electron and hole recombination lifetimes.
(c) Faradays Law,
B
E =
t
(3.12)
which completes the basic set of equations, where E and B are the electric and magnetic
fields.
These equations can be solved simultaneously to develop a model for a semiconductor
device. Generally, solutions to these equations applied to a transistor structure are complex and difficult to solve analytically. However, the equations are readily solved using
numerical techniques and a variety of simulators based upon either finite-difference or
finite-element methods have been reported and are commercially available. These device
level simulators permit detailed investigation of the physical operation of the device and
can be used to both investigate phenomena observed in experimental measurements or
they can be used for device design and optimization studies. In general, these simulators
require significant solution time and are difficult to employ in circuit-level simulators.
The physical models, however, can be extremely accurate as all phenomena known to
affect device performance can be included. The physical models take as input data the
device structure, semiconductor material and transport parameters, and bias conditions.
The model can be set to take the voltage applied to the device terminals as input data and
return the resulting currents that flow, or set up to take the current applied to the terminals as input data and return terminal voltages. The device input and output impedances
can then be calculated from the terminal voltages and currents. The physical models are
extremely flexible and can be modified to include phenomena that are found to affect
device performance, such as charge trapping, breakdown mechanisms, surface and interface charging and discharging, and leakage currents, etc. Additionally, the device models
can be modified to include transient and nonequilibrium phenomena, ballistic transport
effects, and quantum physics behavior. These effects will increase the complexity of
the model and generally increase the simulation time, but the resulting model can be
made extremely accurate. Device simulators of this type find wide application in device
investigations of operational physics, however, the models are generally not suitable for
inclusion in circuit-level simulators.
It is possible to generate a modified physics-based model that is suitable for integration
into circuit and systems-level simulators [76]. In order to accomplish this, it is necessary
to compromise the formulation between inclusion of pertinent physical phenomena and
130
solution efficiency. The goal is to produce a model that maintains the important physical phenomena that dominate device performance, while producing a model that can
be very quickly and efficiently solved. In this manner the utility of the physics-based
approach can be coupled with the simulation efficiency of the equivalent circuit-based
approach. The model development proceeds by coupling a two-dimensional Poisson
equation solution technique with a one-dimensional current density equation. By focusing the Poisson equation solution on the area under the gate electrode in a FET an
analytic solution can be obtained [76]. The Poisson solution permits the electric field
within the transistor to be calculated as a function of structure, impurity doping, and
bias conditions. The electric field is then used to calculate the channel current density with use of the current density equation. This approach works well for structures
where the channel is narrow so that the current flow is essentially one-dimensional.
In fact, this model approach results in a physics-based transistor model that retains
the accuracy of the physics-based approach, but can be solved in an efficient manner. The model can be integrated into circuit and systems-level simulators with great
success.
The simulation work reported in this chapter makes use of the model described above,
which has been modified for use with wide bandgap semiconductor devices. Excellent
results are obtained and the model very accurately predicts the DC and RF performance
obtained experimentally.
3.7
Large-signal effects
The wide bandgap semiconductor FETs are candidates for high-RF power applications
since they can operate under high-voltage and high-current conditions. However, under
these operating conditions the devices experience a variety of physical phenomena that
affect their performance, and in some cases, produce deviations from the expected
response. In most cases the phenomena are natural physical responses to the very high
voltages and currents that occur under RF large-signal operation. The most significant
of these phenomena are described in this section.
3.7.1
Space charge limited current transport

Under high-current conditions the injected charge in a semiconductor can become comparable in magnitude to the background impurity density and space-charge limited
transport can occur [77, 78, 79]. This condition can be achieved in practical devices
under large-signal RF operation when high-magnitude input RF power is applied. The
voltage that can be supported by a semiconductor device is limited by the internal
resistance, and when high input power is applied, the injected current will increase to
satisfy the boundary conditions imposed by the applied source. Generally, under these
conditions the input impedance to the device is driven to a reduced magnitude, and
although some of the input power is reflected by the reduced impedance of the device,
3.7 Large-signal effects
131
current injection increases. The injected charge and the internal electric field are related,
as expressed by Poissons equation,
dE
q
(3.13)
= (Nd n)
dx
where E is the one-dimensional electric field in the direction of current flow, Nd is the
effective donor density that represents the positive polarization/piezoelectric charge in
HFETs, n = n o + n is the free electron density where n o is the thermal equilibrium
density of charge, and n is the density of injected charge. The thermal equilibrium
density of electrons is essentially equal to the donor density (i.e., n o
= Nd ) and when
the injected charge becomes comparable in magnitude to the thermal equilibrium density
of electrons Poissons equation is written as
q
q
dE
= (Nd n o n)
(3.14)
= n
dx
Under high-injection conditions the electric field is reduced in magnitude as a function

of increasing charge injection, and the resistivity and resistance of the semiconductor
material become a function of current injection. This effect can become significant for
semiconductor devices operated under high-current injection conditions. For low-level
injection conditions where n no , the E field is essentially independent of injection
level.
In order to determine the conditions under which space-charge effects become significant, it is illustrative to solve equation (3.13) analytically. The current density
is
J = qnv
(3.15)
where J (A/cm2 ) is the magnitude of the current density and v (cm/s) is the nonlinear
velocityfield curve, which is modeled as
v=
E
1 + |E| /E sat
(3.16)
where (cm2 /V s) is the low field mobility and E sat (V/cm) is the magnitude of electrical
field that produces velocity saturation, expressed as
Esat = vsat / = 8.0 kV/cm.
(3.17)
Equation (3.13) can be written in the form:

dE
J E + E sat
= 1 +
E sat d x
Jsat
E
(3.18)
where the parameter is

=
E sat
q Nd
(3.19)
and has the dimensions of length. The parameter is typically very small for an
AlGaN/GaN heterojunction 2DEG, since the effective doping is very high.
D = 3.5 m
0.8
D = 2.5 m
Resistivity (-cm)
132
0.6
D = 1.5 m
0.4
D = 0.5 m
0.2
0
39
39.5
40
40.5
41
Current Density (MA/cm2)
Figure 3.17 Semiconductor resistivity versus current density at the onset of spacecharge limited
transport (the various curves indicate resistivity determined at locations from the current
injection point) [77].
The solution of equation (3.18) depends on its magnitude at x = 0 which should

reflect a combination of low E and high n. For the limiting case E(0) = 0, equation
(3.18) has a solution:

(Jsat J )2 x
E sat J
(3.20)
E(x) =
1 + W e1 Jsat J
Jsat J
that can be simply written in terms of the principle real branch of the Lambert W function
for J < Jsat and the other real branch of W for J > Jsat . In equation (3.20), the length
scale

L J = Jsat J (Jsat J )2
(3.21)
is larger than the length scale of equation (3.19) but is still less than an Angstrom for
J = 12 Jsat . L J diverges near

J = Jsat .
The resistivity, = E J , as a function of distance from the source for semiconductor
fabricated using an AlGaN/GaN heterojunction 2DEG is shown in Figure 3.17. The
resistivity is essentially independent of J until a critical threshold current, JSC , is
achieved. In this example JSC 39.6 MA/cm2 . For a current density in excess of
JSC the resistivity increases rapidly both with current, and with distance from the
source injection point. Therefore, once space-charge limited transport conditions are
established, the resistivity of a semiconductor will rapidly increase, and the effect is
more significant with the length of the semiconductor region.
The analytic solution of equation (3.18) is continuous at J = Jsat but its character
changes. For J < Jsat , E(x)
= E sat J (Jsat J ) is almost independent of x except in the
region 0 < x < L J where E(x)

linearly with x. Furthermore,
133
(J J )
x. For J > Jsat , E(x)
= x vsatsat increases almost

E(x) = E sat J (Jsat J )
(3.22)
is a second exact solution of equation (3.18) for J < Jsat , in addition to being an
approximation of equation (3.20) in the region x > L J near the gate edge. In contrast
to equation (3.20), however, equation (3.22) is not continuous at Jsat and is not physical
at J = Jsat . This peculiar situation raises the possibility of mode-switching between
the continuous solution and the constant solution. The mode-switching transition may
occur for L J > L sg , when the length scale L J of equation (3.21) exceeds the length
of the access region. This transition would be abrupt in practical devices where L sg is
on the order of a micron and is much larger than = .32
A, the length parameter of

equation (3.19), because L J > L sg only for J Jsat > 1 L sg as J approaches Jsat .
The magnitude of the JSC threshold current is approximately given by the
expression
JSC
= q Nd vsat
(3.23)
and for a heterojunction 2DEG, it is assumed that Nd

= n ss / h, where h is the width
of the 2DEG quantum well. For a typical AlGaN/GaN 2DEG space-charge effects are
expected to set in for a threshold current in the range of JSC 40 MA/cm2 . This is lower
than the current density measured in experimental devices. Practical devices generally
have a maximum drain current of Ids (1 1.2) A/mm, and for a quantum well width
the current density is in the range of J 50 MA/cm2 . This indicates
of about h = 25 A,
that these devices most likely operate under space-charge limited conditions, particularly
during the high-current portion of the RF cycle. In addition, the magnitude of JSC is
expected to vary with n ss and vsat , and these parameters vary in magnitude with DC and
large-signal RF operating conditions. The magnitude of JSC , therefore, can vary with
HFET bias and RF drive, and this increases the nonlinearity of the gate-source resistance
for an HFET under large-signal drive.
3.7.2
Nonlinear source and drain resistance

The onset of space-charge limited current transport in a microwave HFET under largesignal operation will cause the source and drain resistances to significantly increase
during the high-current portion of the RF cycle. Although both the source and drain
resistances are affected, the increase in source resistance has the most significant effect
upon transistor performance. The drain resistance is essentially in series with the relatively high-magnitude output load resistance and, therefore, the increase in the device
drain resistance has minimal effect upon device performance. The source resistance,
however, is common to the transistor input and output, as indicated in the tee-equivalent
circuit, as shown in Figure 3.16, and any increase in source resistance will degrade the
transconductance of the transistor by reducing the voltage that drives the current generator. For this reason it is imperative to reduce the source resistance in a FET to the greatest
134
Cgsi
gmi
Rgs
Figure 3.18 Simplified equivalent circuit for a FET with a nonlinear source resistance.
Cgsext
gmext
Figure 3.19 Simplified equivalent circuit for a FET with the nonlinear source resistance
transformed to the gate capacitance and transconductance.
possible extent. The increase in source resistance due to the onset of space-charge limited
transport conditions will degrade transistor performance, both by decreasing the gain
capability of the transistor, and by introducing undesirable nonlinearity.
The effect of the nonlinear source resistance can be seen by reducing the equivalent
circuit in Figure 3.16 to its basic circuit elements, as shown in Figure 3.18. This equivalent
circuit can be transformed to the equivalent circuit shown in Figure 3.19 by rewriting
the element values as
gm i
(3.24)
gm ext =
1 + Rgs gm i + j R gs C gsi
and
C gsext =
C gsi
.
1 + R gs gm i + j Rgs C gsi
(3.25)
In these expressions gm ext and C gsext are the transconductance and gate-source capacitance that are observed at the input to the equivalent circuit in Figure 3.18 and gm i and
C gsi are the transconductance and gate-source capacitance intrinsic to the transistor, and
represented by the equivalent circuit shown in Figure 3.19. For low frequencies, these
equations simplify to
gm i
gm ext
(3.26)
=
1 + Rgs gm i
and
C gsext
=
C gsi
.
1 + Rgs gm i
(3.27)
According to equations (3.26) and (3.27), both the transconductance and gate-source
capacitance observed at the terminals of the transistor will decrease as the gate-source
resistance increases. The decrease in C gsext is particularly interesting, since this indicates
that the magnitude of the input impedance to the HFET will increase as the device is
driven into saturation. This is opposite to the normal operation of a FET, where the
input impedance is driven to a lower magnitude as the device is driven into saturation.
135
Cgs (pF)
1.5
1
Eqn( )
Cgs_4_0_20
0.5
Eqn( )
Cgs_4_0_30
0
4
11
16
21
Pin (dB m) (GHz)
Figure 3.20 Measured gatesource capacitance as a function of RF input power for an

AlGaN/GaN HFET for Vds = 20 V, and Vds = 30 V.
The behavior indicated in equation (3.27) is supported by measured data, as shown in

Figure 3.20. In this figure the measured input capacitance as a function of input RF power
drive is shown for an AlGaN/GaN HFET. The increased RF power drive causes increased
channel current, which has a magnitude sufficient to exceed the threshold for spacecharge limited current transport. The SCL current conditions produce an increase in the
gate-source resistance, which produces the reduction in C gsex as expressed in equation
(3.27). The C gsex magnitude is reduced by almost a factor of two over the measured
range of input power, and this produces an increase in the device input impedance by a
corresponding factor. The SCL current transport phenomenon has the desirable result of
increasing the terminal impedances, which make it easier to design the transistor input
amplifier, and other circuits.
The onset of space-charge limited current can theoretically affect both depletion mode
HFETs, as well as enhancement mode MOS type FETs (e.g., Si LDMOS FETs). The
depletion mode HFETs have an inherent advantage of lower input capacitance compared
to the enhancement mode FETs for a constant RF output power and supply voltage
due to geometrical factors (e.g., thicker dielectric layers that result in the conducting
channel being located farther from the gate electrode). It should be noted that the onset
of space-charge limited current and the increase in the gate-source resistance under
large-signal operation conditions has not been observed in the normal operation of
Si LDMOS FETs or compound semiconductor MESFETs and HEMTs. The affect is
commonly observed and appears to dominate in the nitride-based HFETs, most likely
due to the higher current densities and internal electric fields under which the wide
bandgap semiconductor nitride-based HFETs operate.
The measured and simulated performance of the source and drain resistances as a
function of current for an AlGaN/GaN HFET are shown in Figure 3.21. As shown, once
12
10
Simulated
8
Rs, Rd (Ohm)
136
Measured
6
Rs
4
Rd
2
0
0.1
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.5
0.6
Drain Current (A)
Figure 3.21 Measured and simulated source and drain resistances as a function of drain current for
an AlGaN/GaN HFET.
space-charge limited current transport conditions are achieved the source and drain resistances demonstrate current-dependent characteristics and increase with current drive. In
fact, simulations indicate that under high-current drive conditions the source and drain
resistance for the HFET can increase by up to an order of magnitude.
The effect of a nonlinear source resistance upon on an HFET amplifier circuit can
be significant. This can be shown by a circuit simulation in which a nonlinear, currentdependent source resistance is included [77, 80]. For this study, a harmonic-balance
simulator that includes a physics-based FET model [76] is used. The HFET device
model has been modified by inclusion of a source resistance in the form
Rs = rss + rss =
rss
1
(3.28)
I SC
where Rs is the source resistance, rss is the low-current magnitude of the resistance
in the gate-source region, r ss is the increase in resistance after the onset of spacecharge effects, and I SC is the spacecharge threshold current previously discussed. The
nonlinear source resistance is a function of the time-dependent RF current and is included
on the time domain, nonlinear side of the harmonic-balance interface. In this manner
the source resistance is a function of the conduction current in the transistor.
The modified simulator was used to investigate the DC and RF operation of a communications band AlGaN/GaN HFET amplifier. The HFET device had a gate length and
width of L g = 0.8 m and W = 0.4 mm, respectively. The device was biased with a
drain voltage of Vds = 28v and was operated class A-B at a frequency of F = 2.14 GHz.
The device demonstrated premature gain compression and was, therefore, selected as a
137
0.4
Vgs = +1 V
Vgs = 0 V
Drain Current (A)
0.3
Vgs = 1 V
0.2
Vgs = 2 V
0.1
Vgs = 3 V
Vgs = 4 V
0
0
10
15
20
25
Drain Voltage (V)
Figure 3.22 Measured and simulated DC IV characteristics for an AlGaN/GaN HFET
(Lg = 0.8 mm, W = 0.4 mm) [77].
candidate to determine if a nonlinear source resistance could explain the gain compression behavior.
The measured and simulated DC IV characteristics for the HFET are shown in
Figure 3.22. As indicated in Figure 3.22, excellent agreement between the measured and
simulated data is obtained. In the simulation a low-field mobility of = 1500 cm2 /V
sec and an electron saturation velocity of vsat = 1.25 107 cm/sec were used. The
mobility was measured and the saturation velocity was adjusted to get agreement with
the measured IV characteristics. The saturation velocity used is below the theoretical
value for electrons in an AlGaN/GaN 2DEG, but is consistent with measured data.
Without inclusion of the current-dependent nonlinear source resistance, the simulated
current increasingly deviated from the measured data as the gate bias voltage was
increased from pinch-off and adjusted for increasing channel current.
The measured and simulated RF performance and the DC drain and gate current as
a function of input power to the amplifier are shown in Figures 3.23, 3.24, and 3.25,
respectively. In the simulation seven harmonics were used in the harmonic-balance
routine. The amplifier was tuned for maximum PAE. Excellent agreement between
the measured and simulated device performance and the DC drain and gate current
are obtained. The amplifier produced a peak PAE of 53%, with RF output power of
34 dBm and a gain of 19 dB. The linear gain for the amplifier was 25 dB. The experimental
amplifier demonstrated premature gain compression and a degradation of gain beginning
at an input power of slightly below about 0 dBm. Significantly, the simulated results
accurately predict the change in slope of the gain response, as shown in Figure 3.23. The
55
Sim. Po
Meas. Po
Sim. G
Meas. G
Sim. PAE
Meas. PAE
50
Po (dB m) Gain (dB) PAE (%)
45
40
35
Nonlinear Source Resistance Onset
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
10
10
15
20
Input Power (dB m)
Figure 3.23 Measured and simulated RF output power, gain, and PAE versus RF input power for
an AlGaN/GaN HFET amplifier (freq = 2.14 GHz, Vds = 28 V, Class AB) [77].
0.18
0.16
Simulated
Measured
0.14
Drain Current (A)
138
0.12
0.1
0.08
0.06
0.04
0.02
10 8 6
4 2
2
4 6
8 10
Input Power (dB m)
12 14
16
18 20
Figure 3.24 Measured and simulated DC drain current versus RF input power for an AlGaN/GaN
HFET amplifier (freq = 2.14 GHz, Vds = 28 V, Class AB) [77].
139
0.001
0.0008
Gate Current (A)
0.0006
0.0004
0.0002
0
0.0002
0.0004
10 8 6 4 2
10 12 14 16 18 20
Input Power (dB m)
Figure 3.25 Measured and simulated DC gate current versus RF input power for an AlGaN/GaN
HFET amplifier (freq = 2.14 GHz, Vds = 28 V, Class AB).
Pin = 14.8 dB m
Pin = 0.0 dB m
Gate Voltage (V)
0
2
4
6
8
10
0
(a)
50
100
150
200
250
300
350
400
450
500
Time (ps)
Figure 3.26a RF gate voltage versus time response for an AlGaN/GaN HFET amplifier
(the two waveforms indicate operation at the onset of spacecharge-limited transport,
and under maximum PAE).
simulator predicts both the change in gain slope at Pin = 0 dBm, and the gain saturation
that occurs after maximum PAE is achieved. The change in gain slope is caused by the
onset of space-charge limited current transport conditions.
The time domain voltage and current waveforms at the gate and drain terminals are shown in Figures 3.26 and 3.27. Figures 3.26a and 3.26b show the voltage
0.2
Pin = 14.8 dB m
Pin = 0.0 dB m
0.15
Gate Current (A)
0.1
0.05
0
0.05
0.1
0.15
0.2
0
50
100
150
200
(b)
250
300
350
400
450
500
Time (ps)
Figure 3.26b RF gate current versus time response for an AlGaN/GaN HFET amplifier (the two
waveforms indicate operation at the onset of space-charge-limited transport conditions, and
under maximum PAE.
60
50
Drain Voltage (V)
140
Pin = 14.8 dB m
Pin = 0.0 dB m
40
30
20
10
0
0
(a)
50
100
150
200
250
300
Time (ps)
350
400
450
500
Figure 3.27a RF drain voltage versus time response for an AlGaN/GaN HFET amplifier (the two
waveforms indicate operation at the onset of spacecharge-limited transport conditions, and

under maximum PAE).
and current waveforms at the gate terminal under low drive (Pin = 0 dBm) and
large-signal operating conditions where the input power is sufficient to produce maximum PAE. The same waveforms at the drain terminal are shown in Figures 3.27a
and 3.27b.
141
0.4
0.35
P in = 14.8 dB m
P in = 0.0 dB m
Drain Current (A)
0.3
0.25
0.2
0.15
0.1
0.05
0
0.05
0
(b)
50
100
150
200
250
300
350
400
450
500
Time (ps)
Figure 3.27b RF drain current versus time response for an AlGaN/GaN HFET amplifier (the two
under maximum PAE).
For the low RF drive Pin = 0 dBm condition, the gate voltage and current are essentially
low-amplitude sinusoids, as expected. Since the Pin = 0 dB drive condition is sufficient
to produce some saturation, a slight deviation from pure sinusoidal behavior is noted,
particularly in the RF voltage. The shift in phase in the gate RF voltage waveform at the
higher drive condition shown in Figure 3.26a is due to the shift in gate-source capacitance
at the higher drive levels, as previously discussed. As the device is driven into saturation
the gate voltage grows in amplitude and shows the effects of harmonic generation. The
gate RF current waveform shown in Figure 3.26b becomes highly nonlinear as the device
is driven into saturation, and the seven harmonics are clearly evident. The mechanism that
causes the nonlinearity is not evident in the gate terminal waveforms. The gate voltage
does not obtain a magnitude sufficient to cause either forward or significant reverse
conduction of the gate electrode. Some reverse conduction does occur and this generates
a small, but finite, DC reverse conduction in the gate electrode. The small negative
reverse gate conduction was observed in both the experimental data and the simulation.
However, the small amount of reverse conduction is not sufficient to clip the gate RF
current waveform and generate the nonlinear behavior observed in the waveform in
Figure 3.26b.
The RF voltage and current waveforms at the drain terminal are shown in Figures
3.27a and 3.27b, respectively. Again, the waveforms for the low-drive and maximum PAE conditions are shown. The low-drive RF drain voltage waveform shown in
Figure 3.27a indicates the onset of saturation, and slight deviation from sinusoidal behavior is observed. The large-signal RF waveform demonstrates significant clipping, both
at low and high RF voltages, and the waveform becomes more squared in shape. The
clipping at the low-drain voltages is caused by the total RF terminal voltage dropping
5
Nonlinear Source Resistance (Ohm)
142
4.5
4
P in = 14.8 dB m
P in = 0.0 dB m
3.5
3
2.5
2
1.5
1
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
350
400
450
500
Time (ps)
Figure 3.28 Source resistance versus time response for an AlGaN/GaN HFET amplifier (the two
under maximum PAE).
below the RF knee of the IV characteristic, and the clipping at high drain voltages is
caused by the onset of RF breakdown in the conducting channel. The RF drain current
waveforms are shown in Figure 3.27b. The large-signal RF current demonstrates the
squaring behavior caused by the drain voltage waveform clipping mechanisms that
occur at low and high voltage magnitudes. The RF voltage and current are essentially
out-of-phase, with the current magnitude being high when the voltage magnitude is low,
and vice versa. The waveform clipping generates harmonics, which are clearly observed
in the large-signal RF current.
The RF drain current shown in Figure 3.27b consists essentially of conduction current,
which flows through the conducting channel from the source to the drain. When the
threshold for space-charge limited flow is reached the resistance of the material will
become a function of the magnitude of the current and the gate-source resistance will
become nonlinear. The magnitudes of the source resistance under the low drive and
large-signal conditions are shown in Figure 3.28. The onset of space-charge dependent
resistance is observed for the Pin = 0 dBm input drive condition during the high-current
portion of the RF cycle. The source resistance increases from a DC magnitude of
Rs = 1.85 to a peak magnitude of about Rs = 2.4 . However, under large-signal
conditions the source resistance becomes highly nonlinear and increases significantly
during the high-current portion of the cycle. Since the RF drain current shown in
Figure 3.27b is composed essentially of conduction current, the magnitude of the source
resistance is directly dependent upon this current. The magnitude of the source resistance
increases from the DC magnitude of Rs = 1.85 to almost Rs
= 5 during the peak
of the RF drain current. Increasing the drain voltage results in an increased magnitude of
the nonlinear source resistance during the high-current portion of the RF cycle, as shown
143
Nonlinear Source Resistance (Ohm)
10
9
8
7
vds = 28 V
vds = 38 V
vds = 48 V
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
350
400
450
500
Time (ps)
Figure 3.29 Source resistance versus time response for an algan/gan HFET amplifier at maximum
PAE conditions for Vds = 28 V, 38 V, and 48 V.
in Figure 3.29. In this figure the results obtained by increasing the drain voltage from
Vds = 28 V, to Vds = 48 V are shown. For Vds = 48 V the source resistance increases by
almost an order of magnitude during the high-current portion of the RF cycle compared
to the small-signal value.
The nonlinear behavior of the source resistance helps explain the behavior of the
RF gate current shown in Figure 3.26b. Although the RF gate current is composed
essentially of displacement current, the gate circuit requires conduction through the
gate-source region, which is normally a low-value resistance, and the magnitude of the
RF gate current is dependent upon the magnitude of the source resistance. The harmonic
generation due to the clipping of the RF drain current is transferred to the gate circuit and
the magnitude of the gate current is, therefore, affected by the magnitude of the source
resistance. The input impedance to the transistor is essentially a series combination of
the gate-source capacitance and the nonlinear source resistance.
The nonlinear source resistance has a significant effect upon the operation of the
device. The source resistance essentially couples the input gate circuit to the output
drain circuit for the device, as shown in the equivalent circuit shown in Figure 3.18.
The drain current generator is driven by the voltage generated across the gate-source
capacitance, according to the expression,
i out = gmi vgs e j
(3.29)
where i out is the HFET RF output current, gmi is the intrinsic transconductance (mS),
(s) is a delay time, and vgs is the RF voltage across the gatesource capacitance.
The transconductance that is developed at the device output is reduced by the source
resistance, according to equation (3.26), as previously discussed.
144
@ Surface of AlGaN Layer
E (V/cm)
E (V/cm)
@ Mid-Point of Conducting Channel
Microns
Microns
E = 2 106 V/cm
Figure 3.30 Electric field magnitude versus distance at the mid point of the conducting channel
and at the surface of the AlGaN Layer for an AlGaN/GaN HFET (the top curve is the total E
field and the bottom curve is the x-directed E field. The dotted lines indicate the critical E field
for breakdown in GaN.) [79].
3.7.3
Gate leakage
When a high drain bias voltage is applied and the HFET is driven with a large RF signal
the peak voltage at the drain can obtain a magnitude essentially twice the magnitude of
the bias voltage. Detailed simulations indicate that the magnitude of the electric field
at the edge of the gate electrode on the drain side can easily exceed Ec68 MV/cm,
as shown in Figure 3.30, which is sufficient to produce quantum mechanical electron
tunneling.
The curves in Figure 3.30 indicate the electric field at the mid-point of the conducting
channel and at the surface of the AlGaN layer. Both the magnitudes of the total electric
field and the x-directed (i.e., in the direction of current flow) electric field are shown.
The dotted line indicates the assumed breakdown voltage, which is in the range of
Ec2 MV/cm. As indicated, both the total and x-directed electric field for the stated
operating conditions significantly exceed the breakdown voltage. The electric field at
the gate edge near the surface has a magnitude on the order of E8 MV/cm, which
is sufficient to produce significant electron tunneling. Experimental data indicates that
electron tunneling, in fact, occurs.
The electrons that tunnel from the gate electrode can (a) accumulate on the surface of
the semiconductor next to the gate, (b) conduct along the surface by a trap-to-trap hopping
mechanism, creating a gate-to-drain leakage current, or (c) possibly travel through the
AlGaN layer to the 2DEG conducting channel, as shown in Figure 3.31. Measured data
indicate that the surface leakage path is dominant under practical operating conditions,
145
Electrostatic feedback Surface Leakage

(Primary mechanism)
Gate
AIGaN
Electron
Tunneling
Gate/Channel Leakage
(Secondary mechanism)
Electrostatic
depletion
2DEG
GaN
Figure 3.31 Gate electron leakage paths in an AlGaN/GaN HFET [79].
and the path through the AlGaN layer only occurs for extreme conditions following
defect creation that can occur under high electric fields, etc.
In addition, if the energy of the electrons is sufficiently high, they can cause avalanche
ionization on the surface next to the gate. When this occurs electrons tunnel from the
gate metal to the semiconductor surface area adjacent to the gate with sufficient energy
to cause avalanche ionization, which is accompanied by light emission from the gate
edge. Light emission from the gate edge is often observed in the large-signal operation of
GaAs MESFETs and InP-based HEMTs, and has been observed in AlGaN/GaN HFETs
under certain operating conditions. This indicates that surface breakdown occurs in the
nitride devices and can be a factor affecting reliability. Avalanche ionization also occurs
in the conducting channel of these devices and is a factor in the RF operation of the
device when operated under large-signal drive. RF channel breakdown is, in fact, a factor
that affects gain saturation in the HFET devices.
When the electrons accumulate on the surface of the semiconductor at the gate, a
virtual gate effect is created, where the gate effectively increases in length as the
electron tunneling proceeds and the density of electrons on the semiconductor surface
increases. The electrons that accumulate on the surface of the semiconductor create an
electrostatic charge that produces a partial depletion of the conducting channel electrons,
thereby causing a reduction in the channel current, and a corresponding decrease in RF
output power. The electron tunneling and charge accumulation continue as a function
of time. This mechanism is the primary physical basis for the nondestructive reliability
problem associated with these devices. Typical performance degradation is shown in
Figure 3.32, which shows the measured DC channel current and RF output power as a
function of time. The increasing electrostatic charge acts to suppress further tunneling
of the electrons from the gate metal, thereby limiting the effect. In this manner, the
mechanism is self-limiting.
The measured DC conduction current degradation shown in Figure 3.32 correlates
with a degradation in RF output power. The current conduction characteristics vary with
time and with device design, surface processing, and passivation, and varying power
degradation results are obtained. It is possible to modify and reduce the tunnel leakage
by the use of optimized field-plate device designs, and by the use of passivation, which
minimizes the RF power degradation. With proper and optimized passivation, DC current
146
Change in Idss (%)
10
10
20
0
100
200
300
(a)
400
500
600
Stress Time (hr)
700
800
900
700
800
900
Change in Pout (dB)
2
0
(b)
100
200
300
400
500
600
Stress Time (hr)
Figure 3.32 (a) Measured change in channel current (Idss ) and (b) RF output power versus time for
an AlGaN/GaN HFET (various lines indicate different devices included in the measurement)
[79].
and RF output power degradation can be minimal, at least for limited ranges of DC bias
voltage.
3.7.4
Reliability and time-dependent performance degradation

One of the dominant reliability problems experienced by nitride-based HFET devices
has been linked to gate leakage [79, 80]. Although gate leakage is not the only problem
affecting device reliability, it is a first-order problem that needs to be solved before these
devices find widespread application. The problem is manifested as a time-dependent
decrease in drain current and RF output power, as shown in Figure 3.32, and has been
primarily addressed through surface passivation techniques.
The degradation is observed to vary significantly with surface passivation processes
and from manufacturer to manufacturer. Also, gate leakage is not the only mechanism
that results in drain current and RF output power degradation but it was among the first
to be addressed. The phenomenon is reversible and does not produce permanent damage
147
Gate tunnel leakage
Itun
Irev
Id
Ig
Gate
t t
Drain
[C]
Icon
Ichbd Rd
Ifor
Rs
RF channel
breakdown
Source
Figure 3.33 Large-signal HFET model used in the performance simulations [79].
or degradation to the device, and a period of inactivity generally results in the device
returning to its initial performance. However, this recovery has also been observed to be
a false recovery as when stress is reapplied to the device, it quickly degrades to its last
degraded state. Additionally, under certain operating conditions, a sudden reliability
problem has been observed [81], where permanent degradation in device performance
occurs. Devices that experience this problem are characterized by high-magnitude gate
leakage.
A model for gate tunnel leakage in GaAs MESFETs has been reported [82]. This
model has been modified for use with AlGaN/GaN HFETs, and the modified model
can be used in a harmonic-balance simulator to investigate the gate tunnel mechanism
as a function of DC and RF operating conditions. The model is shown in Figure 3.33.
The gate tunnel leakage is represented as a current generator between the gate and
drain electrodes. The model also includes RF breakdown within the conducting channel,
which is represented by a current generator between the drain and source.
This model accurately simulates the DC and RF performance of AlGaN/GaN HFETs,
and the simulated and measured RF performance for a class A-B 2.14 GHz communications band AlGaN/GaN HFET amplifier are shown in Figure 3.23, and the measured
and simulated Ids and Igs as a function of input power were shown in Figures 3.24 and
3.25, respectively. As shown in Figure 3.25, the gate conducts a small, but finite and
negative leakage current for the entire range of input power, until the gate junction is
driven into forward conduction at an input RF power of about Pin = 17 dBm. The model
is in excellent quantitative agreement with the measured data for the reverse leakage
conduction characteristics of the gate, and in qualitative agreement for the forward
conduction, but slightly underestimates the input power required to drive the gate into
forward conduction.
As electrons tunnel from the gate to the AlGaN surface they can accumulate next to
the gate electrode. The space charge from the electrons provides an electrostatic feedback to the gate that works to suppress the tunnel leakage, as shown in Figure 3.31.
Electrostatic feedback
ntun (t )
Surface charge
Nd Surface conduction
NTA
AIGaN
Figure 3.34 Gate electron tunnel leakage and surface conduction model [79, 83].
6.40E-02
6.30E-02
NTA = 2 1011 cm2
6.20E-02
Ids (A)
148
6.10E-02
6.00E-02
NTA = 5 1011 cm2
5.90E-02
0
200
(a)
400
600
800
1000
Time (s)
Figure 3.35a Simulated DC channel current versus time for two values of the acceptor-like surface
trap (NTA) density [79, 83].
This introduces time dependence to the gate leakage, with a corresponding time dependence associated with the RF power degradation. This effect can be modeled by introduction of a surface conduction layer that permits a variable surface charge, as shown in
Figure 3.34. The NTA term represents the acceptor-like surface trap density, and can be
expressed as
NTA = Nd n tun (t),
(3.30)
where Nd is the surface conduction layer charge density, and ntun (t) is the time-dependent
tunnel charge density. In this model, the electrons that tunnel and accumulate next to the
gate effectively reduce the density of the surface conduction electrons in this region and
permit a varying surface trap density next to the gate to be determined.
The model shown in Figure 3.34 reproduces the drain and gate currents observed
in measured data. Measured and simulated time-dependent DC drain and gate currents
are shown in Figure 3.35a and 3.35b, respectively, for two values of the acceptor-like
surface trap density. Note that as the electrons accumulate on the surface near the gate,
the magnitude of the tunnel leakage current is affected and the gate and drain currents
become time-dependent. As the NTA density varies, the degree of electrostatic feedback
is affected, with corresponding effects upon the gate leakage current, and the drain
current degradation.
2.28E-05
149
NTA = 5 1011 cm2
2.32E-05
2.36E-05
Ig (A)
2.40E-05
2.44E-05
NTA = 2 1011 cm2
2.48E-05
2.52E-05
2.56E-05
2.60E-05
0
(b)
200
400
600
800
1000
Time (s)
Figure 3.35b Simulated DC gate current versus time for two values of the acceptor-like surface
trap (NTA) density[79, 83].
The magnitude of the electric field at the gate edge is a function of the device design
and the magnitude of the terminal voltages experienced by the device while in operation.
A reduction in the electric field will reduce the gate leakage current. AlGaN/GaN HFETs
produce a very high-magnitude electric field at the gate edge due to the high sheet carrier
concentration in the 2DEG. Very low channel resistance results, and minimal potential
drop occurs along the channel region from the drain to the gate until the gate depletion
region is encountered. Essentially the entire drain potential is supported over the narrow
depletion region and a very high-peak E field results. Techniques to reduce the magnitude
of the electric field at the gate edge include the use of field-plates, n-doped GaN cap
layers, controlled polarization-induced surface charges [81], and modifications of the
2DEG sheet-charge density.
Two main current paths for gate leakage currents can be identified. The main path
is established by electron tunnel leakage from the gate, with electrons flowing along
or near the AlGaN surface to the drain contact. The electron conduction occurs by a
trap-to-trap hopping mechanism, where both thermionic emission and tunneling are
likely involved, as illustrated in Figure 3.36. Simulations indicate that it is likely that
the exact conduction mechanism changes as the electric field increases due to high
DC and RF terminal voltages. This performance degradation process is essentially
reversible and nondestructive, and removal of the bias and drive signals, with a period
of device inactivity, causes the device to return to its initial state. However, as previously indicated, reapplication of DC and RF voltages often result in the device returning
to a degraded state, which indicates that some permanent damage has occurred. The
second current path consists of electron tunneling from the gate, with electron flow
through the AlGaN layer to the 2DEG conducting channel. This current path requires
a higher electric field, and often produces permanent damage to the AlGaN semiconductor lattice, with increased gate leakage. The lattice damage is observed in TEM
images.
Electrons can
accumulate creating
virtual gate
Strained Energy
Band
Electron tunneling E
parameters Nss, M *tun
Thermionic Emission
Tunnel Emission
Vdg = 0
EF
s
Surface hopping
parameters G, s
Vdg = V
Gate Metal
AIGaN Surface
Figure 3.36 Detailed model for gate-tunnel leakage and surface trap-to-trap hopping
conduction [79].
0.2
Vg s = 0 V
0.18
0.16
0.14
Ids (A/mm)
150
0.12
Solid Lines: Measured Data
Points: Simulation Data
0.1
0.08
0.06
Vg s = 2.5 V
0.04
0.02
Vg s = 5 V
0
0
(a)
5
Vds (V)
10
Figure 3.37a Measured and simulated DC IV characteristics for an AlGaN/GaN HFET using the
gate-tunnel leakage and surface conduction model [79, 83].
Using the gate tunnel leakage and surface conduction model it is possible to simulate
the drain and gate current characteristics with excellent accuracy in comparison to
measured data [83, 84]. For example, the model shown in Figure 3.34 produces the drain
and gate IV characteristics shown in Figure 3.37. Figure 3.37a and Figure 3.37b show
the measured and simulated drain current and gate current for a AlGaN/GaN HFET. The
gate tunnel leakage and surface conduction model accurately predicts the gate leakage
and surface conduction current and accurately simulates both the drain and gate current
151
0.00E+00
Vgs = 1 V
2.00E-05
Vgs = 3 V
Ig (A)
4.00E-05
6.00E-05
Vgs = 5 V
8.00E-05
1.00E-04
Vg s= 7 V (measured)
Vg s= 7 V (simulated)
Vgs = 7 V
1.20E-04
0.00E+00 2.00E+00 4.00E+00 6.00E+00 8.00E+00 1.00E+00
Vds (V)
(b)
Figure 3.37b Measured and simulated DC gate current characteristics for an AlGaN/GaN HFET
using the gate-tunnel leakage and surface conduction model [79, 83].
48.5
48
Id (m/A)
47.5
47
46.5
46
45.5
45
44.5
0
(a)
100
200
300
400
500
Time (s)
Figure 3.38a Measured and simulated DC drain current versus time for an AlGaN/GaN HFET
including the effects of gate tunnel leakage and surface conduction (points are measured data
and the line is simulated data) [79, 83].
characteristics. The model can be extended to time-dependent conditions, as shown in

Figure 3.38 [83, 84]. Figures 3.38a and Figure 3.38b show the measured and simulated
time-dependent DC gate and drain currents, respectively.
The simulations are performed with a model that includes the effects of electrostatic
feedback from the electrons that tunnel to the surface of the AlGaN layer adjacent to
the gate electrode. The simulation results are compared to experimental data and excellent agreement between the measured and simulated data is obtained. The electrostatic
feedback reduces the electric field at the edge of the gate electrode, thereby reducing the
electron tunnel leakage. As electrons accumulate at the gate edge as a function of stress
time, the feedback produces reduced gate leakage current. Also, the increased electron
152
0
0.001
Ig (m/A)
0.002
0.003
0.004
0.005
0.006
0.007
0
(b)
100
200
300
400
500
Time (s)
Figure 3.38b Measured and simulated DC gate current versus time for an AlGaN/GaN HFET
including the effects of gate tunnel leakage and surface conduction (points are measured data
and the line is simulated data) [79, 83].
density on the AlGaN surface partially depletes the 2DEG electrons, and a reduction in
gate current occurs.
3.8
Summary
Wide bandgap semiconductors, that is SiC and nitride-based heterostructures, can be
used to fabricate high-frequency transistors with RF power performance superior to
those fabricated from GaAs or Si. The most promising RF devices are FETs fabricated
from 4H-SiC and HFETs fabricated from the AlGaN/GaN heterostructure. Optimized
4H-SiC FETs can produce RF output power on the order of 45 W/mm, which is a
factor of four greater than obtainable from GaAs devices. Amplifiers fabricated from
4H-SiC MESFETs will be useful, particularly for RF applications in S and C-band
communications, and potentially for X-Band radars. The AlGaN/GaN HFET can produce RF power density on the order of 1012 W/mm, with very good PAE. Prototype
nitride-based HFETs have produced a spot RF output power density as high as 30 W/mm,
although this required drain bias of Vds = 120 V. The high mobility and sheet-charge density of the AlGaN/GaN heterostructure permit the fabrication of HFETs with excellent
high-frequency performance, and devices that can operate up to and potentially exceed
100 GHz have been demonstrated. For both 4H-SiC and AlGaN/GaN HFETs poweradded efficiencies approach the ideal for operation up to X-band in both Class A and
B operation. For X-band and below the SiC and AlGaN/GaN transistors are competitive with each other, and both produce RF output power superior to GaAs-based and
InP-based transistors, while providing equivalent gain and PAE. Above X-band the
AlGaN/GaN HFETs will dominate. However, improved thermal design is required to
obtain the theoretically predicted performance, particularly for AlGaN/GaN HFETs,
which are generally fabricated from material grown on SiC substrates. Both 4H-SiC
and AlGaN/GaN devices are likely to find application in power amplifiers for base
References
153
station transmitters for wireless communications, HDTV transmitters, power modules

for phased-array radars, and other applications. The devices are particularly attractive
for applications that require high RF output power and operation at elevated temperature. These solid state devices should provide an alternative to the use of microwave
vacuum tubes in many transmitter applications. The wide bandgap semiconductor transistors, due to their inherently high input and output impedances, are attractive for use
in power-combining, broad bandwidth, and phased-array radar applications.
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Amplifier classes, A to S1
Steve Cripps
Cardiff University
4.1
Introduction
The alphabetical classification of electronic amplifiers appears to date back to the earliest
era of electronics, and as such could well be approaching the centenary mark. Its
survival to the present day represents a remarkable continuity, given the vast changes
in technology that have taken place in the intervening decades. It can also represent
a distraction for the modern RFPA designer working with solid state active devices
and GHz frequencies, both of which were well below the horizon when the original
classification came into general use. The plan in this chapter is to introduce and define
the various Classes,1 and then consider how the original intent is often modified in
typical modern applications, sometimes to the point where the original concept migrates
into something palpably different.
Although the definitions of Class A, AB, B, and C are well established and have a
long historical precedent, the subsequent Classes (D, E, F, etc.) are of much more recent
origin and in some cases have suffered from different interpretations by different authors.
A curious but endemic feature of this subject is the assertive use of classifications by
authors and designers when the final amplifier current and voltage waveforms have not
been (and in many cases cannot easily be) measured directly. This has been known to
lead to considerable controversy, given that some amplifier Classes have even been
patented. Another issue which comes up when addressing this subject with a modern
perspective is the intrusion of digital approaches to power amplification, primarily in the
form of so-called switch modes. As active device technology improves, the frequency
range at which it can be made to behave as a near-ideal switch increases. Until recently,
this range could be reasonably restricted to the HF (MHz to tens of MHz) region,
but newer technologies such as gallium arsenide and gallium nitride have extended this
region into the VHF (hundreds of MHz), and more arguably into the microwave
(GHz) region. There is thus something of a gray area, where a particular amplifier can
be considered as a smoothed-out switch mode, or alternatively as a more conventional
analogue PA class with some extra harmonic components. Both of these approaches will
be described in the later sections on Class S, E, and J amplifier.
The word Class has such specific and specialised importance in this chapter that I will capitalize it
throughout.
160
Amplifier classes, A to S
Efficiency is the central issue in the evolution of amplifier classes. The Class A
amplifier can be considered to be a logical starting point, and will be described first.
It has several positive attributes, notably simplicity of implementation, linearity, and
high potential operating bandwidth. It does however have only moderate efficiency, even
at maximum signal drive conditions, and this is what led early amplifier developers
to explore Class AB modes, where the device is deliberately shut off for a portion
of each RF signal cycle. This can have a dramatic effect in terms of increased efficiency, but almost always comes at a price of reduced overall linearity. As we progress
through the alphabet in the PA idiom, this tradeoff between efficiency and linearity in
general continues. A highly efficient Class C amplifier, for example, cannot be considered at all in applications having any form of amplitude modulation on the signal
carrier.
Since the start of the digital communications era, there has been a marked emphasis
on linear RF power amplification, that is to say the system RFPA is required to amplify
the signal in its final, fully modulated form. This represented something of a seachange for the RFPA industry, since in older systems it was more common to use
the RFPA itself as a high-level modulator. Vacuum tubes appear to have been very
amenable to the use of supply voltage variation as a means of imposing amplitude
modulation (AM) on to the carrier. As silicon RF power transistors began to appear in
the early 1960s, it seems that a major re-think took place, since these devices displayed
highly nonlinear behavior under conditions of supply modulation. Conveniently (and,
presumably, not serendipitously) there was a shift to angle modulation (frequency
and phase modulation), especially in mobile transmitters, whereby the transmitter RFPA
could be run at constant amplitude level. This allowed the ongoing use of efficient Class
C-type amplifier designs and was something of a disincentive for device technology
development towards more linear performance. But the more recent development of
systems using complex, digitally based, modulation schemes has forced RFPA design,
and the underlying device technology, to comply with stringent linearity specifications.
There is nevertheless a counter-culture evident in the modern RFPA community,
which seeks to reinstate the old regime. In principle, a digitally modulated signal can
still be sent using only nonlinear RF amplification. The basic concept is to generate
a constant envelope signal which carries the appropriate phase modulation, and then
use supply modulation (and/or alternatives) to generate the required AM. The nonlinear relationship between the supply voltage and the output RF envelope amplitude
can be managed in a modern system through the use of digital correction techniques,
either on the tracking voltage itself, the signal envelope, or both. Such LINC (linear
amplification using non-linear components) RFPA systems can in principle be much
more efficient than the linear approach, although the efficiency at which the tracking
voltage supply can be generated is a negative factor which must always be taken into
account. LINC system design has thus renewed interest in the design of highly efficient
amplifiers without the constraint of linearity. The classical solution of Class C mode is
less attractive in solid state design, and this is the area in which switching, or quasiswitching RFPAs such as Classes D and E may well have a major role to play in future
systems.
4.2 Active device models
161
Despite these possible future directions, the vast majority of RFPAs in current use
have been designed for Class A (Section 4.3) or Class AB (Section 4.4) operation.
Class A tends to predominate at higher GHz frequencies where applications usually
demand highly linear performance, and RF bandwidths can be 10% or greater. Wireless
communications systems, which typically use much narrower bandwidths, usually favour
Class AB operation in order to maximize efficiency. Linearity requirements are, however,
rapidly approaching those encountered in satellite communications and microwave link
applications, and digital signal processing usually has to be employed in order to meet
linearity specifications in Class AB operation. We note Class B (Section 4.4) somewhat
in passing, as a singular point that divides Class AB from Class C (Section 4.5).
Class F (Section 4.6) is something of the joker in the pack, in at least one sense, but
has been the subject of much research over the last decade or so. It can be considered as a
derivative of Class AB operation, and has been used in both linear and LINC applications.
In a linear application, it can in principle increase the efficiency at peak power levels,
without compromising linearity, but in practice poses some difficult circuit design issues,
especially for higher power devices at GHz frequencies. In LINC applications it can
challenge the efficiency of the more fashionable switch modes, and in specific cases may
supply a higher output power due to better control of peak voltage.
Other PA classes come and go according to the whims of researchers and patent
attorneys, so as we proceed beyond Class F then definitions become a little harder to
find, let alone to summarize. There are also some discrepancies between audio and RF
electronics in the definition of some amplifier classes. The most notable of these is
the Class D audio amplifier which is basically a pulse width modulator and is usually
denoted as Class S at RF and Microwave frequencies (hence there is no section in
this chapter on Class D). Also, in the audio world Class G and Class H are well defined
but these terms have not come into general use at RF. Ironically, the audio definitions
essentially utilize a technique known as envelope tracking, or ET, which is used at RF
but has never been classified alphabetically. Section 4.11 attempts to summarize some
of the miscellaneous categories.
4.2
Active device models

In defining and analyzing RFPA Classes it is logical to adopt a common device model.
At the outset, however, it has to be noted that RFPA devices fall into two distinct physical
kingdoms, the bipolar transistor and the FET. Within these two kingdoms lie numerous
genera; for example the most widely used bipolar device at GHz frequencies is the
Heterojunction Bipolar Transistor, or HBT, but at higher power levels and lower (UHF)
frequencies, the more traditional Si bipolar junction transistor (BJT) still survives.
FET devices come in a somewhat greater diversity, both in terms of materials and
structures. Gallium arsenide metal semiconductor FETs (GaAs FETs) dominated the
GHz sector for several decades, somewhere between the late 1960s and the 1990s.
More advanced material growing machinery such as molecular beam epitaxy (MBE)
became commercially available in the early 1990s and led to the development of more
162
Imax
Ids
Vgs
(linear steps)
G
Ids
Vgs
0
Vknee (<<Vmax )
Vmax
Figure 4.1 Ideal device model used for PA analysis.
optimum FET structures such as the high-electron mobility transistor (HEMT) and
the pseudomorphic HEMT (pHEMT), but these were primarily still based on GaAs
substrates. During the 2000s, gallium nitride has emerged as an enfant terrible, sporting
high-voltage operation and potentially broader band operation than GaAs devices, albeit
with no specific inherent frequency advantage.
These various devices and technologies are described in earlier chapters of this book,
but for the present purposes just about any of the FET devices will display a set of IV
characteristics as shown in Figure 4.1.
These characteristics have been idealized for the purposes of maintaining a focus on
the mode of operation. The ideality assumptions can be summarized as follows:
r
r
r
r
constant current-sink behavior outside the turn-on, or knee region;

abrupt cut-off of current when the gate voltage drops below a threshold value;
saturation of the current above a defined value, usually denoted by Imax ;
linear relationship between output current and input voltage between the threshold
and saturation points (in this chapter this will be called the quasi-linear region);
r quasi-static behavior (same IV characteristics regardless of sweep speed).
In dealing with PA modes, an additional idealization is often deployed, which is to

assume that the knee region has a negligible impact, and that the turn-on characteristic
of the device can be ignored. This assumption is almost endemic among PA theorists,
and can often represent the main underlying cause for discrepancies between measured
results and theoretical performance predictions. For the purposes of this chapter we will,
however, comply with the mainstream view which is to set Vk = 0.
4.3
Class A
In Class A operation the device is kept entirely within the quasi-linear region. For
maximum power performance, the device is supplied with a standing bias current of
Imax /2 and the input signal voltage is constrained to swing between the limits of the
quasi-linear range. Figure 4.2 shows the current and voltage waveforms for an ideal
device with an input sinusoidal signal excitation.
4.3 Class A
163
2Vdc
Vds
Vdc
Imax
Ids
Idc
3
4
(= t, rad.)
Figure 4.2 Class A device waveforms.
The sinusoidal waveforms make the calculation of output power and efficiency very
straightforward. The RF output power, Prf , is given by
Imax Vdc
Idc Vdc
Prf = =
2
2 2 2
(4.1)
Pdc = Idc Vdc .
(4.2)
and the DC power supplied is
The output efficiency is defined as

o =
Prf
Pdc
(4.3)
so that in this case we obtain the classical result that the output efficiency of a Class A
amplifier is 12 , or 50%.
We note, however, that this much-quoted result will not apply in practice for any real
device, due primarily to the zero-knee assumption. The effect of the knee voltage can
be most simply expressed and quantified by assuming that the voltage swing will be
maintained such that the minima do not encroach into the knee region, that is where
Vds < Vk . So the RF output power under maximum drive conditions can be rewritten as
Prf =
(Vdc Vk )
Vdc Vk Idc
.Idc
. =
2
2
2
and the corresponding efficiency becomes

Vdc Vk
1
o =
=
2Vdc
2
Vk
1
Vdc
(4.4)

.
(4.5)
The ratio Vk /Vdc is both technology and application dependent. If we survey the range of
semiconductor technologies in current use at GHz frequencies, the ratio is approximately
0.1 in most cases, but this assumes that the device is being operated at its maximum rated
164
DC supply voltage. So in most practical cases the Class A efficiency can be expected to
be no higher than about 45%.
The above analysis applies only to a CW input signal which has the necessary magnitude to drive the device into a maximum current swing, that is over the full quasi-linear
range from zero to Imax . In order to assess the efficiency for an amplitude modulated
signal, it is necessary to obtain an expression for the efficiency under conditions of
power back-off (PBO). This is an easy calculation to perform in the Class A case,
since the DC bias remains constant, that is independent of the input drive conditions. So
for a backed-off condition, where the RF output is Pbo , the efficiency will be
bo =
Pbo
Pdc
(4.6)
which can be expressed in terms of the RF output under full drive conditions, Pmax , as
pbo =
1 Prf
.
2 Pmax
(4.7)
So the efficiency of a Class A amplifier backs off in direct proportion to the output
power. For example, at the 6 dB back-off point, the efficiency is one quarter of the peak
power efficiency. For a modulated signal that has a peak to average power ratio of 6 dB,
an average efficiency in the 2025% range is the best that can be expected from a Class
A amplifier. This is an unacceptably low efficiency for many applications, and is the
main reason Class A is not much used in wireless communications systems.
The Class A mode does however have some advantages. Its linearity is usually good,
due to the fact that the device is kept entirely within the quasi-linear range, where
the nonlinearities are of the weak variety. The power gain is typically several dBs
higher for a given device operating in Class A than in the more popular Class AB
modes considered in the next section. For this reason, Class A operation becomes more
widespread at higher frequencies, where the available devices deliver less than about
10 dB of gain in Class A. Class A amplifiers are also fairly easy to design, in that they do
not require specific harmonic, as well as fundamental, matching. For this reason Class
A is preferred for broadband (greater than octave) power amplifiers at GHz frequencies,
although at subGHz frequencies the pushpull class B configuration [1] is widely used
for multioctave bandwidths.
4.4
Class AB and Class B

The use of a reduced conduction angle in the design of RF power amplifiers is well
known, and also dates to the earliest era of electronics. As such we will not engage in
lengthy preliminaries but consider the device waveforms shown in Figure 4.3.
The key difference in moving from Class A to Class AB operation is that the quiescent
bias current is changed to a lower relative value, often as low as about 10% of the Imax
for the device. For a FET type device this can be easily implemented by moving the gate
bias voltage closer to the threshold level. An RF signal input can thus still swing the
device current up to the Imax value, as in Class A operation, but due to the symmetry of
4.4 Class AB and Class B
165
Imax
Ids
Idc
2
(a)
2Vdc
Vds
Vdc
(b)
2Vdc
Vds
Vdc
(c)
Figure 4.3 Reduced conduction angle (Class AB) waveforms; (a) current, (b) output voltage with
broadband resistive output termination, (c) voltage with short-circuited harmonic termination.
a sinusoidal excitation the negative-going part of the voltage cycle will swing the device
gate voltage below its threshold value, thus cutting off the conduction for a portion
of the RF cycle. The resulting current waveform is shown in Figure 4.3a, and is usually
described as a truncated sinewave. It is the mathematical properties of such truncated
sinewaves that determine the main performance benefits of Class AB operation, but
before considering this in more detail we need to consider what now happens to the
device output voltage.
Due to the fact that an RF transistor can be conveniently approximated as an ideal
current sink, the output voltage can be easily calculated; it is a simple matter of multiplying each individual current harmonic with the corresponding output load impedance,
or in more symbolic language,

In .Z n
(4.8)
Vds =
n
where In represents the harmonic components of current and Zn the load impedance
value at the corresponding harmonic frequencies.
Figure 4.3b shows the voltage waveform that would result from a broadband resistive
termination, and it takes the form of an inverted replica of the current waveform. Such a
result is unlikely in practice at GHz frequencies, where the characteristics of the output
166
Fundamental
0.5
DC
Amplitude
(I max =1)
2nd
3rd
2
(CLASS)
4th
5th
AB
Conduction
angle
C
Figure 4.4 Harmonic components of reduced conduction angle waveforms.
matching network as a function of frequency will show large variations in both resistive
and reactive components. It is thus an important stipulation in the design of Class AB
amplifiers that the harmonic impedances are made as close to zero as possible. This
harmonic short is never ideally achieved and is often the underlying cause of RFPAs
performing less well than anticipated. However, for the present purposes we will assume
that the output load does present a perfect short circuit to the device, so the harmonic
components of the current do not generate any corresponding harmonic content in the
output voltage, in which case the output voltage will then be sinusoidal, as shown in
Figure 4.3c.
So the output voltage of an ideal Class AB amplifier looks the same as for the Class
A case, and it is to the current that we look for the differences. Figure 4.4 plots the
DC and fundamental components of a truncated cosine wave. As the conduction angle
is reduced, the DC component drops but the fundamental RF component remains very
nearly constant, for conduction angles greater than 180 . This results directly in an
efficiency increase, which is plotted in Figure 4.5. But it must be emphasized that the
efficiency plot makes several assumptions, viz.
r zero knee voltage;
r short circuited harmonics, resulting in a sinusoidal device output voltage;
r maximum voltage (VDC amplitude) and current (Imax /2 Amp) swings.
A case of particular significance, if maybe not actually widely used, is the zero-bias or
Class B condition. In this case the device is biased precisely to its threshold point and
hence draws no current until some input signal is applied. When the drive is sufficient
to cause the device current to swing to its maximum extent, the current waveform will
+5 dB
167
100%
Efficiency
(dB)
(dB)
5 dB
2
0%
Conduction 0
angle
IQ =10%
Figure 4.5 Power and efficiency of fully driven reduced conduction angle PA.
I max
Ids
Idc
(a)
2Vdc
Vds
Vdc
3
4
(= t, rad.)
(b)
Figure 4.6 Class B device waveforms.
become a half-wave rectified sinewave, as shown in Figure 4.6. The DC and fundamental
components in the Class B condition have a simple closed form,
Idc =
I1 =
Imax
,
Imax
,
2
(4.9)
168
so that the RF and DC power is the same as for the Class A condition,
Vdc Imax
4
Vdc Imax
.
=
Prf =
Pdc
(4.10)
The output efficiency is now given by

o =
(4.11)
or about 78.5%.
As with the Class A analysis, the allowance for a nonzero knee voltage will reduce
this classical number by anywhere between 5 and 10%, depending on the device being
used.
The zero bias condition is a useful datum point, but is not often used. This is due to the
fact that a zero-biased device will have very quirky performance at low signal levels,
where a real device will not display an ideal cutoff behavior. In practice, the efficiency
of a deep Class AB amplifier, biased around the 10% level, will show an efficiency
quite close to the classical Class B value, as shown in Figure 4.5. Nevertheless, taking
account of knee effects as well, it is unrealistic to expect an efficiency higher than 65%
in a practical case, while maintaining the device entirely within the quasi-linear region.
This is not to say that higher efficiencies cannot be measured, and are frequently reported
in the literature, but such results are often taken with the device displaying significant
gain compression.
As before, it is important to consider the variation of efficiency as a function of input
drive backoff, and the Class B case will again be considered due to its mathematical
simplicity. For a device operating in Class B, and at a backed-off RF output level of Prf ,
we assume that the RF loading is unchanged from the maximum power condition, Pmax .
So the backed-off current and voltage amplitudes can be expressed as

Prf
Imax
I1 =
(4.12)
.
2
Pmax

Prf
V1 = Vdc
(4.13)
Pmax

Prf
Imax
.
(4.14)
Idc =
Pmax
So for a constant supply voltage, the backed-off efficiency is

Pmax
Prf
Prf
Vdc Imax Prf
=
.
= .
pbo =
.
Pdc
4
Pmax Vdc Imax
Prf
4
Pmax
(4.15)
This is a result of considerable significance for amplitude-modulated signals, since it

shows that the PBO efficiency is a slower function than in the Class A case, being
inversely proportional to the square root of the PBO ratio. In the case of a 6 dB PAR,
169
100%
Efficiency
IQ=0
0.1
50%
0.2
0.5
Output power (2 dB/div)

Figure 4.7 Efficiency characteristics for ideal Class AB PAs for backed-off drive conditions.
the efficiency at the mean power level has only dropped by a factor of two, as opposed
to a factor of four in the Class A case.
The same analysis can be performed for intermediate Class AB cases, but defies
symbolic treatment; Figure 4.7 shows the resulting PBO efficiency characteristics which
have been computed for a range of quiescent bias settings. It is clear that the same
conclusion concerning the superior PBO efficiency can be made for quiescent settings
up to at least the 10% level.
It has already been emphasized that the desirable efficiency improvements that Class
AB operation offers do come at a price. Lower power gain and increased circuit complexity generally will limit the range of applications to lower frequencies (where available
devices have more gain to spare), and narrow bandwidths (due to the requirement for
short-circuiting the harmonics). There is, however, another issue which concerns the
linearity of a Class AB amplifier. This is something of a controversial topic, because
device manufacturers often tailor the fabrication process to offer devices that have good
linearity in Class AB, but often only when operated at a tightly specified quiescent bias
setting.
Figure 4.8 does show, nevertheless, that an ideal device will display significant
nonlinearity when operated in Class AB. This results from the mathematical properties
of truncated sinewaves; basically, at a given quiescent bias setting the conduction angle
is itself a function of drive level and a nonlinear relationship between the drive voltage
and the fundamental current component results, despite the device itself having an ideal
transconductive characteristic. As the quiescent setting approaches the Class B point,
the linearity tends asymptotically towards a linear characteristic, and at around the
10% level it becomes possible to cancel the gain expansion by tailoring the device
transconductance characteristic. Whether this process has ever been implemented in such
an a-priori manner is something of a moot point, but suffice it to say that such devices
usually need the quiescent bias point to be set with considerable precision in order to
obtain the specified linear performance. As such, the designer frequently does not have
170
P lin
Vq =0.5
(Class A)
0.25
0.15
Output
Power
(2 dB/div)
0.05
Vq =0
Vq = 0.1
Vq = 0.25
Vq = 0.5
Input Power (2 dB/div)

Figure 4.8 Linearity of Class AB PA modes.
Vdc
bias
network
fundamental
match
input
match
harmonic
termination
50
Figure 4.9 Topology of basic Class AB amplifier.
a free choice on the conduction angle, and some manufacturers will even recommend
that higher quiescent settings should not be used at all.
Figure 4.9 shows schematically the main elements in a typical Class AB amplifier
circuit at GHz frequencies. The output matching network has to perform two main
functions, a fundamental match which transforms the device load-line resistance to the
system impedance level, and a harmonic trap which presents a short circuit at the
harmonic frequencies. The fundamental matching network can be very similar to that
used for a Class A amplifier, since the optimum fundamental load will be very close to
the device load-line resistance. The harmonic trap can take various forms. A popular
textbook solution is to use a short-circuited quarter-wave stub, which thus presents
a short circuit only at the even harmonics and also acts as a convenient bias insertion
point. But this is not often used in practice, due to the limited bandwidth over which an
acceptably low impedance can be maintained. A second option is to use a shunt series
resonator at the second harmonic. Fourier analysis of the half-wave rectified current
4.5 Class C
171
waveform reveals that the second harmonic is by far the largest component, and in many
practical cases harmonics higher than the third can be regarded as trapped within
the device itself, either through the action of the output capacitance, or the low-pass
characteristic of the device itself.
By far the most common solution for terminating the output harmonics, albeit not
always intentionally, is to utilize the device output capacitance. It can be shown [2] that if
the reactance of the parasitic output capacitance is equal to, or less than the fundamental
load-line resistance, the output capacitor is by itself able to satisfy the requirements of a
harmonic short circuit. This approximation tends to hold as the fundamental frequency
increases, along with the device periphery. As a result, what could be described as a
form of complacency seems to have developed amongst PA designers above 1 GHz. It is
found, for example, that there is a wide range of applications where the device appears
to give satisfactory performance by suitably careful optimization of the fundamental
matching alone. This however does not in any way challenge the basic theory. It is
merely a consequence of the fact that available transistor technologies have quite large
output capacitance values (in the range of about 1 pF/W), which although being a major
problem in designing the fundamental match over any useful bandwidth, just happens to
solve the harmonic circuit problem very conveniently. This convenience does, however,
break down when using a given device at a much lower frequency, and/or when a
new technology comes along (such as gallium nitride) that has a much lower pF/W
characteristic.
The wireless communications industry has stimulated a vast amount of research
and development into the design of Class AB amplifiers that give good linearity
and high efficiency. These applications have however been focused in the lower frequency strata of the microwave spectrum, and utilization of these benefits becomes
rapidly more difficult above about 8 GHz, due mainly to the lower gain of available
devices.
4.5
Class C
The Class C mode is a logical extension of the reduced conduction angle concept, where
the conduction angle is reduced to less than half of the RF cycle. This results in a
current waveform that looks more like a string of sharp pulses, as indicated in Figure
4.10. Referring back to Figure 4.6, the fundamental component starts to drop as the
conduction angle crosses into Class C territory, but the DC component also continues
to drop and the mathematics tells us that the efficiency climbs ever upwards towards
100% for an impulsive current, as shown in Figure 4.5. There are, however, a number
of problems that need to be considered, which together have relegated the Class C mode
into very limited practical use for certain specialized applications. This was not the case
in the vacuum tube era, when the terminology was introduced.
The reduction in RF power in Class C is a serious problem for a semiconductor device,
since it means that to obtain a given RF power the size, or periphery, of the device has
to be increased. This was less of an issue in the tube era, since the higher efficiency
172
I max
Ids
Idc
(a)
2Vdc
Vds
Vdc
3
4
(= t, rad.)
(b)
Figure 4.10 Class C device waveforms.
Input
Voltage
VMAX
VT
Figure 4.11 Excess input voltage in very short conduction angle Class C.
enabled the device to be run at a higher plate voltage, thus effectively restoring the power
shortfall. Such freedom in supply voltage selection is not available in the semiconductor
world, where devices are usually operated at their maximum specified safe operating
voltage.
A larger problem with Class C is illustrated in Figure 4.11. Biasing the gate beyond
its threshold point means that a very large drive signal will be required in order to swing
the current up to Vmax , the gate voltage required for the device to draw its maximum
current Imax . For a sinusoidal signal, this means that the negative-going peaks will drop
down to a level that may cause some breakdown effects. In particular, given that the
input voltage has a minimum that corresponds to the maximum peak swing of the output
voltage, it becomes all too likely that some drain-gate reverse breakdown will occur.
4.6 Class F
173
Vmax
Vds
Vd
Figure 4.12 Effect of adding an in-phase third harmonic component to the voltage waveform of a
Class B amplifier.
A Class C amplifier also poses a greater challenge in terms of the necessary harmonic
termination. The relative harmonic levels escalate quite rapidly as the conduction angle
is reduced below the Class B value, and the second harmonic approximation may no
longer be usefully valid.
Despite these various disadvantages, it is worth mentioning that the Class C mode has
found an important niche in recent years, as being a useful means of implementing the
peaking stage of a Doherty PA.
4.6
Class F
The Class F mode has been the focus of much research [3, 4]. In principle it offers a simple
means of boosting the peak efficiency of a regular Class B or deep Class AB amplifier
by more than 10%. This is achieved by allowing a third harmonic component in the
voltage waveform, so that the output voltage looks more like a squared-up sinewave.
As a preliminary, it is therefore important to understand the underlying mathematics of
sinewaves having an added third harmonic component.
The process is illustrated qualitatively in Figure 4.12. The addition of a small antiphase
third harmonic component to any sinewave clearly reduces the peak-to-peak swing, since
the relevant third harmonic peaks and dips are coincident in time with peaks and dips
of the fundamental. As a result, the entire waveform can be scaled up, giving a higher
fundamental component. This process clearly has a limit, that is to say there is an
optimum level of third harmonic that results in a maximum increase in the fundamental
amplitude; beyond this point the twin peaks start to increase and the benefits rapidly
fade away. Finding this specific condition is something of a mathematical puzzle that
has intrigued several authors over the years. Rhodes [5] tackled it by recognizing that the
optimum condition was a singular point. More recently [6], the present author showed
that the problem could be solved by factorizing the voltage expression, a formulation
that turns out to have some wider implications. These will be discussed in a little more
detail in Section 4.11, but the specific solution for the Class F case is now considered.
If the current is assumed to be an ideal truncated cosinusoidal function, the corresponding Class F voltage wave can be expressed in the form
v () = Vdc V1 cos + V3 cos 3
(4.16)
174
where VDC is the DC supply, and V1 , V3 are the fundamental and harmonic amplitudes.
If for convenience we normalize the voltages to the DC level, this expression simplifies
to
v () = 1 v1 cos + v3 cos 3
(4.17)
and we seek the maximum value of v 1 for which v( ) remains greater than or equal to
zero for all values of .
Noting that the optimum condition will include a zero-grazing double root of
v( ) = 0, equation (4.17) can be written in the form
v( ) = (1 cos )2 (1 cos )
(4.18)
so that relationships between the , parameters can be established with v1 and v 3

by expanding (4.18) and comparing coefficients of similar terms in (4.17), noting in
particular that the second harmonic term must vanish. Furthermore, (4.18) will force
the v( ) = 0 condition so long as 0 < < 1. This process results in the following
relationships,
=
(4.19)
v3 =
3
2
(4.20)

v1 =
3 2
3
8
2

.
(4.21)
The parameter in effect controls the level of third harmonic for a set of zero-grazing
waveforms defined by (4.18). We thus seek the value of that gives the maximum value
of v 1 , through the relationship in (4.21). Simple differentiation gives this value as
2
=
3
(4.22)
corresponding to a maximum fundamental component of

2
v1 max =
3
(4.23)
and a corresponding third harmonic voltage

v3 max =
1
.
6
(4.24)
So for the optimum Class F case, the voltage expression (4.17) can be written in the
factorized form
2

2
2
cos
cos ,
(4.25)
1+
v () = 1
3
6
a remarkable result of fairly recent origin [6].
4.6 Class F
175
Imax
Ids
Idc
2
(a)
2Vdc
Vds
Vdc
(=
(b)
Figure 4.13 Ideal optimum Class F device waveforms.
Since the DC components are unaltered from the Class B case, the optimum Class F
efficiency will be 4 . 23 , or about 90.7%.
The resulting ideal Class F waveforms are shown in Figure 4.13; note that the optimum
solution has a third harmonic component that is slightly higher than that which gives a
maximally flat response.
As always, this result is conspicuously ideal and in practice the knee voltage will
cause significant degradation. Indeed, ironically, due to the fact that the ideal Class F
voltage spends a much higher proportion of the RF cycle within the knee region, the
relative degradation from the ideal power and efficiency will be significantly higher than
for a sinusoidal voltage. But caveats notwithstanding, the Class F mathematics certainly
dangles a very juicy carrot which more than one generation of RFPA designers has found
to be an irresistible challenge. And coming up with suitable Class F circuit topologies
is indeed quite a challenge. The output matching network now has to perform three
functions,
r transform the fundamental (load-line) resistance to the termination impedance;
r present the appropriate resistive termination at the third harmonic frequency;
r short circuit the remaining harmonics, especially the second.
It is the second of these requirements that is new, and formulating a strategy to deal with
it has been the subject of much discussion. The above analysis gives a clear quantitative
design goal for the required third harmonic voltage component, but transforming this
into a corresponding design impedance presents some difficulties. The problem can be
highlighted by considering the Class B case, where the ideal current waveform has a zero
third harmonic component: what impedance is necessary to develop a voltage of Vdc /6
for a zero current flow? Some further discussion on this apparent paradox can be found
in reference [2], but for the present purposes it will suffice to say that the design goal
176
o/c, 3fo
/4, fo
50
Figure 4.14 Possible Class F matching topology.
should be to present as high of a resistance as possible to the device at the third harmonic,
and in particular to ensure that all of the reactive parasitics are parallel-resonated at the
device output. This can be a daunting task when dealing with larger devices, whose
output capacitance can be tens or hundreds of pF, and as a minimum will be bandwidth
limited.
Numerous circuit topologies have been devised for implementing Class F at GHz
frequencies. A somewhat intuitive approach is shown in Figure 4.14, where a quarterwave stub is used to short the second (and in principle all of the higher even harmonics),
and at the third harmonic the device output capacitance is resonated out with an open
circuit stub, whose length at the fundamental is low enough such that it only adds a
small extra capacitance that can be absorbed into the fundamental matching structure.
But there are further constraints on maintaining the high-impedance environment at the
third harmonic, in particular the fundamental matching network must have a suitably
low-pass characteristic in order not to load the third harmonic impedance. This may
require a more aggressive network at the fundamental, including a high-Q resonator,
not only to realize the high third harmonic impedance, but also to block the extra third
harmonic components from reaching the output.
So the main difficulty in implementing Class F is bandwidth, and too often results are
published that represent spot-frequency designs.
4.7
Class J
The Class J mode has a fairly recent origin, being essentially promoted, as opposed to
invented, by the present author [2].
The basic concept is to engineer a somewhat similar trick to that used in the Class F
mode, but using second, rather than the third harmonic. Once again, it pays to examine
the mathematics of the process first. Figure 4.15 shows what happens when an antiphased
second harmonic component is added to a cosine wave. The resulting waveform becomes
asymmetrical about the DC level, with a higher peak and a flatter minimum, which is
now raised above the zero level. As a result, it is possible to scale up the waveform such
that it again becomes zero-grazing and thus the fundamental component is significantly
increased. Just as in the Class F case, it is necessary to determine the optimum level
4.7 Class J
Ids
177
Imax
Idc
2
(a)
2Vdc
Vds
Vdc
3
4
(=t, rad.)
(b)
Figure 4.15 Effect of second harmonic on voltage waveform.
of second (in the Class J case) harmonic in order to maximize the fundamental, while
maintaining the nonzero crossing condition. Some trigonometric manipulations can be
employed to show that for a normalized cosinusoidal voltage wave,
v () = 1 cos
(4.26)
the maximum second harmonic component that can be added has a normalized amplitude
of 1/2, so that the waveform becomes
v () = 1
2 cos +
1
cos 2
2
(4.27)
as shown in Figure 4.15.
At first sight, the factor of 2on the fundamental would imply an efficiency of

(4.28)
= 2 = 1.11,
4
or 111%, assuming the current waveform was that of a Class B half-wave rectified
sinewave.
Clearly, this is inadmissible, and the reason for this is that the second harmonic
components of voltage and current are in-phase, implying either power absorption or a
negative resistive load.
The Class J mode resolves this problem by shifting the entire voltage waveform,
relative to the current, by 45 at the fundamental. The Class J voltage waveform thus
becomes
v () = 1 cos + sin +
1
sin 2,
2
(4.29)
which implies a fundamental load consisting of the regular load-line resistive component, but with an equal reactive component. The second harmonic load is a reactance,
178
Ids
Imax
Idc
2
(a)
2Vdc
Vds
Vdc
3
4
(=t, rad.)
(b)
Figure 4.16 Class J device waveforms.
f0, RL + jRL
2f0, jX
50
Figure 4.17 Class J output matching circuit topology.
of comparable value to the load-line resistance. The efficiency is exactly the same
as a Class B amplifier, as indicated by the unity normalized amplitude of the fundamental cosine voltage component. The resulting Class J waveforms are shown in
Figure 4.16.
The Class J mode has an important benefit over its regular Class B or Class AB
counterparts, in that the second harmonic does not require a short-circuit termination.
Indeed, the capacitive reactance that is required to terminate the second harmonic can
in some cases be provided by the output capacitance of the device. This has probably
caused widespread use of Class J in a fortuitous manner. This is illustrated in a typical
Class J circuit configuration, shown in Figure 4.17. The output matching topology
consists essentially of a capacitor, which provides the second harmonic termination, and
a low-pass network for matching the fundamental. Depending on the frequency and the
device technology in use, the parasitic output capacitance may in itself be within the
range defined by the Class J design equations. In such cases, the uninformed designer
can treat the whole design problem as an exercise in fundamental matching, and some
judicious a posteriori tuning can introduce the necessary reactive component into the
4.8 Inverted modes, inverted Class F
179
Imax
Ids
Idc
2
(a)
Vdc
Vds
Vdc
3
4
(= t, rad.)
(b)
Figure 4.18 Inverted Class F mode waveforms (ideal); (a) current, (b) voltage.
fundamental impedance. Higher voltage harmonics can usually be regarded as negligible,

due to the declining amplitude of the current components and the effect of the output
capacitor. In practice there will be some interaction between the value of the capacitor
at the second harmonic and the impedance of the fundamental network at the second
harmonic.
4.8
Inverted modes, inverted Class F

The modes which have so far been described can all be inverted, which means in
effect that the current and voltage waveforms are reversed. So, for example, an inverted
Class B mode consists of a device having a sinusoidal current waveform and a half-wave
rectified voltage waveform. In the ideal case, the power and efficiency would be the same
at the peak power level, but the power back-off efficiency characteristic would replicate
the Class A curve in Figure 4.7, and as such this mode is not much used. A more
interesting case is the inverted Class F mode, which has received considerable attention
in the literature over the last few years. The waveforms, shown in Figure 4.18, show one
useful potential advantage of Class F1 . Due to the fact that the DC component of the
half-wave rectified voltage sinewave has a value of Vpk / , the fundamental component
can be increased by a factor of /2, assuming that the peak voltage of VDC can be
safely accommodated. This corresponds to a potential power increase of nearly 2 dB in
comparison to a Class F configuration, and about a 2.5 dB increase in comparison to a
Class B PA using the same device at the same supply voltage. In practice this extra peak
voltage may exceed the breakdown specification of the device, although there are cases
where this may not be a limitation.
180
Ids
Imax
Idc
Vds
2
(a)
Vpk
Vdc
3
4
(=t, rad.)
(b)
Figure 4.19 Physically realizable inverted Class F waveforms; (a) current, (b) voltage.
The waveforms shown in Figure 4.18 are still highly idealized and unlikely to be
realized in practice. Inverted Class F is conventionally engineered by starting off with
the device biased as for Class A operation. The current clipping can then be realized
by over-driving the device so that it saturates on the peaks and cuts off in the dips.
This, however, will result in a more of a maximally flat current waveform, as shown in
Figure 4.19. This only reduces the efficiency very marginally, but in practice a bigger hit
will be taken when trying to engineer the stipulated voltage. The ideal half-wave rectified
sinusoid contains multiple harmonics, and will usually be approximated by adding just
second harmonic. As shown in Figure 4.19 (and as analyzedin Section 4.7), this allows
the fundamental component to be increased by a factor of 2, somewhat less than the
/2 factor that would apply for the ideal half-wave rectified sinewave.
The peak power and efficiency advantages of Class F1 are somewhat tempered by
a Class A-type PBO efficiency characteristic, due to the high quiescent bias setting
required to engineer the squared-up current waveform. There is, however, an interesting
variant, shown in Figure 4.20. Here the current wave is a half-wave rectified (co)sinewave
which has clipped peaks. With judicious adjustment, the voltage can be allowed to dip
into the knee region, thus clipping the current such that it becomes an approximation to
a square wave. This clipping can be adjusted to null out the second harmonic current
component, so that the open-circuit impedance termination will allow a viable mode of
operation that has an improved PBO efficiency characteristic. The clipping process does,
however, significantly reduce the fundamental current component, causing a reduction
in RF output power. The clipped condition will also likely result in a well-compressed
condition, so that this variant may not be suitable for linear applications that use amplitude modulated signals. It appears that this variant has in the past been observed and
given the name of Class G [7], but this term has not come into general use.
4.9 Class E
Ids
181
Imax
Idc
2
(a)
Vds Vpk
Vdc
3
4
(=t, rad.)
(b)
Figure 4.20 Clipped variation on inverted Class F.
Vdc
Idc
CP
vc(t )
I()
Figure 4.21 Basic Class E circuit.
4.9
Class E
The Class E mode is defined, fundamentally, as a switching mode, where the active
device characteristics that have been used thus far are replaced by a simple, perfect,
switch. This immediately raises several questions about the validity, and indeed the
relevance, of switching modes at GHz frequencies. But before considering these issues
any further, we will examine the simplest and most basic form of ideal Class E operation.
Figure 4.21 shows the simplest possible circuit for Class E operation. The active
device takes the form of an ideal switch, which for the purposes of this analysis will
be assumed to have negligible transition times and can be turned on or off at
discretionary times within each RF cycle. The switch is shunted by a capacitor, and this
in turn is shunted by a series resonant circuit. If we assume that the switch is being
toggled periodically at a frequency that is close to the resonant frequency of the circuit,
182
Imax
Irf
I ()
Idc
(a)
Imax
Device
Current
(b)
Imax
Output Cap
Current
(c)
0
Device
voltage
Vpk
(d)
Vdc
0
Figure 4.22 Ideal Class E waveforms.
there will be a sinusoidal current flowing around the resonant circuit loop. Figure 4.22
shows the resulting waveforms, including the currents in the resonant loop, the switch,
and the shunt capacitor. The action of the switch is to force the resonant current either
into the switch, when the switch is closed, or the shunt capacitor, when the switch is
open. Given the inertia of the series resonator, the circulating current cannot change
as the switch is toggled. The capacitor thus ends up with a current waveform as shown
in Figure 4.22c, which can be integrated to show the voltage across it, as shown in
Figure 4.22d.
Looking at the waveforms at the switch terminals, it is clear that there is no time
within the RF cycle that current and voltage are non-zero simultaneously. The system
thus represents 100% efficient conversion from DC to RF energy, and due to the resonant
nature of the circuit which contains the RF load, the energy will be mainly confined to
the fundamental frequency. However, the high efficiency is as much a property of the
assumed ideal nature of the switch, as the mode of operation. There is also an important
caveat in that the peak voltage across the switch can be several times the DC supply
voltage, causing breakdown issues when the switch is replaced by a transistor.
4.10 Class S
183
Figure 4.23 Class S amplifier concept.
In practice, the process of making a transistor behave like a switch requires some
trickery, which involves the use of the knee region as well as the threshold of the
device characteristics. This process usually involves sacrificing a significant portion of
the device peak current capability so that, as with Class C operation, higher efficiency
is obtained at the expense of obtaining lower power; this can be as much as 23 dB
lower than normal Class AB operation for the same device with the same supply
voltage.
The Class E PA has been a favourite subject in the literature for nearly four decades,
attracting particular attention from the academic community. Above 1 GHz, many of
these papers and articles can be questioned in that they frequently do not show any RF
waveforms at the device plane, and quote efficiencies that are much lower than would be
expected from a pure switching mode. Efficiencies around 90% have been reported for
Class E designs in the low GHz region, but the device is usually operating in a highly
nonlinear condition. Such results have limited, albeit still potentially useful, applications
in microwave communications.
4.10
Class S
The Class S mode is the RF version of a pulse width modulation technique, widely used
at lower frequencies under the name of Class D. The basic process is well known, and
is indicated in Figure 4.23. The signal is sampled, and a train of pulses is generated,
whose length is proportional to the instantaneous sampled amplitude. If this pulse train
is passed through a low-pass filter, it is an elementary result of sampling theory that the
original signal will be reconstructed, hence the term reconstruction filter.
RF designers have always dreamed of the day when RF signals can be generated in
this manner, and at any given time there is usually a vociferous faction which proclaims
that the day has come. There are, however, some hazards upon which the unwary
frequently stumble. Historically, the obvious outstanding problem is that of the necessary
sampling rate. At audio frequencies, this can be made easily two or three orders of
magnitude higher than the sampled signal bandwidth without posing any particular
challenges on the speed of readily available electronic components. But for a signal at
1 GHz this clearly poses problems.
184
Vdc
Figure 4.24 Viable Class S amplifier configuration.
Vdc
Figure 4.25 Bogus Class S amplifier configuration.
There is in fact another problem which is frequently overlooked. In order to maintain

high efficiency, the reconstruction process must not generate any significant power at
any of the spectral frequency components that are caused by the sampling process.
Figure 4.24 shows one way of achieving this. The active device switches the output filter
and load between two voltage sources, which can be conveniently taken as zero (ground)
and a positive DC supply. Switching between such stiff voltage sources ensures that
the only current which is allowed to flow through the filter into the load is at the required
signal frequency band. All other frequency components are presented with the high
reactive load of the filter and as such do not create any power. Unfortunately, a single RF
power transistor cannot be used to implement such a scheme, as shown in Figure 4.25.
The transistor can be switched on or off, but this in effect means that the filter-load
combination is being excited by a switched current source. It might be thought sufficient
to accommodate this change by placing a suitable filter in shunt across the device, in
order to provide a low-impedance path for the unwanted spectral components, but then
the voltage of the desired signal will appear across the device terminals. As such, the
device will start to dissipate heat as the level of the output signal is reduced, in much the
same way as a regular Class A or Class AB amplifier.
Implementation of a suitable switching configuration thus requires, as a minimum,
a complementary pair of transistors which can switch the load between the two supply
rails. Such a configuration poses difficulties at GHz frequencies, but as lower parasitic
semiconductor technologies appear the possibility of realizing a Class S amplifier at low
GHz frequencies does increase.
4.11
Multimodes
The ongoing and widespread use of the Class categorization of RFPAs is somewhat
puzzling. These classifications cite specific properties of the device current and voltage
4.11 Multimodes
185
Imax
Ids
Idc
2
(a)
2Vdc
Vds
Vdc
3
4
(=t, rad.)
(b)
Figure 4.26 Multimode voltage waveform containing second and third harmonics.
waveforms, and at GHz frequencies these waveforms are very difficult to measure
directly. They can, of course, be simulated, but it then becomes a judgment call as to
whether the waveforms comply with the intended Class. In fact, a real device in a real
circuit can frequently display waveforms that do not fall easily into a particular category.
Take for example the current and voltage waveforms shown in Figure 4.26. The current
is a regular half-wave rectified sinewave, but the voltage contains both second and third
harmonic components, and as such does not fall under Class F, D, or J as described in
this chapter. The voltage wave has the form
V = Vdc cos + V1Q sin + V2Q sin 2 + V3Q sin 3,
(4.30)
which has the same in-phase fundamental component as a regular Class A or Class
B sinusoidal voltage, but with some added harmonic components. Since the harmonic
components are in quadrature with the cosinusoidal current, they do not contribute
power. The result is that such an amplifier will show the same efficiency as a Class B
amplifier, but the harmonic voltage components imply that the device is not terminated
with a short circuit at each harmonic, and in this case the harmonic terminations will be
entirely reactive.
Such a situation is probably very common in practice. The textbook stipulation of a
global harmonic short is often unlikely to be fully implemented in a practical circuit,
and this example is just one specific case of a large and continuous multidimensional
termination space, which implies a continuum of harmonic matching conditions that
yield the same fundamental power and efficiency as a classical Class B amplifier. The
Class J voltage condition, defined earlier in the form
V = 1 cos sin + (1/2) sin 2
(4.31)
186
is another specific example of this space. It was observed by the current author [6]
that this can be written in a factorized form,
V = (1 cos )(1 sin )
v( ) = 1 cos + v1q sin +
k=n

vkq sin k ;
(4.32)
(4.33)
k=2
it is easier to construct solutions by multiplying non-zero-crossing factors such as

(1 cos k),
(1 sin k ),
and powers thereof.

Such expressions will have the same RF power and efficiency as the classical Class
B so long as the in-phase fundamental coefficient remains at unity and the in-phase
harmonics are zero. It is also possible to generalize the expression further and include
cosine harmonic components. Although this raises the possibility of generating unwanted
power at the harmonic frequencies, the fundamental term can be enhanced. For example,
the classical Class F mode can be shown to fall into the new theoretical framework,

2

2
1
V = 1 cos
(4.34)
1 + cos (1 sin )
3
3
with = 1, but the more generalized formulation reveals a continuous set of modes
based on Class F, but which contain additional quadrature even harmonics.
4.12
Conclusions
The RFPA classes described in this chapter form a framework around which most practical designs will fit. Each mode however represents at least some degree of idealization,
both in the characteristics of the active device, and also the fundamental and harmonic
termination environment. Almost any practical RFPA which operates in the low GHz
frequency region will likely display some variance from the traditional waveform Class
definitions. But for the most part, designers who are unable to measure the device plane
RF waveforms still indulge in a mindset of blind faith that the complex interaction
between device and circuit can be fully characterized by a few letters of the alphabet.
References
1. J. L. B. Walker, Ed., High Power GaAs FET Amplifiers, Norwood: Artech House, 1993,
pp. 1821.
2. S. C. Cripps, RF Power Amplifiers for Wireless Communications, 2nd Edn., Norwood: Artech
House, 2006.
3. V. J. Tyler, A new high efficiency high power amplifier, Marconi Rev., vol. 21, 1958,
pp. 96109.
References
187
4. F. H. Raab, Class F power amplification with maximally flat waveforms, IEEE. Trans. Microw.
Theory Tech., vol. 45, no. 11, pp. 20072011, Nov. 1997.
5. J. D. Rhodes, Universality in maximum efficiency linear power amplifiers, Int. J. Circ. Theor.
Appl., vol. 31, pp. 385405, 2003.
6. S. C. Cripps, P. J. Tasker, A. L. Clarke, J. Lees, and J. Benedikt, On the continuity of high
efficiency modes in linear RF power amplifiers, IEEE Microw. Components Lett., vol. 19,
no. 10, pp. 665667.
7. P. Colantonio, F. Giannini, G. Leuzzi, and E. Limiti, High efficiency low-voltage power
amplifier design by second harmonic manipulation, Int. J. RF Microw. Computer-Aided Eng.,
vol. 10, no. 1, pp. 1932, Jan. 2000.
Computer-aided design of
power amplifiers
Stephen Maas
AWR, Corporation
5.1
Introduction
In any book about power amplifiers, it seems essential to discuss the most important
tool in their design, circuit-analysis software. The development of such software has
progressed from improvements in the understanding of linear and, especially, nonlinear
circuit theory, as well as rapid improvements in computer and software technology
over the past 20 or 30 years. While we all know about these successes, there exists
a third dimension to the maturity of circuit-design software: our ability to create and
especially to maintain large software systems to support a versatile design flow for a
wide variety of RF/microwave components. In spite of these successes, however, circuitanalysis technology has not reached the point where it is perfectly transparent; some
street wisdom on the part of the user is still required. By describing the underlying
technology of these software systems, this chapter should impart some of that wisdom.
5.2
Methods of analysis
5.2.1
Linear analysis
Linear analysis is an important part of any nonlinear circuit simulator; it is also intrinsically useful, as many types of circuit are quite satisfactorily treated as linear. Early linear
circuit-analysis software treated all elements as two-ports and connected them in series,
parallel, or cascade according to the structure of the circuit. Since most microwave
matching circuits can be described easily this way, it was a useful way to create a set of
circuit equations.
Unfortunately, many kinds of circuit simply cannot be described as interconnections
of two-ports. In this case, a more general method is needed, usually resulting in the
creation of an admittance or other matrix describing the circuit. One such method, which
was used in early general-purpose circuit-analysis programs, was based on so-called
nodal incidence matrices [1]. This method was complicated to implement, so it was
soon supplanted by nodal analysis.
Nodal analysis
Nodal analysis has a number of attractive features. The nodal matrix, an admittance
matrix of the circuit at each frequency of interest, can be created in a fully mindless
5.2 Methods of analysis
I1
189
V1
n1
Y
n2
I2
V2
Figure 5.1 When the admittance Y is connected between nodes n1 and n2 , it changes the current in
each node as shown.
manner, thus making it perfect for implementation by a mindless machine, a computer.

Nodal analysis creates large sparse matrices (i.e., matrices that consist mostly of zero
entries) and therefore can take advantage of modern numerical methods for handling
such matrices. Although nodal analysis is generally less efficient than analysis based
on cascaded two-ports, its versatility in handling a wide variety of circuit structures,
combined with the speed of modern computers and sophistication of numerical methods
for dealing with matrices, make it thoroughly practical even when applied to very large
circuits.
Nodal methods do have some disadvantages. First, and perhaps most obviously, many
kinds of circuit element and structure do not have admittance representations. This is
particularly troublesome when circuits are partitioned, a necessary step, as we shall see,
for many kinds of nonlinear circuit analysis. Then, the circuit may become disconnected,
causing the nodal admittance matrix to be singular. Similarly, DC analysis of circuits
having inductors or transmission lines often fails, as nodes become interconnected by
large, perhaps infinite, conductances. Methods have been developed for circumventing
such problems; these will be described in due course.
Consider the admittance element Y in Figure 5.1 connected between nodes 1 and 2.
When we connect it into the circuit, it changes the total nodal current in each node as
follows:
Y (V1 V2 ) = I1
Y (V2 V1 ) = I2
(5.1)
where V1 , V2 are the voltages at the respective nodes, measured between the node and
some arbitrary ground point. This can be written

I1
Y
Y
V1
=
(5.2)
I2
V2
Y
Y
implying that the matrix in (5.2) is simply added to the admittance matrix of the circuit,
in the implied positions; that is, Y is added to the (1, 1) and (2, 2) positions and Y to
the (2, 1) and (1, 2) positions. equation (5.2) is sometimes called a stamp, implying that
adding elements to the circuit matrix involves nothing more than stamping the matrix
190
n2
n1
+
V1
n3
+
V3
+
V2
Figure 5.2 In an indefinite admittance matrix, all node voltages are referenced to a common
ground node.
with a predetermined pattern. Stamps for more complicated elements, such as controlled
sources and other admittance matrices, can be generated similarly.
The resulting matrix is called an indefinite admittance matrix. It is an admittance
matrix in which the voltages represent node voltages relative to some arbitrary ground
point; the situation is illustrated in Figure 5.2. It is clear that the node voltages cannot be
determined uniquely in such a circuit. For example, we could find a set of voltages that
satisfy, say, (5.2), add some particular DC quantity to each of them (5 V might be nice),
and the currents remain unchanged. It is inevitable in such a case that the admittance
matrix is singular.
To remove the singularity, at least one node in the matrix must have some defined
voltage; in practice, it is grounded. If the indefinite matrix is as shown below,

I1
Y11
I2 Y21
=
... ...
IN
YN 1
Y12
Y22
...
YN 2
...
...
...
...
V1
Y1N
Y2N
V2
...
...
YN N
VN
(5.3)
grounding node n simply involves setting Vn to zero. Then the nth column can be
removed, as its elements are all multiplied by zero. Similarly, the current In is then of no
interest, so its row can be deleted as well. The resulting matrix is still square but (unless
it has some other problem) no longer singular.
Usually, not all of the node voltages are of interest. Only the voltages at accessible
external nodes are of concern, and, in particular, we often want to characterize the N-node
network by a P-port or P-node admittance matrix. This can be accomplished as shown
in Figure 5.3. We first select the nodes that will become ports or accessible nodes and
sequentially excite each port/node with a current source. We then obtain the voltages
at each port or node. The voltages, divided by the excitation current, are the values
in one column of the impedance matrix. When all the columns have been obtained,
the impedance matrix can be converted to an admittance matrix, scattering matrix, or
whatever type is desired.
n2
n1
I1
+
V1
191
+
n3
+
V3
V2
Z21 = V2/I1
Z31 = V3/I1
Z11 = V1/I1
Figure 5.3 To find a P-node nodal admittance matrix from the N-node indefinite matrix, the P
externally accessible nodes are excited in turn by current sources. The node voltages resulting
from each excitation provide a single column of the Z matrix. The Z matrix port matrices can be
found in a similar way; the voltages of interest are then those between the nodes defining the
ports. The Z matrix can finally be converted to any desired form.
The most common method for factoring a nodal matrix is LU decomposition [2] and
back substitution. Only a single factorization of the large nodal matrix is necessary,
and the port or node voltages resulting from multiple current vectors can be found by
back-substitution, a much less costly operation.
This process is used most frequently for characterizing the linear subcircuit in a
harmonic-balance analysis (Section 5.2.2). As we shall see, disconnecting the nonlinear
circuit elements from the linear ones often leaves disconnected nodes, making the
nodal matrix singular. This problem can be circumvented fairly easily in the following
manner:
1. Before the indefinite matrix is created, moderate-value resistors are connected across
each port of a P-port matrix or from the node to ground in a nodal matrix. The value
of the resistance should be on the same order as resistances in the circuit; in most RF
and microwave applications, 100 works well.
2. The matrix is reduced to a P-node or P-port admittance matrix as described above.
3. The added resistance now appears along the main diagonal of the P-dimension
admittance matrix. The resistance is removed simply by subtracting its inverse from
the main-diagonal terms.
This process always works for a nodal matrix. In a port matrix, it is technically possible
for it to fail, but it almost always works in ordinary circuits.
Modified analysis
Many types of element, such as voltage-controlled voltage sources (VCVS), do not
have an admittance representation. Others, such as ideal transformers, do not have a
Y- or Z-matrix representation at all. It is possible to circumvent some of these limitations with other elements; for example, a VCVS can be realized from a cascade of a
192
voltage-controlled current source and a gyrator; a transformer can also be realized by a

cascade of gyrators. Modified nodal analysis is a somewhat more elegant alternative.
Suppose we have a VCVS whose control terminals are (j, k) and voltage source
terminals are (m, n). This element adds a constraint on the voltage of the (m, n) branch,
and this must be included in the nodal matrix. We note that
Av V j Av VK + Vm Vn = 0
I j = Ik = 0
Im = In = 0
(5.4)
where Av is the voltage gain and I is the branch current. Then, we can augment the nodal
matrix with an extra row and column representing (5.4):

Av
Av

|
Vj

|
1
Vk

| 1 Vm
= Im
In
Vn
|
1
I
(5.5)
This creates a new stamp for the element. All elements that cannot be described simply
by an admittance matrix require this new stamp.
A full treatment of modified nodal analysis is beyond the scope of this chapter. The
interested reader should consult [3] for more extensive information.
Sparse-matrix method
Imagine a large circuit having many thousands of nodes and consisting of simple, twoterminal elements. Each of these elements is connected to only two nodes, creating four
entries in the matrix. From (5.2) we see that a matrix position ( j, k) has an entry only
if a circuit element is connected between those nodes. Clearly, most nodes do not have
elements connected between them, so most entries in the matrix are zero.
Storing a large matrix consisting mostly of zero elements wastes memory, and computations with such a matrix largely involve multiplying zero by zero and adding the
result to zero. This is especially troublesome, in view of the fact that LU decomposition
of a matrix is an N3 process; that is, the amount of computation increases approximately
as the cube of the matrix dimension, N.
This situation clearly is wasteful, so methods have been developed to improve it. An
early method, developed specifically for circuit analysis and still in use (e.g., in the circuitanalysis program SPICE), involves storing the nonzero matrix values in doubly linked
lists, a list for each row and each column. In this way, large numbers of zero elements
need not be stored. To find matrix elements, it is necessary to traverse the lists, clearly
a slow process. Some kinds of access, however, such as finding locations for element
stamps, can be facilitated by saving pointers to those locations. LU decomposition of
a sparse matrix tends to create fill-ins; that is, zero locations are often replaced by
nonzero values, and new locations in the lists must be created for them. Various heuristics
are used to minimize fill-ins.
193
As the cost of computer memory has decreased, recent sparse-matrix methods have
favored increased computational speed over minimized storage. Furthermore, the matrices in most kinds of nonlinear circuit analysis are not nearly as sparse as a linear, nodal
matrix, and in such cases larger numbers of fill-ins tend to be generated, so the value of
minimizing storage is, in any case, minimal. In such an environment, iterative methods
that operate on the complete matrix are often used.
The goal of such methods is to reduce the residual of the matrix. Specifically, suppose that one wishes to find the vector V given an admittance matrix Y and excitation
sources I:
YV = I
(5.6)
We estimate V in some way and define the residual, r(V ):

r (V) = |Y V I|
(5.7)
Clearly we need to minimize r(V ), or, equivalently, r2 (V ).

One could view this case, for example, as an optimization problem. One might take
the gradient of r2 (V ), r2 (V ), and minimize r2 (V ) in the indicated direction. Although
intuitively this process may seem slow, it scales with matrix size far better than simple
LU decomposition. Other methods are more sophisticated, taking advantage of sparsity,
matrix structure, and the availability of a good approximate inverse. In harmonic-balance
analysis, which we describe in Section 5.2.2, a method called GMRES (generalized
minimum residual), one of a class of methods called Krylov subspace methods, has been
favored for many years.
Such methods are used primarily for handling large sparse systems of linear equations,
where the scaling of computation with matrix size may be on the order of N1.5 or better,
instead of LUs N3 . Their advantage may be minor or nonexistent for small systems of
equations, and their ability to handle ill-conditioned cases (those in which the matrix is
nearly singular) are worse than classical LU decomposition. For this reason, the user of
nonlinear circuit-analysis software must be especially careful to avoid situations where
ill conditioning can occur. Use of certain kinds of time-domain model in frequencydomain simulators; use of models that are poorly defined, disconnected, or shorted in
certain frequency ranges; poor choice of thermal parameters in self-heating models; and
model parameters that create discontinuities are common problems that are often under
the control of the user. We examine these matters later in this chapter.
5.2.2
Harmonic-balance analysis
Harmonic-balance analysis seems to have been developed simultaneously by a number
of individuals [46]. While single-purpose harmonic-balance software has existed since
the mid 1970s, large-scale, general-purpose harmonic-balance simulators have been
available only since the mid 1980s [7]. Since then, however, harmonic-balance analysis
has become the dominant tool for power-amplifier designers at microwave frequencies,
and it probably should be used more than it is for lower frequency (RFIC) applications.
194
I
Vs
+
V
Figure 5.4 A simple DC circuit including a diode cannot be analyzed algebraically. The voltage
and current at the diode can be found only by iterative means.
An heuristic introduction to harmonic-balance analysis

Lets consider the problem of finding the DC voltage of a diode in the simple circuit of
Figure 5.4. The circuit is described by the equation,
I =
Vs V
= Isat [exp(V ) 1]
R
(5.8)
where
= q/(K T ).
(5.9)
The quantities in (5.8) and (5.9) are what one might expect: q is electron charge, K is
Boltzmanns constant, T is absolute temperature, is the diode ideality factor, Isat is the
current parameter, V is the junction voltage, and I is the junction current. The rest of the
terms are defined by the figure. It should be clear from inspection that (5.8) cannot be
solved algebraically. We could, however, find V by means of the following algorithm:
1. Define the error equation,
f (V ) =
Vs
V
+ Isat [exp(V ) 1]
R
R
(5.10)
This is simply Kirchhoffs current law; f (V ) = 0 when it is satisfied.

2. Select some value of V as a first estimate of the solution. If we have some idea of
what V should be, obviously that estimate should be used. In most cases, however, we
have no idea,1 so perhaps simply choosing V = 0 might be a reasonable place to start.
3. Calculate f (V ).
4. By means of some appropriate numerical method, modify V so that | f (V )| decreases.
5. Repeat the process until | f (V )| is small enough.
This idea raises two immediate questions; first, where do we obtain the appropriate
numerical method, and, second, what, precisely is small enough? The first question
is answered easily: the mathematicians have been here ahead of us. Any good text on
numerical methods will describe many numerical techniques that might be appropriate.
One good, general method for finding the zero of a function is Newtons method. This
technique, illustrated in Figure 5.5a, consists of repeatedly estimating the zero by a
linear extrapolation from a known point on the curve. Given some function f (x), and
1
Or, more precisely, that big stupid machine on which we depend, called a computer, has no idea of the
solution.
195
f(x)
f(x)
df
dx
df
dx
f(x0)
f(x0)
x0 x
x0
x0 x
(a)
x0
(b)
Figure 5.5 Estimating the zero of a nonlinear function f (x) involves using the derivative to
extrapolate to the x axis (a). This process is repeated until the zero is found to adequate accuracy.
The method can fail, however, if the initial point x0 is poorly chosen; (b), for example, shows a
case where the process has been trapped by a relative minimum.
an initial estimate x0 , we calculate f (x0 ) and df (x)/dx at x0 . The equation for the linear
extrapolation is

d f
(5.11)
f (x0 )
x = 0
d x x=x0
from which we obtain x. We then estimate the zero as
x = x0 x
(5.12)
thus obtaining a better estimate of the zero. We now simply repeat the process with the
new estimate of the zero as the starting point. If the curve is smooth and the original
estimate x0 was reasonably close to the zero, eventually the process will converge to a
solution.
The performance of this method depends on the strength of the nonlinearity and the
quality of the initial estimate, x0 . If it is applied to a linear equation, it will converge
exactly in a single iteration, but if it is applied to a strongly nonlinear function, it
may require many iterations. In some cases, it may fail completely. Figure 5.5b shows
an example of a convergence failure, in which the process has been trapped by a
relative minimum. Other quirks, such as an inflection point near the zero, can also cause
convergence failure. Modifications of the method can sometimes circumvent some such
problems; for example, reducing the step size from the full x to something smaller
easily solves the inflection-point problem.
The second problem, determining whether the solution has converged adequately, is
more subtle. In the one-dimensional case we have examined here, the answer simply
depends on the necessary precision. In most practical cases, however, we have a vector of
harmonic voltages, V = [V0 , V(p ), V(2p ) . . . ]T where p is the fundamental excitation
196
frequency. Then, instead of a scalar f (V ), we have F(V ), a vector of current errors. In

this case, the criterion for a solution is much less clear. Should we specify a limit
for the vector magnitude |F(V )|, the magnitude of each component of F(V ), or the
fractional error in each component of F(V )? The answer largely depends on the type
of problem we are addressing. In the first case, |F(V )| < , where is the limit, small
components of F(V ) could be highly inaccurate even though is small. This could be
troublesome for intermodulation analysis, where one expects large differences in the
magnitudes of various frequency components. The second criterion, f k (V ) < , for all
K components of the vector, is fine for small components but may be far too stringent
for large components. The third, fractional error, is difficult to estimate when the error
is large and the correct value of each component is unknown. It also tends to be too
stringent for small error components. Usually, some combination of these criteria works
best.
It is important to recognize the idea underlying this little exercise: we have shown that
it is not necessary to be able to analyze a nonlinear circuit directly. In fact, except for
trivial cases, it is impossible to do so. It is only necessary to find some method that can
reliably improve a hypothetical solution. Then, by applying that method repeatedly, we
can reduce the error to the point at which it is negligible.
A more general case

Now, lets make the problem a little more difficult. Consider the situation in
Figure 5.6, where the diode is excited by a sinusoidal source at the frequency p . In
general, the source impedance is complex and, of course, differs at each harmonic of the
excitation frequency. We now have made the problem multidimensional, since we need
to satisfy our equations at a number of voltage harmonics, or, equivalently, at a number
of voltage samples in the time domain. We can no longer write a simple equation having
the form of (5.8), because the diode junction must be described in the time domain
while we have described the linear part of the circuit in the frequency domain. How do
we accomplish this?
For the moment, lets assume that we know the diode voltage. This is expressed in the
frequency domain by V, a vector of harmonic components, or equivalently in the time
domain by the sampled waveform v(t). Figure 5.6(b) shows that we can find ILIN (kp ),
the frequency-domain current in the linear part of the circuit at each harmonic frequency
kp , including DC, as
ILIN (k p ) =
V (k p ) Vs (k p )
Z (k p )
(5.13)
Note that Vs has a component only at p , the excitation frequency, and is zero when
k = 1. The time-domain current in the diode, iNL (t) in Figure 5.6c, is
i NL (t) = Isat [exp(v(t)) 1]
(5.14)
The time-domain junction voltage v(t) is periodic so it can be found by inverse Fouriertransforming V. Similarly, we Fourier transform the time-domain current to obtain its
ILIN
197
INL
Z()
+
Vs
(a)
ILIN
Z()
+
Vs
(b)
i NL(t)
+
INL(t ) = Isat [exp(v(t) ) 1]
v(t )
(c)
Figure 5.6 The more complicated case, in which the diode is excited by a sinusoidal source and a
complex source impedance; (a) shows this case; (b) and (c) show the decomposition into linear
and nonlinear subcircuits, respectively.
harmonic components, INL (kp ). To satisfy Kirchhoffs current law at each harmonic,
we require
ILIN (k p ) + INL (k p ) = 0
(5.15)
Now we must face the fact that we dont really know the voltage components V(kp ).
To find a valid solution, we must find the set of voltage components V(kp ), k = 0 . . . K,
where K is the greatest significant harmonic, that satisfies (5.15) at each k. In effect,
we have K + 1 equations of the form (5.15) and K + 1 variables, the voltages V(kp ).
The problem is not much different from the previous one; we must find the zero of a
nonlinear function. In this case, however, the problem is multidimensional.
Fortunately, Newtons method is easily modified to accommodate multidimensional
problems. We formulate our voltages and currents in vector form and employ an iterative
process entirely analogous to (5.11) and (5.12). We define our error function as
F(V) = I LIN (V) + I NL (V)
(5.16)
F(V) = 0
(5.17)
and a solution is found when
198
The zero is estimated as

F(V)
F(V) V = 0
V
(5.18)
which is solved for V. The new estimate of V is

V = V V.
(5.19)
The derivative of a vector with respect to a vector, which we see in (5.18), is a Jacobian
matrix. This matrix contains all the derivatives of each component of F with respect
to each voltage component V(kp ). As such, it contains information about the effect of
every voltage component on every error component. This is all the information about
the local error that one could possibly have, and it implies that the method should be
very powerful for finding the zero.
For this reason, as well as considerable successful empirical experience, multidimensional Newtons method has become the favored technique for both time- and
frequency-domain nonlinear-circuit simulation. Compare Newtons method to, for example, an optimization approach, in which the gradient, |F(V )|, is used to determine the
direction in which changes in V should go. That formulation would include information about the effect of each V(kp ) component on |F(V )|, but not on the individual
components of F(V ). It should be expected that such a method would be distinctly
inferior to multidimensional Newton, as implementations of both methods quickly
demonstrate [7].
Fortunately, the Jacobian matrix is surprisingly easy to create. The terms of the matrix
are simply the Fourier components of the diodes conductance waveform (i.e., its IV
derivative evaluated at v(t)) added to the admittances Y(kp ) = 1/Z(kp ) in appropriate
locations. In large circuits, however, the Jacobian is invariably large, so solving (5.18)
to obtain V can be computationally costly. Iterative methods such as GMRES are
extremely helpful in minimizing that cost.
Our final matter is to show how harmonic-balance analysis is applied to large circuits.
It should be clear that (5.16) represents Kirchhoffs current law, so it is valid when
V, ILIN , and INL represent voltages and currents at both circuit nodes and frequencies.
Specifically, V could just as well be
V = [V1 (0), V1 ( p ), V1 (2 p ), . . . , V1 (k p ), V2 (0), V2 ( p ) . . .]T
(5.20)
where Vn (kp ) is the voltage at node n and frequency kp , and (5.185.19) remain
unchanged. It is necessary only to generalize (5.13) in the obvious manner,
I LIN = Y(V V s )
(5.21)
where Y is the admittance matrix of the linear parts of the circuit, at all harmonic
frequencies, arranged in the form of (5.20). Although previously we assumed Vs to be
a single, sinusoidal excitation, (5.21) shows that this restriction need not be imposed.
Vs could be, for example, a nonsinusoidal source or a set of nonsinusoidal sources
connected to one or more nodes of the circuit and described by their Fourier series.
199
Harmonic balance variants

As one might expect, the story is not as simple as presented above. A number of methods
have been developed to improve the speed and robustness of harmonic-balance analysis
and to accommodate more types of analysis. These include the following:
Norm reduction
It is frequently observed that taking the full Newton step defined by (5.18) usually does
not result in robust convergence. Dynamically adjusting the size of the step to provide
an optimum reduction in the error function is invariably a better approach. Thus, (5.19)
becomes
V = V V
(5.22)
where is a constant that can be varied as needed. Usually, is initially small and is
increased by the simulator until the error is minimized. Since the Jacobian need not be
factored during this process, it is computationally relatively inexpensive and increases
the simulators robustness significantly.
Semanskii iteration
Semanskii iteration is simply a fancy name for reusing the Jacobian instead of reformulating it. Especially if the circuit is not too strongly nonlinear, or the process is close
to a solution, using a single Jacobian formulation for several iterations can speed the
solution process.
Semanskii iteration can be used only when LU decomposition is used to solve (5.18);
it is not applicable to Krylov methods. Since literally all modern harmonic-balance
simulators use Krylov methods, Semanskii iteration is no longer of great interest.
Krylov subspace methods

At each iteration of the harmonic-balance process, we must solve the matrix equation,
JV = F(V)
(5.23)
where J is the Jacobian. When J is large and at least somewhat sparse, as it usually
is, Krylov subspace methods, particularly GMRES, can be extremely helpful in solving
(5.23) rapidly. This process requires that J and the right side of (5.23) be multiplied
by a preconditioner. The preconditioner is an estimate of the inverse of J; the exact
inverse is, of course, unknown; if it were known, the problem would be solved by the
preconditioner multiplication. The success of the process depends strongly on the quality
of the preconditioner. The closer it is to the inverse, the more efficient the solution of
(5.23).
By now it should be obvious that it is not necessary to solve (5.23) completely. It
is necessary only to reach the point where V, applied to (5.22), decreases the circuit
error. Thus, the solution of (5.23) need not be exact, and it can be terminated whenever
an improvement in the error is reached. This is especially useful in the early steps of
a harmonic-balance analysis, when even an exact solution of (5.23) would not result
200
in a good estimate of the zero, and thus would represent wasted effort. Because of
the dependence on such partial solutions, these methods are sometimes called inexact
Newton methods.
Weighting of the error equations

We hinted at the problem of determining the aqdequacy of the solution earlier in this
section. We noted that the norm |F(V )|2 , while the default method for determining
convergence, is by itself a poor criterion, as it discriminates against small components
of F(V ). In fact, the problem is worse that this. It can be shown that, in general, the
gradient of F(V ) does not point in the same direction as V, and, in some types of
circuit, it is actually perpendicular [8]. The problem is especially acute in circuits having
controlled sources, which include virtually all of solid-state electronics. This means that
a good Newton step, in the sense of improving most of the components of F(V ), does
not necessarily improve the norm.
This problem can be solved by weighting F(V ) before determining the norm. Multiplying F(V ) by the Jacobian is an appropriate weighting function. Using this simple
method, before evaluating the circuit error, is a simple and highly effective technique
for improving the robustness of harmonic-balance analysis.
Multitone excitations
So far, we have assumed the excitation to be periodic, so it could be expressed as a Fourier
series. This is, however, an unnecessary restriction. Nothing in the previous formulation
requires that the frequency components be harmonics or the excitation sources have the
same fundamental frequencies; they can be whatever excitation frequencies and mixing
products are used and produced by the circuit. In general, the frequencies in the circuit
are
= m p1 + n p2 +
(5.24)
where m, n, . . . , are integers and p1 , p2 , . . . , are the excitation frequencies, assumed

to be noncommensurate; that is, not harmonically related. Equation (5.20) then becomes
V = [V1 (0), V1 (1 ), V1 (2 ), . . . , V1 ( K ), V2 (0), V2 (1 ), V2 (2 ), . . . , V2 ( K ), . . .]T
(5.25)
where k , k = 1, . . . , K are the set of nonharmonic mixing frequencies defined by (5.24).
The only problem is the Fourier transformation; since the voltages and currents in general
are not periodic, we cannot use a simple fast Fourier transform (FFT) to step between
the time and frequency domains.
A number of methods can be used to perform the necessary time-to-frequency transformation. Indeed, a cottage industry in developing such methods existed for a time
during the 1980s and 90s [916]. One obvious choice is the use of a discrete Fourier
transform (DFT). This works well as long as the frequency components are not closely
spaced, a situation that is too restrictive for many kinds of analysis. The ill-conditioning
of the DFT in such cases can be avoided by using nonuniformly selected time points
in the transform; some of the transform methods focus specifically on that time-point
201
selection process [9]. The use of an n-dimensional Fourier transform is equivalent to

selecting the time points optimally [10], but it is useful only when n noncommensurate
excitation frequencies are used. This limits n to approximately n 3. Higher values of
n are theoretically possible but become computationally expensive in practice.
Envelope analysis
It is valuable to be able to use circuit-simulation techniques for excitations that are
modulated waveforms. Such an analysis is straightforward in a time-domain simulator,
but time-domain analysis may not be appropriate for certain kinds of circuit. For this
reason, harmonic-balance methods that can handle such waveforms have been developed
[1719].
A naive approach to this problem might be to generate the modulated excitation
waveform, sample it periodically at a rate based on the modulation time scale, and
perform a harmonic-balance analysis for each sample. This approach has two problems:
first, it yields no more information than an AMAM/AMPM behavioral model, in which
the circuits amplitude and phase response to a range of sinusoidal signal amplitudes
is determined and stored in a look-up table. Second, it does not account for long-term
memory (memory on the order of the inverse bandwidth) in either the linear or nonlinear
parts of the circuit. In envelope analysis, we perform a harmonic-balance analysis by
sampling the modulated carrier at a rate related to the modulation bandwidth. The tricky
part is including, in an approximate manner, the effects of circuit memory on the order
of the sample period.
Dealing with memory in the nonlinear subcircuit is simple; for example, consider a
capacitor. The capacitors charge is
Q(t) =
K
1
Q k (t) exp( jk p t)
2 k=K
(5.26)
where Qk (t) is the modulation waveform for the spectrum at the kth carrier harmonic,
kp . The capacitive charge is Q(V ) and the current is dQ(V )/dt. Differentiating gives

K
d Q(V )
1
d Q k (t)
jk p Q k (t) +
i(t) =
=
exp( jk p t) (5.27)
dt V =v(t)
2 k=K
dt
Since virtually all the circuit elements in the nonlinear subcircuit are small, this modification has only minor effects. The effect of the linear subcircuit is much more important.
Dealing with the linear subcircuit is more of a problem. We need some method to
find the circuit currents in response to the external node voltages, which are modulated
sinusoids. This problem is not much different from that of using frequency-domain
data in a time-domain simulator, and can be handled in much the same way. Existing
approaches are to use a finite impulse response (FIR) model, an infinite impulse response
(IIR) model, or to expand the frequency response in a Taylor series [17]. Depending
upon the method employed, the harmonic-balance procedure can then be performed in
the customary frequency domain or, alternatively, in the time domain (sometimes called
a waveform balance approach). The iterative process, in any case, is somewhat more
complex than for the simple sinusoidal analysis.
202
Envelope methods are claimed to reduce computational cost relative to time-domain

methods or multitone harmonic-balance methods. It is now understood, however, that
the latter methods do not require uniform sampling intervals of a fraction of the carrier
period, and when more intelligent approaches are used, the computational efforts of all
are comparable. At the same time, the growing sophistication of behavioral modeling
methods has moved much of this kind of analysis from the circuit to the system simulator;
indeed, most of the information provided by envelope analysis is used at the systemanalysis level, where the systems effect on the modulated waveform can be included.
In the system simulator, the computational cost is far lower, as the nonlinear circuit
needs to be analyzed only as necessary to generate a model. System calculations can
then be performed indefinitely with no further attention to the nonlinear component.
Furthermore, a fundamental dependence on behavioral models for modulated-waveform
analysis allows modeling from measurements of real components as well as circuit
analysis. For these reasons, dependence on envelope analysis, which never has been
great, is currently decreasing in favor of behavioral modeling approaches.
5.2.3
Time-domain analysis
It is well known that a linear circuit containing N independent reactive elements (i.e., not
including such trivialities as two capacitors connected in parallel) can be described in the
time domain by an Nth-order linear differential equation. Furthermore, any Nth-order
linear differential equation can be expressed as a set of N linear, first-order differential
equations. The same is generally true of nonlinear circuits.
A number of methods exist for formulating the time-domain circuit equations directly
in matrix form. While it is possible to use ordinary nodal analysis, in which only node
voltages are the variables, it is usually more convenient to use a modified nodal form,
allowing currents to be variables as well. The circuit is described by the equation,
dX
+ G(X) + S = 0
dt
(5.28)
where X is a vector of time-domain node voltages and branch currents, G(X) is a vector
of nonlinear functions of those quantities, and S is a vector of source voltages and
currents.
The key to time-domain analysis is the integration of (5.28). As with harmonic-balance
analysis, many methods of solution are conceivably possible, all of which have differing
numerical characteristics. In all cases, it is necessary to represent the derivative by a
discrete approximation, which converts (5.28) into a set of nonlinear equations that can
be solved sequentially.
One simple approach is to estimate the derivative as

X(tn+1 ) X(tn )
d X
=

dt tn
t
(5.29)
203
where t is the time interval between points at which X is evaluated. This expression
converts (5.28) into
X(tn+1 ) X(tn )
(5.30)
+ G(X(tn )) + S(tn ) = 0
t
which can be solved algebraically for X(tn + 1 ). The process is then repeated at subsequent
time points. This method, while simple and fast to evaluate, has unacceptably poor
numerical characteristics. In particular, its error-propagation characteristics are poor, as
well as its ability to handle stiff systems.2 A better method is to use

d X
X(tn+1 ) X(tn )
(5.31)
=
dt t
t
n+1
that is, to treat this as the derivative at the next time step, rather than the current step.
Then (5.28) becomes
X(tn+1 ) X(tn )
(5.32)
+ G(X(tn+1 )) + S(tn+1 ) = 0
t
We now have a system of nonlinear equations that must be solved iteratively for X(tn + 1 );
an algebraic solution is no longer possible. If the vector X has dimension K, we now must
find the zeros of K nonlinear equations, each of which is K-dimensional. We have seen
this problem before, of course, in harmonic-balance analysis, where Newtons method
was used for the solution. The same method is applicable here.
Although this approach requires an iterative solution at each time interval, it is much
more robust than the earlier one. Of course, the computational cost appears much greater,
but is actually not as severe as one might expect. In time-domain analysis, the changes in
X(t) from step to step are generally fairly small, so convergence is rapid. This contrasts
markedly with harmonic-balance analysis, where Newton steps are often extremely
large. The greatest convergence difficulty in time-domain analysis usually occurs at the
beginning of an analysis, where the simulator must determine the DC bias point and
initial conditions for the analysis, and a solution must be found in a much larger space.
The rules for convergence of time-domain methods are largely the same as in
harmonic-balance analysis. The requirements which will be presented in Section 5.6.1,
for example, apply equally to time-domain and harmonic-balance analysis.
Time-domain variants
Shooting methods
Just as harmonic-balance analysis inherently finds a steady-state response to a periodic
excitation, time-domain analysis finds a networks transient response, with or without
an excitation that need not be periodic.
To find steady-state conditions with time-domain analysis, it may appear necessary
to integrate until the transient has died out. This may be impossible, in practice, as the
circuit may have time constants that are orders of magnitude longer than the period of
the excitation, so integration through a large number of cycles may be necessary. After
2
Stiff systems are those having multiple, widely varying time constants.
204
this long integration, numerical errors could become so great that the results could be
meaningless. This situation a combination of long and short time constants exists
more often than not in RF and microwave circuits. Shooting methods avoid this long
integration by searching directly for the steady-state conditions.
The steady state is reached when
X(t + T ) = X(t)
(5.33)
where T is the period of the excitation. The problem, in essence, is to find some initial
condition X(t) that remains unchanged after integration through a period T. Again, this
is a process of finding K zeros of K nonlinear equations, and can be approached in the
same manner as similarly defined problems.
Frequency-domain models
Many passive-element models, such as strip transmission lines and discontinuities, are
best described in the frequency-domain and can be analyzed in a straightforward manner
by frequency-domain electromagnetic (EM) simulators. The inability of time-domain
simulators to accommodate frequency-domain data has been a significant impediment
to their acceptance by designers of high-frequency electronics.
Over the years, methods have been developed to allow time-domain simulators to use
frequency-domain data. One obvious approach is to derive an impulse-response function
by Fourier transformation. For example, given an impedance function Z(), a FFT can
be used to create an impulse-response function z(t), which emerges from the FFT in
discrete form and can be used in (5.32) in a straightforward convolution.
This process has a number of problems. Since Z() is truncated in frequency, z(t)
extends over all time and is thus noncausal. Furthermore, it happens that Z() must be
very tightly sampled or artifacts and nonconvergence in the time-domain simulation can
result. Straightforward practical problems can arise as well; for example, Z() and z(t)
must have compatible intervals, or some kind of interpolation is necessary. This is not
only a complication, it can also cause nonconvergence.
Although methods for ameliorating these deficiencies exist, the process is at best
inefficient. Better methods attempt to determine a Laplace-domain expression of the
form,

K

Ak,i j
Ak,i j
+
(5.34)
Yi j = Y0,i j + sY1,i j +
s pk
s pk
k=1
where Yij is a Y-parameter of a multiport structure. As modern time-domain simulators
invariably include a facility for handling elements characterized by their Laplace transforms, this method is very straightforward to implement. Its numerical characteristics
are good and the characterization is causal.
Multitone analysis
We noted in Section 5.2.2 that efficient analysis of circuits under multitone excitation
required nonuniform sampling intervals. The same is true of time-domain analysis.
While they are not as intuitive as in harmonic-balance analysis, techniques for handling
5.3 Passive circuit structures and simulation accuracy
205
multitone excitations have extended time-domain methods to such problems as intermodulation analysis of power amplifiers. A description of these techniques is well beyond
the scope of this chapter; we note that they exist and are available in such software.
5.2.4
Applications of analytical methods

As general-purpose circuit-analysis tools, time-domain methods are considerably older
than harmonic-balance ones, dating from the late 1960s. One of the earliest nonlinear
circuit analysis programs, SPICE, developed at the University of California at Berkeley, became available in the early 1970s. It was released as a public-domain software,
guaranteeing its wide availability. SPICE still is used extensively for digital and analog
integrated-circuit design. Since silicon RFIC design grew largely from the silicon analog world, SPICE and later time-domain programs have been the dominant software for
those technologies as well.
Harmonic-balance analysis was adopted by the microwave circuit design community
largely because SPICE was not well suited to circuits having distributed structures.
Distributed circuit elements, such as nonideal transmission lines and microstrip discontinuities, are more readily described in the frequency domain. Furthermore, transient
response, which is what time-domain software inherently calculates, is rarely of interest
to microwave designers, while steady-state response, which is provided by harmonicbalance analysis, is precisely what they need. RFICs, operating at frequencies below a
few GHz, rarely use transmission-line structures. Interconnects in such ICs are often
electrically short and can be modeled in other ways; for example, as RC transmission
lines.
Even so, many characteristics of these methods are merging. Modern time-domain
software often includes methods for using frequency-domain models, and harmonicbalance analysis includes methods for handling nonperiodic waveforms and simulating
transient characteristics. Similarly, system simulators are taking on some of the capabilities of circuit simulators, including the ability to account for component mismatches. In
this way, different types of simulation can be integrated into a single process for solving
problems that do not fit conveniently into a single method.
5.3
Passive circuit structures and simulation accuracy

The problem of modeling passive elements in RF and microwave circuits has been a
daunting one as long as high-frequency design has existed. Even today, the accuracy of
circuit simulation is more strongly dependent on model accuracy than on the simulator
itself.
Many years ago, most discontinuities (e.g., irises in waveguides) had to be measured
and the results tabulated. Occasionally the results could be normalized in frequency and
dimension, so they could be scaled and applied to a wide range of structures. Eventually,
closed-form expressions for the element models were derived from the measured and
tabulated data. Today, efficient EM simulators can do much of the heavy lifting
206
involved in modeling circuit structures. They are especially valuable for the modeling
of power-amplifier components, as closed-form models sometimes are not accurate for
the conditions of high current and low impedance often encountered. Such tools can
be computationally costly, however, so the designer should be careful in using them.
A little resourcefulness in design, especially favoring elements that are easy to model
accurately, can do much to ensure the accuracy of the design process.
5.3.1
Scattering parameter models

The simplest way to model any linear component is by its scattering (S) parameters.
Modern calibration techniques now allow accurate S-parameter measurements to be
made well into the millimeter-wave region. The universality of S-parameters is largely
an historic phenomenon, dating from times before the widespread use of circuit-analysis
software. Indeed, any other set of hybrid parameters can describe linear circuit elements;
admittance (Y) parameters, which carry exactly the same information as S-parameters,
have long been the customary way to describe RF transistors. Moreover, one could claim
that characterizing devices by Y-parameters makes more sense than by S-parameters, as
all such data are represented within the simulator in admittance form.
S-parameter models are actually more general than one might at first assume. The
output from EM simulators is invariably in the form of S-parameters (even though,
like circuit simulators, they calculate Y-parameters directly), as is the data from
database models, described later, in Section 5.3.4. Closed-form models, discussed in
Section 5.3.2, start out life as S-parameter measurements as well. Thus, the points made
in this section, which examines several considerations in the use of S-parameters to
model circuit elements, apply to a wide variety of modeling methods.
S-parameter models are somewhat inflexible. It is only rarely possible to scale S- or
Y-parameters to describe a range of element types or sizes, and the parameters must be
interpolated to obtain values at frequencies between those at which they were measured.
The method of interpolation can affect the results of the simulation; simple linear
interpolation between complex values is often unacceptable, as it results in gain and
VSWR curves having a clearly nonphysical, scalloped appearance. Interpolation in a
polar sense is much better, as are spline and rational-function methods [2].
An important consideration in all models (most easily illustrated, however, with
S-parameter models) is that the manner in which the circuit element is measured must
be consistent with the way in which it is used. More precisely, the modes at the interface
of the model, in use, must match those of the measurement. This point is best illustrated
by an example.
Consider the measurement of a chip capacitors S-parameters. The capacitor is
mounted on a carrier, with short, precise, 50 transmission lines, and the carrier is
placed in a calibrated test fixture. The situation is illustrated in Figure 5.7. Since the
test fixtures reference planes are located at the edge of the carrier, the S-parameters are
those of the capacitor plus its transmission-line connections.
Normally, the transmission lines should not be part of the characterization, so the
reference planes are moved closer to the capacitor; one convention is to place the planes
207
(a)
(b)
Figure 5.7 A chip component is usually modeled from measurements taken in a particular
configuration (a). If it is used in another configuration (b), the model may not be valid because
the modes at the interconnection are not the same. In the above example, use of a tee junction
does not completely solve the problem.
at the edge of the capacitors electrode.3 At this point we encounter a subtle problem. The
fields at the capacitors edge do not consist solely of the quasi-TEM microstrip mode;
they include a number of higher-order, evanescent modes that are concentrated near the
microstrip-to-chip discontinuity. By moving the reference plane to the capacitors edge,
we have eliminated the dominant mode but not the evanescent ones. When the capacitor
is placed in a circuit, those modes must the same as in the measurement, or the model
may lose its validity. The modes are the same only if the capacitor is connected via a
50 microstrip that is long enough to allow those evanescent modes to dissipate. If the
capacitor is connected via a shorter strip, or one of a different impedance, the modes are
different and thus the model is, to some degree, invalid.
A second consideration arises when S-parameter models are used in a harmonicbalance analysis. Suppose, for example, that we are simulating a 10 GHz power amplifier
and use 12 harmonics of the fundamental frequency, plus DC, in the analysis. This
appears to suggest that we need S-parameters from zero to 120 GHz. Not only would
this entail a difficult measurement, but it simply might not be possible to model many
elements at such a high frequency. Most microstrip discontinuities, for example, cannot
be modeled accurately at frequencies where high-order modes can propagate or where
radiation and surface waves may occur. The latter depend on the dimensions of the
3
Another convention is to place the reference planes at the center of the chip. In this case, the circuit designer
must add fictitious transmission line sections, each equal to half the capacitors length, to move the reference
planes to the more desirable location at the edge of the chip.
208
circuits housing and the location of adjacent structures, which might not be known at
the time of the simulation.
In practice, this problem is not as severe as one might fear. Solid-state devices have
parasitic capacitances that shunt the nonlinear elements of the device or the device
terminals, so high-frequency currents in the external circuit are usually negligible: a 1
pF gate-to-source capacitance of a large, 10 GHz power FET does a pretty good job of
short-circuiting the gate at 120 GHz! Thus, it is rarely necessary that models be accurate
at such high harmonic frequencies. It is necessary, though, that they be well behaved; that
is, the S-parameters vary smoothly with frequency and do not take on impossible values.
S-parameter models often take on bizarre values (e.g., a passive element becoming
active) when a simulator extrapolates low-frequency measurements to obtain missing
high-frequency data. To avoid this problem, one can simply add dummy S-parameters
(e.g., representing a short-circuit) at a frequency well above the highest harmonic. Then,
the simulator interpolates the data, instead of extrapolating it, and the results are more
firmly bounded.
A second problem occurs at DC. Such elements as strip-transmission-line discontinuity models must have low impedances at dc, and extrapolation to DC from RF values
rarely ensures this. Again, DC S-parameters must be provided; this is invariably a simple
thing to do.
At DC, most models consist of short circuits (or at least very low resistances), open
circuits, or simple resistances. Short circuits can create a problem in formulating the
admittance matrix of the linear subcircuit, as connecting two nodes by a very low
impedance creates large matrix entries. Conversely, an open circuit can leave a node
floating, making the admittance matrix singular. Most modern harmonic-balance simulators have ways to handle such problems; simple ones are to formulate the admittance
matrix differently at DC than at RF or to connect nodes by a finite, but negligibly small
resistance, instead of zero. Other methods, more mathematically elegant, operate at the
matrix level. In any case, the user should be aware of these potential difficulties and
avoid them whenever possible.
This discussion illustrates one important advantage of lumped-element models over
S-parameter models: the former need not be interpolated, and they are well defined and
guaranteed passive at all frequencies. The continuous nature of such models is an advantage in some types of circuit, especially oscillators, where the inevitable graininess of
S-parameters can cause poor convergence. For this reason, many kinds of model, while
generated from measurement data or EM simulation, are often realized in the simulator
in lumped-element form.
5.3.2
Closed-form models
Closed-form models consist of lumped and distributed circuit elements whose values are
determined by algebraic expressions, or, at worst, a relatively simple numerical process.
Those expressions can be derived in a number of ways. Frequently, they are based on an
approximate analysis of the device, but sometimes they are completely empirical, with
parameter values determined by measurements. Most models used in circuit simulation
209
Air Bridge or
Undercrossing
(a)
Cp
L
C1
C2
(b)
Figure 5.8 Single-layer spiral inductor (a) and equivalent circuit (b) in a IV technology.
Multilayer inductors may require a more complex equivalent circuit and silicon implementations
may have to account for additional loss mechanisms.
Cp
L
C1
R
C3
C2
Figure 5.9 Equivalent circuit of a chip capacitor (Figure 5.7a. Cs is the rated capacitance and Cp is
the parallel capacitive parasitic. The inductance L arises from the currents in the capacitors
plates and causes both parallel and series resonances.
are closed-form, but increased capabilities of both analytical software and EM simulators
has created new kinds of model with significant advantages.
Closed-form models consisting of lumped elements often can successfully model
distributed structures. An example is the use of such models to describe microstrip or
other strip-transmission-line discontinuities. Just as one can model a transmission line
by a cascade of series inductors and shunt capacitors, a discontinuity usually can be
modeled successfully by lumped elements.
As an example, consider the planar spiral inductor shown, along with its model, in
Figure 5.8. As well as inductance, the spiral has loss, capacitance between its the turns
of windings, and capacitance from the windings to ground. If the spiral is not too large
relative to a wavelength (and if it is, the inductor will likely be too large for use anyway),
these parasitics can be modeled as lumped elements. The interwinding capacitance is
modeled, to a good approximation, by a single capacitor across the terminals of the
spiral, and the capacitance to ground by capacitors at each end. The loss is modeled by
a series resistor, and, of course, the inductance by a simple inductor.
A second example, a model of the chip capacitor of Figure 5.7a, is shown in
Figure 5.9. The capacitor has series inductance, simply by virtue of its length and the fact
210
that it carries a time-varying electric field. It also has dielectric and metallization losses,
and shunt capacitance between its electrodes and bond pads. The inductance creates
a series resonance and the interelectrode capacitances, combined with the inductance,
create a parallel resonance. The latter resonant frequency is much higher than the former.
Determining the values of the model elements is usually straightforward. The method
depends strongly on the type of device. For example, many of the capacitor parasitics
can be found from the series and parallel resonant frequencies, and the loss resistance
from transmission loss at resonance. If nothing else works, the model can be determined
from fitting its parameter values to measured S-parameters.
Closed-form models are frequently used for strip transmission lines. Over the years,
equations for such lines have been developed and polished, in many cases, to impressive
accuracy. The critical characteristics of the lines characteristic impedance, phase
velocity, loss, and non-TEM dispersion are expressed in such models by algebraic
equations. Although the expressions are sometimes fairly long, they can be evaluated
rapidly and rarely have a significant effect on computation time.
As one might expect, models for the most frequently used types of line are most
accurate. Microstrip models are more mature than models for other types of line; models
of coplanar waveguide and suspended-substrate lines are probably next best. Models of
less used structures, such as slotlines, are not as good.
Most closed-form transmission-line models work well in circuit simulators, as they
involve simply calculating a set of admittance parameters algebraically from the line
dimensions. While most models are relatively simple, and are not costly to evaluate, some
can be relatively complex; certain coupled-line models and microstrip-discontinuity
models are an example of the latter. Even so, in comparison to EM simulation, such
models invariably make quite modest demands on computational resources.
5.3.3
Models from EM simulation

As computer capabilities have advanced, so has the practicality of using EM simulation
for characterizing the passive parts of high-frequency circuits. As of this writing, it is
practical to analyze the entire pattern of metal interconnections in a small IC as a single
structure. With time, and predictable improvements in both software and computer
hardware, it should be possible to do even more, and it is not unreasonable to expect
that, eventually, virtually all but the simplest passive structures will be characterized by
EM simulation.
Several kinds of EM simulator, using various means for analysis, are available today.
A detailed discussion of these simulators is outside the scope of this chapter; Swanson
[20] has given a good discussion of their use and technology. Below, we outline only
their characteristics as relevant to power-amplifier design.
Two-dimensional simulators
2D simulators analyze the cross-section of a transmission line or similar structure,
determining its inductance, capacitance, series-resistance and shunt-conductance matrices. It is assumed that the structure is infinite in length. From these matrices, all
211
characteristics of the line can be determined for its quasi-TEM mode only, although
non-TEM dispersion effects sometimes can be included from empirical relations.
Such simulators are very versatile in the kinds of structure they can accommodate
and are quite valuable in cases where closed-form models are poor. Closed-form models
often are inaccurate in dealing with thick metal, especially in coupled strip transmission
lines, cannot analyze multiple, asymmetrical strips at all, and often cannot describe
lines on multiple dielectric layers. 2D EM simulators can deal easily with these cases.
They are especially useful for creating coupled-microstrip models in ICs, where metal
thickness is often not small compared to the gap widths.
The lack of any need to specify a strip transmission lines length during the EM
analysis is a significant advantage. Because of this, the strips length can be varied in
the circuit simulator (e.g., during numerical optimization) without need to repeat the 2D
simulation. For most structures, 2D simulation is very fast, often only slightly slower
than the evaluation of a closed-form model.
Planar simulators
These simulators, sometimes called 21/2 -D simulators, should more correctly be called
3D predominantly planar simulators. They are based fundamentally on spectral-domain
moment methods, which originally were limited to zero-thickness metal strips on layered
dielectrics and imposed restrictions on the geometry and current distribution on metal,
such as via holes, that were perpendicular to the substrate. Virtually all of these original
limitations have been circumvented over the years, however, and such simulators now
can accommodate a wide variety of structures, including thick metal, dielectric bricks,
(rectangular areas of dielectric that differ from the surrounding dielectric), internal ports,
vertical structures, and so on.
Planar simulators can use either an open or closed formulation. In the open formulation, the metal is placed on dielectric layers of infinite extent; on closed structures,
the dielectric is placed inside a metal box. The open formulation is perhaps more versatile, allowing the analysis of patch antennas, for example; the closed formulation is
somewhat more accurate. Similarly, some formulations require that metal edges align
with a predetermined grid; some do not. Again, the former, while more restrictive, are
generally more accurate. The latter can be made equally accurate, although sometimes
at the cost of increased computation time.
Planar simulators are much faster than full 3D simulators. While slower than 2D,
they include all non-TEM effects. Unlike 2D, they can analyze structures that have a
complex 2D shape and need not be infinite in any dimension or have any particular
symmetry. This makes them ideal for strip transmission lines and their discontinuities.
The speed of many simulators is impressive; because of this, they can be used for
determining the S-parameters of complete circuit nets, the entire pattern of metal used
for interconnections on ICs.
Three-dimensional simulators
3D simulators are the most general but also the slowest of the simulators considered
here, and they make the greatest demands on computer resources. Full 3D simulators
212
can treat a wide variety of problems, including structures having great complexity
in all dimensions. They are not restricted to layered dielectrics. Typical applications
of 3D simulators are the analysis of waveguide discontinuities, waveguide-to-coax or
waveguide-to-microstrip transitions, and coaxial rotary joints.
3D simulators have relatively little applicability in planar circuits; planar simulators
can deal with virtually all problems that arise in such circuits. It is frequently assumed,
quite incorrectly, that the presence of any vertical structure in an otherwise planar circuit
requires the use of full 3D simulation. While this may have been true in the past, it is no
longer true today.
5.3.4
Database models
While EM simulation of such structures as microstrip discontinuities can be quite fast,
its speed still can be prohibitive when large numbers of such elements are involved or
many frequencies must be used. One solution to this problem is to precompute the S- or
Y-parameters of a wide variety of structures, save them in a database, and recall them in
a circuit simulation. Since the structures in the database may not correspond precisely
to the dimensions or other characteristics of the circuit element, some appropriate type
of interpolation is necessary.
Technologies exist today for automatically converting the database parameters to an
accurate lumped-element equivalent circuit [21]. Doing so provides smooth interpolation
between frequencies and insures passivity of the resulting network. It also eliminates
small discontinuities in the frequency response, which could cause convergence problems
in some calculations.
5.3.5
Parasitic extraction
Early analog and digital ICs were traditionally designed as lumped-element circuits. As
circuit speed and complexity increased, the interconnections between transistors had a
significant effect on the circuits performance. Thus, it became necessary to model the
interconnecting conductors. The design flow, however, often evolved into one where the
circuits initial design was based on ideal interconnections. Then, the interconnections
were analyzed and their effect included as a final stage of the design. This often resulted
in a circuit that did not work, and it became necessary to redesign the chip with, perhaps,
shorter connections. Since silicon RFIC design evolved from analog design, this rather
disjointed approach has been adopted for RFICs as well.
Many kinds of software have been developed for parasitic extraction, and they use
various methods for modeling the connections. All are, in some sense, types of EM
simulator. Modern RF and digital ICs use short, narrow conductors, which usually can
be modeled acceptably as RC circuits. Some extractors boast an inductance aware
extraction, which includes the conductors inductance.
A preferable design flow uses concurrent layout and circuit design, in which the layout
is created simultaneously with the circuit design. Some kinds of modern design software
5.4 Solid-state device models
213
support this methodology. In those, the design, layout, and parasitic extraction are
integrated, so the designer is spared an unpleasant surprise after the layout is complete.
The need for characterizing circuit metal as part of the design process has always been
obvious in the development of microwave circuits. Even in microwave ICs, however,
when layout is delayed to the end of the design process, it often happens that some
structures simply do not fit, and redesign becomes necessary. Concurrent design prevents
this from occurring.
5.4
Solid-state device models

While power-device modeling is covered in Chapter 2, and thermal effects in devices
are covered in Chapter 9, certain aspects of the device model affect the way simulations
proceed, and, indeed, determine whether the amplifier can be simulated successfully at
all. We consider some of those matters in this section.
5.4.1
Power device models

Power devices are large, as they must handle large currents and high voltages. To
accommodate a high current, the total gate width of a power FET often is large relative
to a wavelength. To prevent degradation of device performance by distributed effects,
the device must be divided into a number of cells, each a smaller FET with its own
gate; source and drain regions are generally shared with adjacent cells. Similarly, BJTs
and HBTs are realized as a number of individual cells connected in parallel, often with
shared electrodes as well.
In ICs, the designer may have some degree of freedom in deciding how many cells
can be used in a particular device and how they are arranged. The design must then
include analysis of the interconnection parasitics and must describe the multicell device
by a single transistor model or, if necessary, at most a few transistors.
5.4.2
Modeling cell interconnections in large devices

The cells of a power device invariably include a large number of interconnections. The
way those connections are arranged and the amount of metal in those interconnections
can affect the performance of the device. In a cellular handset amplifier, for example,
the load impedance at the device may be on the order of 1 or 2 ; in this case, even
0.1 nH of inductance represents approximately 1 of reactance at 1.8 GHz, clearly a
nonnegligible quantity. At the opposite end of the device, the way that the gates or bases
are connected is also important. Simplest is a parallel connection, although in very large
devices this connection may not provide uniform drive to all the cells. A tree-structured
connection usually provides more uniform drive but is larger and more complicated to
model.
Although it is a frequent practice, modeling interconnect metal by conventional
transmission-line and discontinuity models is rarely successful. Such models are often
214
not very accurate in a low-impedance environment and are correct only when well separated from each other. In a power device, both discontinuities and straight transmission
lines are close enough together that their fields couple, violating a fundamental assumption in the models formulation. EM simulation is a preferable tool for modeling the
interconnection parasitics.
Since the interconnects feed individual cells, it may be tempting to treat each cell
in the simulation as a separate transistor. The computational cost of this approach is
rarely justified by the gain in accuracy. Since a properly designed interconnect structure
provides uniform drive to the cells, and proper thermal design should result in uniform
cell temperatures, there is little to gain by treating the cells as separate devices. It is
almost always acceptable to reduce the large device to a scaled, single device or at worst
a very few devices.
5.4.3
Thermal effects in device models

In power devices, high power dissipation is to be expected, so it is almost always necessary
to include self heating in device models. Often self-heating models are not available, or
the simulator does not support them (SPICE does not). Most device models, however,
include at least thermal scaling; that is, at the outset of the simulation, the user can
specify a temperature for each device. Once the simulation is complete and the power
dissipation has been determined, the user can correct the temperatures as necessary and
rerun the simulation. This is a clumsy process, especially when a large number of devices
are involved.
Self-heating models determine the device temperature by calculating the power dissipation from the terminal voltage and current waveforms and the user-specified thermal
resistance. The power dissipated in the device at any instant t is
Pd (t) =
vk (t)i k (t)
(5.35)
k=1
summed over the devices K terminals. If the thermal mass of the device is large enough,
and the time scale of the variations is small, device temperature is

jc
Pd (t)dt
Td = TBP +
(5.36)
where Td is the device temperature, TBP is the mounting-surface (or baseplate) temperature, jc is the thermal resistance between the devices active area and the baseplate,
and is some long period of time.
If the thermal time constant is not long compared to the time scale of the excitation,
the device temperature varies with time and must be included in the analysis. This can be
accomplished by the electrothermal equivalent circuit in Figure 5.10. The temperature
T(t) then becomes a variable quantity within the model, much like any other control
voltage or current in satisfying (5.17). In the figure, the thermal resistance is treated
as a linear quantity, but in reality the thermal resistance of all semiconductor materials
is nonlinear, increasing with temperature. This is an important effect in determining
5.4 Solid-state device models
jc
Cth
215
+
T(t )
Pd (t )
TBP
Figure 5.10 Electrothermal equivalent circuit for determining the device-temperature waveform.
The current is set numerically equal to the power dissipation waveform Pd (t) from (5.35), is the
thermal resistance, and Cth is the thermal capacitance. The device temperature is numerically
equal to the voltage across Cth .
Ic
Rbb
+
Vbb
+
+
Vbe
Vce
+
Vcc
Figure 5.11 Biased bipolar transistor subject to self heating. The resistance Rbb provides stability.
device temperature, but few device models include it. When included, it can significantly
degrade the numerical conditioning of the problem.
While self-heating models are considerably more satisfactory than thermal scaling, they do tend to be ill-conditioned, sometimes causing convergence failure in both
harmonic-balance and time-domain analysis. Ill conditioning and the resulting convergence failure can be a sign of thermal instability in the circuit, as well. Such instability
can be difficult to predict, and when it occurs, it can be difficult to recognize as the cause
of convergence failure. The problem can also be exacerbated by poor behavior of the
model outside its normal operating limits.
The problem can be illustrated by the simple, dc-biased bipolar transistor shown in
Figure 5.11. The power dissipation in the device, Pd , is
Pd = Vce Ic
(5.37)
where Vce and Ic are the collector voltage and current, respectively; we have assumed the
base power to be negligible. The temperature increase caused by this dissipation, T,
is
T = jc Pd
(5.38)
216
where jc is in C/W. Finally, we can say

Ic = (T )Ib
(5.39)
Vbb Vbe
Rbb
(5.40)
and
Ib =
where is the current gain, Vbe is the base-to-emitter voltage, which we approximate
as a function of temperature only, and the other terms are as shown in the figure. Rbb , a
ballast resistor, is included specifically to improve thermal stability. Substituting (5.38)
to (5.40) into (5.37) gives
T =
jc Vce
(T )(Vbb Vbe (T )) = C tb f b (T )
Rbb
(5.41)
where Ctb is a constant and fb is the part of (5.41) dependent on T.

The result is a transcendental equation, which must be solved graphically or numerically. This is done by expressing (5.41) as
T = Ctb f b (T )
(5.42)
T = T
(5.43)
and solving simultaneously. This is shown in Figure 5.12. In silicon BJTs, increases
with temperature and Vbe decreases. As a result, (5.42) increases monotonically with
T. If Ctb is small enough, the solution is well defined. As Ctb increases, however,
the solution becomes multiple, poorly defined, and finally no solution exists. The latter
case corresponds to thermal runaway, a well known property of silicon bipolar devices.
In HBTs, by contrast, decreases with temperature, so the situation is much better.
However, even then, ill-conditioning can occur if Ctb is too large.
In a similar manner, it is possible to show that the addition of emitter resistance removes
the effect of , so the thermal stability of the silicon device is much improved; however, in
HBTs, the negative thermal feedback provided by is lost. For this reason, silicon power
devices are usually emitter-ballasted. Although base ballast provides better stability in
HBTs, it decreases gain significantly, so most HBT amplifiers use a combination of
emitter and base ballast.
Clearly, if the device itself is not thermally stable, any analysis of the circuit that
includes self heating is likely to fail. However, even in cases where the device is thermally
stable, a self-heating model that is badly behaved outside of the normal range of operation
may exhibit ill conditioned behavior. We consider the importance of model behavior
outside the normal range of operation in Section 5.6.
5.5
Special aspects of power-amplifier modeling

Some characteristics of circuit-element models have an especially strong effect on power
amplifiers and their simulation. Circuit losses, for example, are important in all types
5.5 Special aspects of power-amplifier modeling
Very large Ctb
217
T = T
Large Ctb
Small Ctb
T = Ctbfb(T )
Stable Temperatures
(a)
T = T
T = Ctbfb(T )
Large Ctb
Small Ctb
Stable Temperatures
(b)
Figure 5.12 Stable thermal operating points are found by solving (5.42) and (5.43) simultaneously.
When increases with temperature, as in silicon BJTs, it may happen that no operating point is
possible. This situation corresponds to thermal runaway. Conversely, in HBTs, decreases with
current and thus provides inherent stability. Thermal instability is still possible, however, in
HBTs.
of circuit, but in power amplifiers they become critical. Similarly, while all chips use
bond wires, large networks of bond wires are common in power devices and thus must
be treated in special ways.
5.5.1
Loss in circuit metalizations

Power amplifiers have high current not only in their devices but also in their circuit
metal. As a result, I2 R losses in the metal can be surprisingly high; this is especially the
case in ICs, where metal layers are thin.
The DC resistance of a rectangular metal sheet is given by
R = Rsq
L
W
(5.44)
where L is the length of the metal sheet, W is its width, and Rsq is the sheet resistance
in /square. The sheet resistance is the resistance of a square section of the metal, a
quantity that is independent of the size of the square. Rsq is simply /t, where is the
metals resistivity and t is the thickness in compatible units.
218
Estimating metal losses is usually straightforward, but a few matters can complicate
it. These are listed below.
1. Skin effect: As frequency increases, the current becomes concentrated at the surfaces
of the conductor. The skin depth, , the depth at which the current density decreases
to exp(1) of its surface value, is given by
=
1
f
(5.45)
where is the permeability of the material, is the conductivity, and f is the frequency.
In RFICs, which operate at low frequencies, skin effect is rarely much of a concern,
but in microwave ICs it may be significant. If the metal thickness is more than two
or three skin depths, increasing its thickness does not measurably decrease its losses.
Most strip-transmission-line loss models account for skin depth.
2. Current distribution: Current in flat conductors tends to concentrate at the edges.
This is true of DC as well as RF currents. Unfortunately, the conductor edges usually
are fairly rough, especially if they are defined by chemical etching. This roughness
increases the length of the path that the current must follow, thus increasing resistive
losses. As one might expect, the current distribution is less uniform in wide conductors
than in narrow ones.
Microstrip loss models account for this nonuniform current distribution, as do loss
estimates from EM simulations. They generally do not account for edge roughness,
although they sometimes include corrections for surface roughness.
3. Multilayer metallizations: Many types of circuit board and IC use more than one
layer of metal for their metallizations. If the frequency is low enough that skin effect
can be ignored, the layers can be treated to a good approximation as resistances in
parallel; thus,
Rsq =
Rsq1 Rsq2
Rsq1 + Rsq2
(5.46)
where Rsq1 and Rsq2 are the sheet resistances of the two metal layers.
4. Metal imperfections: Especially in ICs, the resistivities of metal layers are invariably greater than their handbook values. The latter are determined from large, pure
samples of the metal, but deposition technologies rarely provide such perfection.
Changes in grain structure and inclusion of impurities can increase the metal resistivity substantially. Alloys, for example, invariably have much higher resistivity than
pure metals.
5. Metal oxidation and surface roughness: Especially at high frequencies, where the
current is concentrated at the metal surface, such imperfections as roughness and an
oxide layer increase losses. In microstrip circuits, most of the surface current is on
the underside of the conductor, so the substrates smoothness largely determines the
metals smoothness.
Many of these phenomena are difficult to quantify. They can result in an effective metal
resistivity that appears to vary with frequency and metal dimensions. Even in simple
5.5 Special aspects of power-amplifier modeling
219
cases (e.g., low frequencies and simple metal structures) many strip-transmission-line
models are not terribly accurate in predicting losses. Perhaps the best simple way to
treat them is to use the standard models in combination with a conservative estimate of
the metal resistivity. The authors general practice is to use at least double the handbook
resistivity values in all transmission-line models.
Calculation of losses by means of an EM simulator sometimes is not as rigorous as
one might assume. The usual process is to calculate the surface current distribution
on the conductors, then to determine the sheet resistance, accounting for skin effect if
necessary, and to determine the losses by integrating. This method is accurate for low-loss
conductors that are otherwise ideal, but does not directly account for metal imperfections
described above, and its use for multilayer metallizations is problematical.
Metal losses have little effect on the circuit-simulation process. If anything, they tend
to improve the conditioning of the admittance matrices, and thus may have at least a
theoretical effect in preventing convergence difficulties. This is likely to be important
only in inherently ill-conditioned cases, such as transmission lines that are precisely
one-half wavelength long.
5.5.2
Loss in circuit components

Because of the high currents in power-amplifier components, losses in nominally lossless
components capacitors and inductors can be high as well. It is not unknown for chip
capacitors, which ideally dissipate no power, to become hot enough to melt the solder
connecting them to the circuit board! For this reason, it is important in simulations
to monitor the currents in such elements and, along with information about their Qs,
calculate their power dissipation. This is especially important for components in output
circuits, where resonator currents can be quite high, and even small losses may have a
large effect on efficiency.
A simulation of a WCDMA handset amplifier illustrates the effect of circuit loss.
The matching circuit consists of a simple structure with two shunt capacitors and a
series transmission line, a structure that is typical for such amplifiers. Figure 5.13 shows
the results of the amplifier simulation. The simulation is just of the power stage; such
amplifiers usually include a driver stage as well. The figure shows the total RF output
power of the complete amplifier (i.e., including all harmonics) and the total RF power
at the input of the output matching circuit. The difference between these curves, 0.5 dB
at maximum efficiency, represents the power dissipation in the matching circuit. This
analysis shows that 11% of the output power is dissipated in the matching circuit. At
first glance, this loss is distressing, but in cellular handset PAs, where small, inexpensive
capacitors and inductors must be used in the output matching circuit, it is largely
inevitable.
5.5.3
Bond wires
While bond wires exist in all kinds of circuit, they are usually used simply as interconnections. In power amplifiers, however, bond wires, which have inductances of a fraction
WCDMA Amplifier Power Sweep

40
80
Total Output Power (L, dB m)
Power Sweep
Gain (L)
Power Sweep
Efficiency (R)
Power Sweep
Total Pwr at MC Inp (La,dB m)

Power Sweep
20.04 dB m
31.59 dB m
30
70
60
20.04 dB m
31.08 dB m
25
50
20
40
15
30
10
20
10
0
10 8 6 4 2
Eff. (%)
35
Output Power (dB m)
220
0
0
8 10 12 14 16 18 20 2223
Power (dB m)
Figure 5.13 Simulation of a cellular handset power amplifier, showing input and output power at
the output matching circuit. The output loss caused by matching-circuit elements in this case is
0.5 dB.
of one nanohenry, are often used as matching elements. This is an especially common
practice in output circuits, where very low inductances are often needed.
The use of bond wires for inductances creates three difficulties: (a) determining the
wires inductance and resistance, (b) making sure that the wires can carry the required
current, and (c) making certain that the desired wire length and shape is consistently
produced in a production environment. Even where the bond wire is not used as a
matching element, the low impedance level of the circuit may cause the wire inductance
to have a significant effect on matching or port VSWR.
The DC fusing current of a 25 m diameter gold bond wire is approximately 0.6 A
and its DC resistance is approximately 0.05 /mm of length. The fusing current depends
somewhat on the bond wires length, and the resistance may be affected by skin effect
and the kinds of imperfection described earlier. The inductance of the wire is more
difficult to determine. A single straight wire over a ground plane can be modeled as
a transmission line, but all practical bond wires are asymmetrically arched, a more
complicated situation. Finally, power devices rarely use single bond wires; they usually
use multiple, closely spaced wires. The wires are invariably magnetically coupled, so the
impedance of N wires is not simply 1/N times the impedance of a single one. Such large
bond-wire networks must be analyzed as a whole, not scaled from single-wire analyses.
The determination of bond-wire impedance is a straightforward problem for a 3D
EM simulator (Section 5.3.3). With care, a bond wire sometimes can also be modeled
acceptably by a planar EM simulator, with straight vertical and horizontal sections, as
long as the total length of the modeled wire is the same as the real one. These simulations
are generally costly, so they should be minimized, perhaps by limiting the number of
bond-wire configurations in the design.
5.6 Practical aspects of nonlinear circuit simulation
221
The problem of uniformity may be less than it at first appears. Automatic bonding
equipment produces highly uniform bond-wire shapes; as long as the processs standard
shape is acceptable, wire uniformity should not be difficult to achieve.
5.6
Practical aspects of nonlinear circuit simulation
5.6.1
Convergence difficulties
We noted earlier that Newtons method is not guaranteed to converge; harmonic-balance
simulators regularly remind us of this fact. Newton-based harmonic-balance analysis
is nevertheless quite robust, even when applied to stunningly complex problems. Most
convergence problems are not inherent in the simulator; they arise from poor characteristics of models, which are often under the control of the user, and from the users
misunderstanding of the best way to set up an analysis.
Model characteristics
Many standard models are not well conceived for use in harmonic-balance simulators.
Others have undocumented constraints on parameter values, which, if not observed,
cause convergence failure. Finally, models designed for use in time-domain simulators
are often transferred unmodified to harmonic-balance simulators, where they do not
work as well.
A fundamental rule of Newton-based circuit analysis is the following: all expressions
describing nonlinear circuit elements must be continuous through their second derivatives. This is equivalent to saying that a plot of the first derivative must not have any
kinks in it. Clearly, since Newtons method depends on derivatives to estimate the zero
of a function, any sudden change in the derivative makes convergence more difficult.
The existence of such problems can be inherent in the model or can be caused by the
way parameters are determined. Consider, for example, a nonlinear passive conductance
element described by the I/V equations,
I (V ) = a0 + a1 V + a2 V 2 + a3 V 3
I (V ) = 0
V > Vth
V Vth
(5.47)
In this case, the parameters an must be selected not only to match the I/V characteristic
of the real device, but also such that I(Vth ) = 0 and dI/dV = 0 at V = . It can be shown
that these constraints define two of the an values. This leaves only two coefficients to
adjust the shape and overall magnitude of the characteristic. A naive user of this model,
however, might not recognize this, and select all the polynomial coefficients to obtain
the best overall fit to the measured I/V curve. The virtually certain result would be a
discontinuity at V = Vth .
Another potential problem is a consequence of the way harmonic-balance analysis
operates. In the early iterations of an analysis, it is possible, indeed likely, that the
independent variables in the analysis (usually node voltages) become quite large, well
beyond the normal operating range of the device. In this case, it is essential that the
222
model be well behaved not only in its normal range of operation but at voltages well
outside that range. The SPICE diode model serves as a good illustration. Suppose we
were to use an ordinary textbook characteristic for the junction current,
I (V ) = Isat exp(V )
(5.48)
where Isat is the diodes current parameter and 40. In the initial iterations of a
harmonic-balance analysis of a diode circuit, the voltage can reach several hundred or
even several thousand volts, clearly causing a numerical overflow or underflow. To solve
this problem, the function uses a quadratic extension above some large threshold value
of V; the extension is designed so the derivatives are continuous at the threshold value.
Note that a linear extension of the function would introduce a discontinuous second
derivative at the threshold voltage, which would not be acceptable.
Values of independent variables need not be huge to cause trouble. Consider a device
model that includes self-heating. It is likely that the model is not well defined at temperatures below absolute zero, but it is possible that the simulator, which doesnt know the
difference between a volt and a degree, might, at some point, create a thermal value that
is less than zero. Often, naive model developers simply create a hard limit of T0 . This is
an excellent way to obtain poor convergence characteristics.
This kind of problem is greater in harmonic-balance analysis than in time-domain
analysis, as Newton iterations in time-domain analysis begin with a value of voltage or
current, at each time interval, that is close to the correct value. The iterative process usually changes the value of the independent variable only slightly. Occasionally, however,
large values of the independent variables can occur in time-domain analysis, usually at
start-up or when a step function of the excitation occurs.
It should go without saying that derivatives of nonlinear model characteristics must
be programmed correctly. This is not as easy to ensure as it may seem, however, as
many nonlinear device models use expressions that are exceedingly complicated, and
their derivative expressions are even more so. It is quite common for printed model
documentation to contain errors, and for those errors to propagate through simulator
implementations for years. One solution, often observed today, is for the model developer
to create a standard implementation, usually in SPICE but sometimes in pseudo-code
or a high-level language such as Verilog A. This standardizes the implementation and
reduces the danger of multiple implementations having their own errors. Instead, they
all contain the same errors.
Another solution is the use of automatic differentiation, a technology for creating
exact, analytical derivatives from a functional expression in source code. In this case,
the derivatives of the nonlinearity need not be programmed, but derivatives for each
elemental function (such as an exponential, sine function, and so on) must be programmed, as well as the chain-rule process. The advantage of this technology is the
guarantee of correct derivatives, as long as the derivative-generating process is correct.
The disadvantage, of course, is that an error in the process affects all models, not just one.
A final possibility is the use of numerical derivatives; that is, simply estimating
f (v)
d f (v)
dv
v
(5.49)
223
using some small increment v. This is almost never done in either harmonic-balance or
time-domain analysis. It introduces many numerical problems; for example, determining
the size of v so that it is small enough to produce a reasonably accurate derivative but
not so small that it is affected by loss of numerical precision. Empirical experience with
numerical derivatives shows that they often are not sufficiently accurate to allow good
convergence, especially near the solution.
It is common in some simulators to add low-value conductances across all nonlinear
elements, or from all nodes to ground, to improve convergence characteristics. The need
for this can be understood intuitively by recognizing that the Jacobian is similar to an
admittance matrix. If a nonlinear element is turned off, say, by biasing a FET well below
its threshold voltage, some of its nodes may be open-circuited. This results in a row
of the Jacobian having zero or very small entries, rendering it singular or nearly so. In
SPICE, the default value for the conductance is 1012 1 . This value of conductance
rarely has a significant effect on the accuracy of the solution, but it still can be helpful
in providing good convergence. The value can be increased by statements in SPICEs
options block. Harmonic-balance simulators usually have similar capabilities.
Analysis characteristics
Continuation methods
We noted earlier that Newtons method converges reliably in a single iteration in any
linear circuit. Thus, one possibility for improving the convergence is simply to linearize
the circuit in some way.
The strength of any nonlinearity is directly related to the level of its excitation; any
nonlinear element approaches linearity as its RF voltage or current approaches zero.
This simple fact can be used to obtain convergence in difficult conditions: analyze the
circuit at some low excitation level, then increase the level using the previous results
(perhaps scaled according to the excitation level) as the initial estimate. The analysis
proceeds in this manner until the desired excitation level is reached. This process takes
advantage of the near-linearity of the circuit at low levels, and uses solutions at higher
levels as initial estimates. These expedients usually are enough to prevent convergence
failure.
This method is sometimes called source stepping. It is one of a more general class of
methods called continuation methods, in which some parameter of the circuit is varied
stepwise and a solution is obtained at each step. Besides source stepping, continuation
methods may include parameters that vary the linearity of nonlinear elements from
nearly linear to their specified nonlinearity. Both have been used in circuit simulators;
however, because of its ease and generality of implementation, source stepping is most
common.
It is important to recognize that source-stepping, or other continuation methods, are
effective only when strong nonlinearity or large excitation causes convergence difficulty.
Continuation cannot provide a solution if the problem is ill-conditioned, say, by the use
of a poorly conceived self-heating model.
224
Frequency set
The selection of a frequency set can affect convergence. By frequency set, we mean
simply the set of frequency components used in the harmonic-balance analysis. In a
simple single-tone analysis, the frequency set is simply the set of harmonics from 0 to
Kp , where p is the excitation frequency and K is a harmonic great enough so that the
result has adequate accuracy. In a multitone analysis, the situation is more complicated.
The set of frequencies in the analysis is
= k p1 + l p2 + m p3 +
(5.50)
where pn are the excitation tones, and the range of the integers k, l, m, . . . must be
limited in some way. A number of limiting schemes are possible; for example,
k = K . . . K
l = 0... L
....
(5.51)
and so on. Note that it is not necessary to include l < 0, as this simply creates harmonic
components that already exist in (5.51). This set is sometimes called a rectangular or
box truncation [14], as plotting the (k, l) pairs on a rectangular grid creates a box pattern.
Another possibility, called a triangular truncation, involves the use of (5.51) with the
additional constraint that K + L < Q, where Q is some maximum order of the mixing
products of interest. A third possibility is the mixer set, in which
= k p 0
(5.52)
and k is limited as in the single-tone case. This set is used for mixer analysis, in which
p is the local oscillator and 0 is the IF.
Although the frequency set is rightly selected according to the problem at hand, it
nonetheless has a strong effect on convergence, analysis time, and memory use. It should
be obvious that a greater number of frequency components causes greater memory use
and slower analysis. The effect on convergence may be less clear, however. Intuitively,
one might expect the use of a greater number of frequency components to provide a
better estimate of the solution, and thus convergence might be more robust. In fact, the
frequency set has a relatively weak effect on convergence, and minimizing the number of
harmonics while significantly oversampling in the time domain usually provides better
convergence.
The reason for this mildly nonintuitive situation can be illuminated by an examination
of the way harmonic-balance analysis operates. For simplicity, we consider a single-tone
problem limited to K harmonics and a single nonlinear function. If the independent variables are voltages (which is always the case in nodal analysis), limiting the harmonics
to K makes Vk = 0, k > K. This is equivalent to setting all the embedding impedances in
the circuit to zero at those frequencies. Since the frequency spectrum is strictly bandlimited, the v(t) waveform used to calculate the current in the nonlinear subcircuit is very
clean; that is, unaffected by aliasing or other Fourier-transform errors. The current,
i(t), is then obtained from the nonlinear function, i(t) = fNL (v(t)). The fourier transform
225
of this quantity is not strictly bandlimited to Kp . If the waveform is oversampled (i.e.,

the sampling interval is much less than the Nyquist limit), the harmonics of interest
are not affected significantly by those higher harmonics, so the harmonics k > K are
discarded without incurring error. If the sampling interval is minimal, however, the
lower harmonics can incur aliasing errors, a form of numerical noise that changes from
iteration to iteration, making convergence difficult or impossible.
Termination criteria
Earlier we made the point that harmonic-balance analysis is a process of iteratively
improving an estimate of the solution. At some point, that solution is good enough
and the process must terminate. How do we decide what is good enough?
A number of possibilities are immediately evident. The first is simply to require that
the magnitude of the current-error vector be less than some threshold:
|ILIN (V) + INL (V)| <
(5.53)
Another is that the individual current errors at each harmonic be below some threshold;
that is,
|ILIN (k0 ) + INL (k0 )| <
(5.54)
for all harmonics at all nonlinear elements. Finally, we could require that the fractional
error in each harmonic be below some threshold:
|ILIN (k0 ) + INL (k0 )|
<
(|ILIN (k0 )| + |INL (k0 )|)/2
(5.55)
where the denominator of (5.55) is an estimate of the element current at that particular
harmonic.
All of these methods have pitfalls, introduced by the presence of harmonics having
very large and very small magnitudes. In (5.53), it is possible for the error to be
relatively small, while errors in individual weak harmonics, which are often of most
interest, are quite large. Suppose, for example, we are analyzing a power amplifier under
multitone excitation, and we are especially interested in its intermodulation distortion.
An error limit of, say, = 106 would be far too small for the fundamental tones,
and might well prevent successful convergence. That error might still be too great to
resolve intermodulation tones, however, which could be well below this level. A similar
problem exists with (5.54); an absolute error limit may be too small for larger frequency
components yet too large for smaller ones.
The limit shown in (5.55) has the opposite problem. A fractional error of, say, 1%
( = 0.01) might be fine for larger components, such as the fundamental-frequency
output, but it is pointless to determine intermodulation tones to such a small error.
One solution to this dilemma is the use of a hybrid criterion. For example, we could
examine each current-error component and determine whether either (5.54) or (5.55)
is satisfied. If all components satisfy one or the other, the problem terminates. When
226
this criterion is used, the absolute error of (5.54) can be specified for weak components, and the fractional error of (5.55) for larger components. This approach naturally
accommodates both large and small components with appropriate error criteria.
5.6.2
SPICE models in harmonic-balance analysis

When general-purpose harmonic-balance simulators were originally developed, few
nonlinear device models were available. The obvious source for such models was SPICE,
so SPICE models were simply transferred to the harmonic-balance simulator. Since then,
many more device models have been developed, and the original implementation of these
models often was in SPICE as well. As a result, many such models are optimized for
SPICE, and similar time-domain programs, but are not well suited to harmonic balance.
The reason for this situation arises in the differences between silicon monolithic
ICs, for which SPICE was created, and microwave hybrid and monolithic ICs, for
which harmonic balance simulators are generally used. Silicon ICs consist primarily of
nonlinear circuit elements, with relatively few linear ones; microwave ICs consist mostly
of linear circuit elements, which are incorporated into a single admittance matrix. Many
SPICE device models, however, consist of many nonlinear elements and few linear ones.
Separating these models into linear and nonlinear subcircuits often leaves isolated nodes,
resulting in an ill-conditioned harmonic-balance Jacobian matrix.
Often, parts of such models that do not affect microwave circuits are included in
SPICE models, introducing unnecessary computational overhead. A good example is
the inclusion of a substrate parasitic transistor in the VBIC BJT model. Microwave
devices, both HBT and BJT, do not have this parasitic. Its effects can be removed by
using device parameters that turn off the elements, but this practice still may create
isolated nodes, and, in any case, adds useless overhead in analyzing dead nonlinear
elements.
5.6.3
Problem size minimization and solution optimization

Minimizing the size of the problem can do much to reduce the computational cost
of a nonlinear analysis. At this point, it should be clear that the size of the problem
is essentially the size of the Jacobian matrix, which is proportional to the number
of harmonics and to the number of nodes or ports at which nonlinear elements are
connected. Minimizing either of these quantities helps to speed the analysis.
We have already touched on the matter of selecting a sensible frequency set and
minimizing model complexity. Other technologies can do much to minimize the size of
the problem that must be solved.
In the past, nonlinear circuits rarely included much DC circuitry. In todays RF and
microwave ICs, however, it is common to have fairly complex circuitry, such as bias
circuitry, which can be treated as linear. Treating such circuits as part of the RF circuit
is wasteful and unnecessary.
Simulator technologies exist that can identify the parts of the circuit that have no
significant RF voltage and treat them as linear. Those parts can then be incorporated
into the linear subcircuit, reducing the problem size. In simulators having this capability,
227
dramatic improvements in simulation speed are observed; reducing the size of the
nonlinear problem also can improve simulator robustness.
Harmonic balance can be formulated such that the independent quantities, the nonlinear element voltages, are at either ports or nodes. Use of a port formulation minimizes
problem size, while the nodal formulation is more versatile.
Because of the importance of minimizing problem size (and thus, presumably, simulation time), virtually all early microwave simulators used a port formulation. In time,
however, numerical methods for handling large, sparse matrices improved, allowing the
nodal formulation to have simulation efficiency virtually as good as a port formulation.
This evolution parallels the evolution of linear circuit simulators, which, in their earliest incarnations, used port concepts. Today, such methods are obsolete, and nodal (or
modified nodal) methods are virtually universal.
Each time a new simulation begins, the simulator must, in essence, find its way through
a variety of possibilities to obtain a solution. It does this by using the Jacobian matrix
to point to the direction, at each iteration, of the fastest decrease in the error function.
Unfortunately, some of the steps in that process are good ones and some are not.
It is possible for the simulator to remember which steps were successful in decreasing
the error function and which were poor. Then, the information can be used to speed
subsequent analyses. The idea is useful as long as the circuit does not change much
between analyses, which is often the case; after all, in the process of tweaking a circuit
to optimize it, most circuit modifications are minor. Such methods can be very useful
in power-amplifier analysis, where, for example, large pumped capacitances seem to be
quite effective in sending the simulator off toward places where it should never go.
5.6.4
Numerical considerations
Much of harmonic-balance and time-domain analysis involves solving linear equations.
This is obvious in the case of (5.18), but even the process of performing a Fourier
transform is inherently a matrix operation.
It is well known that ill conditioning (i.e., near singularity) of the matrix can result in
large errors. Given the N-dimensional system of linear equations
Ax = b
(5.56)
the error in the solution vector, x, can be bounded as

b
x
( A)
x
b
(5.57)
where (A) is the condition number of the matrix, and is the maximum norm of the
vector v,
v = max |vi |
1i N
(5.58)
The condition number can be found in any of several ways; see [2].
Equation (5.57) says, in essence, that any fractional variation in b is amplified by
the condition number in determining the fractional error in x. In (5.18), the right-side
vector is F(V ), which is subject to considerable numerical noise and error, as it involves
228
multiple Fourier transforms and loss of precision from extensive computation. Thus, poor
conditioning of the Jacobian can easily create errors large enough to make convergence
impossible.
We have discussed the source of ill conditioning periodically throughout this chapter.
The most common sources of ill-conditioning probably are (a) poorly conceived models,
and (b) characteristics of the circuit itself. Among the former are poorly conceived selfheating models and the latter include parts of the circuit that would be disconnected save
for some large impedance.
Models frequently are ill-conditioned, in the sense that they lead to an ill-conditioned
admittance matrix of the linear subcircuit or to an ill-conditioned Jacobian. Many phenomena that affect conditioning have been described earlier (e.g., Sections 5.6.1 and
5.6.2), so it suffices simply to make the point once more.
In general, nonlinear capacitors are characterized by their charge-voltage functions,
Q(V ), and the current is found by differentiation in the frequency domain, which involves
simply multiplication by j. Another approach, which is useful in some models, is to
use the capacitance, defined as dQ(V )/dV. In that case the independent quantity is the
voltage derivative, not the voltage itself.
The Jacobians entries normally have the magnitudes of circuit admittances, but this
formulation creates entries whose magnitudes are those of the capacitances. These small
entries create near-zero values in the matrix, which cause ill conditioning. The solution
in this case is very simple: scale the capacitances larger (by a factor of, say, 109 ) and
make the independent voltages affecting them smaller by the same factor.
It is amusing to note that this problem has occasionally been presented as a fundamental difficulty in using a capacitive formulation. However, this simple expedient solves
the problem completely.
In a port formulation, loops of independent voltages (e.g., three nonlinear capacitors
in a pi configuration) can cause ill conditioning. The problem arises from the fact that the
loop voltages are linearly dependent; one voltage is extraneous, as it can be determined
from the others. This is the reason for the requirement in SPICE that loops of capacitors
and voltage sources cannot be used.4
This problem is very difficult to avoid, as the nonlinear elements in a circuit are often
hidden inside models, and such loops can be created without any obvious indication.
Then convergence is poor. Use of a nodal or modified nodal formulation usually prevents
this problem.
5.6.5
Design flow
A fast, robust simulator cannot do much to speed the task of designing an amplifier if the
designers development process is fraught with bottlenecks. The difference between the
fastest and slowest circuit-simulator engines might make, at most, a few weeks difference
4
SPICE also proscribes cutsets of inductors and current sources, for the same reason. This restriction is found
in simulators that use mixed voltages and currents as independent quantities.
229
in a project of several months, but the use of a cumbersome design flow might easily
double or even triple development time.
One great impediment to a smooth design flow is the common division of the design
task into separate, disjointed efforts, such as initial design, parasitic extraction, EM
analysis of critical circuit elements, and layout. Each of these stages can uncover a flaw
requiring substantial redesign at a time when much effort has already been expended.
Integrating these tasks into a single, concurrent flow can do much to expedite the design
process. Software can be an important part of improving the design process, but it must
be designed not only for its analytical capabilities, but to support an efficient design flow
as well.
As the RF/microwave industry evolves from almost completely military and aerospace
functions to more commercial ones, with more stringent cost requirements and tight
schedules driven by the need for a short time to market, the software industry is becoming
aware of the need for human as well as analytical functionality. This is a worthwhile
development.
The integration of EM analysis software with circuit-analysis software serves as an
example to illustrate this phenomenon. Even well into the late 1990s, it was customary
for EM software to run in batch mode on one or more powerful computers. The designer
often did not know what parts of a circuit had to be EM simulated until a circuit layout
was completed. Then, the circuit elements to be simulated had to be redrawn for the EM
simulator, as the layout and EM softwares graphics module were generally incompatible,
with concomitant risks of error, and the circuit elements finally simulated. These results
were fed back into the circuit-analysis software and the circuit resimulated. The results
of the resimulation often were not acceptable, so redesign was necessary, along with
another loop through the simulation-layout-EM process.
An improvement came with cosimulation, the ability of disparate tools to run simultaneously and to share data. This could be done in a number of ways, supported to a
greater or lesser degree by the computers operating system. Examples of the latter were
Unix pipes and Microsoft Windows dynamic data exchange (DDE) capability. These
allowed a certain degree of interprocess communication, especially the direct transmission of data between simulators without the users intervention. While these technologies
allowed input and output data sharing, they did not constitute full integration, as the types
of interaction were limited.
Today, full integration of circuit simulation with EM, layout, and even system simulation is possible. This capability is supported in part by operating system technology, in
particular Microsoft Windows component object model (COM) technology, a standard
that allows separate software modules to be integrated at the object-code level. As a
result, simulators can be fully aware of the operation of other simulators and obtain all
the information they need about the effect of one simulator on data they deal with. For
example, if the user changes the dimensions of a microstrip tee junction, that change can
be reflected instantly in the layout, and the EM simulator becomes aware of the change
and can resimulate the junction. In this way, multiple iterations through the simulationlayout-EM loop are avoided, and many sources of error involved in copying data are
fully eliminated.
230
However valuable these technologies are, they do not let the user off the hook.
Engineering judgment in their use is still essential. For example, it is not yet possible
(although it may be, eventually) for software to determine the optimum setup, in terms
of frequency sets and termination criteria, for a harmonic-balance analysis. The user
must understand the matter and make appropriate decisions. Similarly, some circuit
elements can be modeled more easily and more accurately than others; for example,
straight microstrip transmission-line models are invariably much better than closedform microstrip junction models. Such elements should be used preferentially, wherever
possible, in microwave designs. Finally, the user must be aware of the effect of certain
kinds of model on analyses. The interpolation of S-parameters, for example, can be
critical for various types of analysis: linear interpolation can result in passband plots
having a scalloped appearance and the lack of smoothness can cause convergence failure.
Earlier, we described the problem of S-parameters that do not span the frequency space
used in a nonlinear analysis. This also can and usually does cause convergence
difficulty.
References
1. N. Balabian and T. A. Bickart, Electrical Network Theory, Wiley, New York, 1969.
2. G. Dahlquist and A. Bjork, Numerical Methods, Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1974.
3. J. Vlach and K. Singhal, Computer Methods for Circuit Analysis and Design, Second Edn.,
Norwood, MA: Artech House, 1994.
4. M. S. Nakhla and J. Vlach, A piecewise harmonic balance technique for determination of
periodic response of nonlinear systems, IEEE Trans. Circ. Syst., vol. CAS-23, p. 85, 1976.
5. S. W. Director and K. W. Current, Optimization of forced nonlinear periodic currents, IEEE
Trans. Circ. Syst., vol. CAS-23, p. 329, 1976.
6. F. R. Colon and T. N. Trick, Fast periodic steady-state analysis for large-signal electronic
circuits, IEEE J. Solid-State Circ., vol. SC-8, p. 260, 1973.
7. K. S. Kundert and A. SangiovannIVincentelli, Simulation of nonlinear circuits in the
frequency domain, IEEE Trans. Computer-Aided Des., vol. CAD-5, , p. 521, 1986.
8. H. Yeager and R. W. Dutton, Improvement in norm-reducing methods for circuit simulation,
IEEE Trans. Computer-Aided Des., vol. 8, p. 538, 1989.
9. G. B. Sorkin, K. S. Kundert, and A. Sangiovanni-Vincentelli, An almost-periodic Fourier
transform for use with harmonic balance, IEEE MTT-S Int. Microw. Symp. Dig., p. 717,
1987.
10. V. Rizzoli, C. Cecchetti, and A. Lipparini, A general-purpose program for the analysis of
nonlinear microwave circuits under multitone excitation by multidimensional Fourier transform, Proceedings of the 17th European Microwave Conference, 1987.
11. E. Ngoya, J. Rousset, M. Gayral, R. Quere, and J. Obregon, Efficient Algorithms for spectra
calculations in nonlinear microwave circuits simulators, IEEE Trans. Circuits Syst., vol. 37,
p. 1339, 1990.
12. P. Rodrigues, A general mapping technique for fourier transform computation in nonlinear
circuit analysis, IEEE Microw. Guided Wave Lett., vol. 7, p. 374, 1997.
13. P. Rodrigues, An orthogonal almost-periodic fourier transform for use in nonlinear circuit
simulation, IEEE Microw. Guided Wave Lett., vol. 4, p. 74, 1994.
References
231
14. K. S. Kundert, J. K. White, and A. Sangiovanni-Vincentelli, Steady-State Methods for Simulating Analog and Microwave Circuits, Boston: Kluwer, 1990.
15. J. C. Pedro and N. Borges de Carvalho, Artificial frequency mapping techniques for multitone
harmonic balance, IEEE MTT-S Int. Microw. Symp. Dig. Workshops, 2000.
16. V. Boric, J. East, and G. Haddad, An efficient Fourier transform algorithm for multitone
harmonic balance, IEEE Trans. Microw. Theory Tech., vol. MTT-47, p. 182, 1999.
17. V. Rizzoli, A. Neri, and F. Mastri, A modulation-oriented piecewise harmonic-balance
technique suitable for transient analysis and digitally modulated signals, Proceedings of the
26th European Microwave Conference, 1996, p. 546.
18. E. Ngoya, J. Sombrin, and J. Rousset, Simulation de circuits et systemes: methodes, actuelles
et tendances, Seminaire Antennes Actives-MMIC, Arles, Arles, France, 1994.
19. E. Ngoya and R. Larcheveque, Envelop [sic] transient analysis: a new method for the transient
and steady-state analysis of microwave communication circuits and systems, IEEE MTT-S
Int. Microw. Symp. Dig., p. 1365, 1996.
20. D. G. Swanson and W. J. R. Hoefer, Microwave Circuit Modeling Using Electromagnetic
Field Simulation, Artech House, Norwood, MA, 2003.
21. J. Rautio, Synthesis of compact lumped models from electromagnetic analysis results, IEEE
Trans. Microw. Theory Tech., vol. MTT-55, p. 2548, 2007.
Practical HF/VHF/UHF RF power

amplifier realization
Daniel P. Myer
Communication Power Corporation (CPC)
6.1
Introduction
This discussion focuses on the practical realization of radio frequency power amplifiers
(RFPAs), the process that exists between nothing and something, the path an RFPA design
engineer can take from the RFPA application conceptual phase to the construction of
actual hardware.
Since the end use application/market defines and drives the need for an RFPA, an
overview of major application areas is covered initially. The applications will demand
that certain RFPA specifications are satisfied, so an overview of generic amplifier specifications relative to several applications is logically provided next. The specifications are
viewed from several vantage points, i.e., they are covered qualitatively, in other words,
for a particular application, which RFPA specifications are most relevant. Then they are
defined quantitatively, not so much for a unique application, but with a bias towards
the RFPA itself, with an effort to provide a guideline as to what constitutes a realistic
specification value, and what does not.
The chapter will end off with a design example that originates with a hypothetical
application and uses the concepts presented to generate a specification and RFPA module
design to satisfy the requirement. Again, this is a chapter on practical realization, while
it will cover some theoretical aspects of RFPA design, it will also cover how to construct
the amplifier and emphasize test configuration/data analysis. The goal is to help facilitate
a design that can not only be manufactured once, but in volume with design margin, and
profitability.
6.2
RF power amplifier markets

There are several major markets or end use application areas of RFPAs, the more common
ones are:
r
r
r
r
r
military;
medical;
scientific;
industrial;
commercial.
6.3 The realization process
233
Within these broad areas there exist a host of unique applications where the RFPA
finds a home:
r Military: communications, communication jamming, improvised explosive device
(IED) Jamming, countermeasures, radar, and psychological warfare;
r Medical: magnetic resonance imaging/spectroscopy (MRI/MRS), thermotherapy, cardiac tissue ablation, benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) treatment, RF cauterizing;
r Scientific: nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, nuclear quadrupole resonance (NQR), electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR)
r Industrial: electromagnetic compatibility testing (EMC), RF heating/drying, adhesive compound curing;
r Commercial: semiconductor wafer plasma processing, cellular base stations, AM/FM
radio, HDTV broadcast.
All these applications have one thing in common; an RFPA is essential and vital to
the process. But just having any RFPA, will not suffice either, i.e., an RFPA designed for
MRI could not be used effectively for HDTV broadcast and vice versa. Each application
carries with it a unique set of requirements or specifications that the RFPA, if it were
to be used successfully, must meet. All RFPAs have certain operating characteristics,
and for each unique application, some are more important than others. In a satellitebased RFPA, for example, efficiency is very critical due to limited power availability,
on the other hand an MRI RFPA specification is more focused on linearity and less on
efficiency.
For the applications listed above, a brief overview of some of the required RFPA
specifications for each discipline is provided in the following paragraphs.
6.3
The realization process

RFPA realization is, in a broad sense, a three-step process:
1. RFPA qualitative specification delineation: A task concerned with assessing a particular proposed application that requires an RFPA and distilling out of the multitude
of existing amplifier performance specifications, only the ones necessary and sufficient (in other words, required specifications) that once quantified, will define a list of
amplifier characteristics to satisfy the end use application. For example, consider the
application of RF heating. RFPAs are used in this requirement to heat materials (plastics, human tissue, etc.) with its output power. Clearly, there is no need, for instance,
for good phase linearity, the material to be heated will not respond any differently to
an RFPA that has excellent phase linearity than with one that does not. This step of
qualitative specification delineation is by no means a trivial process and is executed
best by maintaining a close working relationship between the RFPA engineer and
the system engineer intimate with the given application. Simply because an RFPA
Engineer knows, for example, how to design an amplifier with excellent linearity
does not necessarily mean he is aware of what distortion types to assess in order to
234
enable good picture quality from a TV transmitter. The TV system engineer will know
these parameters based on his field experience. Since there are many applications for
RFPAs, this step is only covered here in a cursory sense, such that the RFPA Engineer
is aware and informed of its importance.
2. RFPA specification quantification: With a list of required RFPA specifications relative to a given application assembled, the next step is to assign numeric values to
each particular one along with a clarification of what the numbers represent; i.e.,
minimum, maximum or typical. An arrival at a particular number for a certain specification usually is the result of field trials where system performance is monitored
while only the amplifier parameter of interest is successively degraded to the point
where it becomes evident in the overall system performance. An RFPA Engineer must
be very familiar with amplifier specifications not only for what they imply but also
for what value represents a realistic application demand and one that is not physically
or economically realizable. Therefore, an overview and definition of RFPA specifications is provided along with highlighting both ideal and typical values to provide
the RFPA Engineer with a frame of reference or boundaries from which to work in
during the realization process. The typical values are what one might expect to get
from a generic RFPA without any form of error correction applied.
3. RFPA hardware realization: Following the specification delineation and quantification, a design example is provided to illustrate methods to physically realize RFPA
hardware. This step will define the basic architectural components of an RFPA module: the RF transistor, matching networks, feedback networks, DC bias and supply
networks. An RFPA module design that can be applied to several applications will be
shown as a design example.
6.3.1
RFPA qualitative specification delineation

Military amplifiers: For just about any application in the military or defense market,
one amplifier characteristic is paramount: reliability. RFPAs for military applications
must endure extreme, harsh environmental conditions (temperature, altitude, salt fog,
exposure to aviation fuels and sand, etc.) and perform flawlessly. In the event that they
do encounter some partial malfunction, then they need to be battle sure. This implies
the RFPA must provide some level of performance and be expected to override fault
protection shutdown circuitry in spite of the fact that it may be damaged.
Military communications require an RFPA to be extremely broadband, adverse load
VSWR tolerant, and if the modulation format demands it, have excellent linearity. For
applications where an RFPA is battery powered, high levels of amplifier efficiency are
needed.
Jamming/countermeasures applications require extreme broadband capability and
antenna load VSWR tolerance. Linearity is not overly important as the goal may sometimes be to overpower enemy communications and distortion components may actually
augment the process.
235
Radar RFPAs will need to work well in the time domain and maintain good pulse
fidelity; fast rise and fall transition durations (formerly known as rise/fall times), lowpulse tilt (amplitude droop), and have and low levels of pulse overshoot and ringing.
Amplifiers used for psychological warfare operations (Psy-Ops) are generally used for
emulation of enemy civilian and military communication systems which can be either
AM/FM radio or television broadcast. In this event, RFPAs will need extreme bandwidth
to cover multiple channels along with high linearity and very low intermodulation
distortion (IMD).
Medical Amplifiers: Amplifiers for the medical market need to be reliable as well;
however, the environment they are exposed to is very benign. Usually RFPAs in medical applications are located in hospitals or research institutions where the ambient
temperature remains at approximately +25 C.
MRI and MRS, which provide detailed anatomical and metabolically profiled human
images, demand the RFPA deliver certain levels of performance in three domains:
time, power and frequency. In the time domain, the RFPA must deliver high levels of
pulse fidelity (fast rising and falling transition durations, low-pulse tilt, low overshoot
and ringing). In the power domain, the RFPA must exhibit low levels of AM/AM and
AM/PM (gain and phase linearity, respectively) distortion. In the frequency domain, the
MRI/MRS RFPA must deliver uniform performance at several key frequencies, while
having low noise output at frequencies other than the carrier, specifically while the RFPA
is transmitting the carrier.
For medical heating (thermotherapy, cardiac tissue ablation and benign prostatic
hyperplasia treatments), the focus is on precise power control. To heat human tissue
safely, a feedback control (ALC) loop is the best method for keeping the RF power
output variations extremely low. Linearity is not necessarily critical but does enable
the RFPA to be more easily controlled by feedback loops. Medical heating is usually
narrowband (i.e., 915 MHz + / 5 MHz), and while the load VSWR may be harsh, the
RFPAs output can be protected with Circulators.
Scientific Amplifiers: NMR spectroscopy employs all the same principles as MRI
except, instead of analyzing patients, an NMR Spectrometer will evaluate chemical
compounds or pharmaceuticals. NMR essentially makes the same demands on an RFPA
that MRI would, however an amplifier for NMR/NQR and EPR will require more
precise pulse fidelity (faster rising/falling transition durations, lower droop and virtually
nonexistent pulse ringing/overshoot).
Industrial Amplifiers: EMC RFPAs must provide RF power over ultra broad bandwidths spanning several octaves from the audio frequency range up into the microwave
frequency range (10 kHz to over 1 GHz). EMC RFPAs are used to test the radiated
susceptibility of electronic products. This is the products ability to maintain normal
operating functions while being subjected to external RF radiation. The EMC RFPA
output will be fed into wideband antennas which will radiate RF energy into products
under evaluation.
Material heating and Compound curing demand that the RF power be precisely controllable and stable over temperature and time.
236
Commercial amplifiers: Amplifiers for semiconductor wafer processing must be

able to withstand severe load VSWR. While these RFPAs usually have a matching
network which works to actively match the impedance of the plasma, there still exist
severe transient load VSWR excursions. These amplifiers must also have extremely
reliable performance as an amplifier failure can lead to shutting down wafer fabrication
production lines.
Cellular base station RFPAs must handle multiple carriers simultaneously. Due to this
requirement, these RFPAs must be extremely linear such that IMD distortion is minimized. Typically, the IMD requirement is much lower than can be achieved with a stand
alone, uncorrected RFPA. Therefore, error correction schemes such as pre-distortion
and feed-forward are employed to reduce IMD components below required limits.
AM radio transmitters require good linearity while FM transmitters have a stronger
emphasis on efficiency and low cost. Conventional television transmitters place high
demands on signal linearity.
Reviewing the applications, it is apparent that certain RFPA operating parameters are
instrumental in defining an RFPA for one application, but are absent in another while
some are common to all.
6.3.2
RFPA specifications, generic list and quantification guidelines

The RFPA specifications simply define, quantitatively, the manner in which a particular
RFPA must behave under a given set of conditions. The conditions are input stimulus
signal characteristics, expected output signal response performance (transfer function),
output load VSWR, supply voltages, environmental (operating/storage) conditions (temperature, shock, vibration and altitude).
A list of generic RFPA specifications is provided below with definitions accompanied
by quantifications of what an ideal amplifier would deliver, followed by what a typical
one might provide. The typical values represent what is readily accomplished with a
generic broadband amplifier, the more a requirement demands a particular specification
quantification to propagate towards an ideal value, the more difficult(and costly) it will
be to design and manufacture the amplifier. The quantifications are not indicative of any
particular end use application, the goal is to provide the RFPA engineer with a common
sense, a feel for what is readily attainable, and what is not.
r Power output (units: W): the amount of power an RFPA can deliver into a particular
load VSWR, over a given frequency and dynamic range. What is ideal: the RFPA
would deliver the precise amount of power demanded by a particular application,
This power level would be exact, proportionally controllable, with zero power level
fluctuations due to temperature, component variation and free of noise and distortion
components. What is typical: a power level that varies in a quasi linear fashion and
drifts a few watts for every few degrees shift in ambient temperature along with a
power spectrum of noise and distortion components.
r Frequency response/range (units: Hz): the range of frequencies that an RFPA is
expected to uniformly meet all specifications. What is ideal: a range of frequencies
237
were the RFPA exhibits flawless uniform(identical time and power domain responses)
performance (stable power, no distortion or noise), outside of this range the amplifier has no response to any other frequencies. What is typical: a range of frequencies where performance is not uniform; i.e.: gain will vary by several dB, distortion and noise will be present, rise and falling transition durations vary along with
efficiency.
Gain (units: dB): the measure of how much greater in power an RFPA will increase
the level of an input signal. What is ideal: the output power is an exact, constant,
linear multiple of the input power that is independent of frequency, temperature and
drive level. What is typical: gain variation of 15 dB across a given bandwidth, a shift
in value of a few tenths of a dB for every few degrees change in ambient temperature.
Gain flatness (units: + / dB): the amount of gain variation over the specified frequency range. What is ideal: absolutely no ( + / 0 dB) of gain variation over the
required frequency range. What is typical: depending on the required bandwidth, the
gain flatness can vary about a nominal value from + / 0.5 dB to + / 4 dB or more.
Gain flatness is very difficult to maintain over wide frequency ranges (>1 octave).
Gain linearity/AM-AM distortion (units: + / dB versus a specified power
domain dynamic range): the ability of an amplifier to hold its gain constant throughout the application of an RF input signal with varying power levels. What is ideal:
the RFPAs nominal gain value (gain = G dB + / 0 dB) remains perfectly constant
from an output power of 0 W to the maximum power demanded by the application.
What is typical: gain variations of + / 1 dB are readily achieved by Class A and
AB amplifiers, over a dynamic range of 4060 dB. Gain linearity is class dependent
with Class A being the most linear and least efficient, while Class D/E are the most
nonlinear but most efficient.
Gain temperature stability (units: + / dB): the ability of an RFPA to hold its gain
constant over varying levels of ambient temperature. What is ideal: absolutely no
( + / 0 dB) of gain variation regardless of ambient temperature variations. What
is typical: gain variations of 6 dB over temperature swings of 10 to +80 C are
common. The variations are easily corrected for with ALC control loops or open loop
gain stabilization networks. Gain stability of + / 0.25 dB over 4050 C is achievable
with open loop temperature compensation networks. ALC loops can improve these
values further.
Phase linearity/AMPM distortion (units: + / versus a specified power domain
dynamic range): insertion phase linearity or AM to PM distortion, is the ability for
an RFPA to hold its insertion phase constant over varying output power levels. What is
ideal: an insertion phase variation of + / 0 from zero power output to full rated
power. What is typical: an insertion phase variation of + / 10 to + / 15 around a
nominal insertion phase value () over a 4060 dB dynamic range is easily achieved
via Class A amplifiers. Predistorted and feed-forward amplifiers can have much less
phase variation.
Dynamic range (units: dB): the range of output power levels that an RFPA must work
over. Usually the maximum power output is the upper limit. What is ideal: the RFPAs
output would be linearly controllable with no non linear deviations from exactly 0 W
238
to the required maximum rated power. What is typical: the linear classes of RFPAs;
A, AB, and B offer the best dynamic range (approx 4060 dB), Class C, D, and E
have limited dynamic ranges (<1015 dB uncorrected; i.e., without pre-distortion).
The low end of the dynamic range is limited by it noise floor, the high end would be
bounded by unacceptable levels of nonlinear gain compression or expansion.
Efficiency (units: %): the amount of DC input power an RFPA will require to produce
a given amount of RF output power. What is ideal: theoretical maximum efficiency
for the specific amplification class. What is typical: Class C, D, and E offer the best
methods for high efficiency, >5070% and relatively constant over a limited dynamic
range; however, linearity (both gain and phase) will suffer. Broadband Class AB
efficiency runs in the 40% range, but drops substantially at reduced power output
levels.
Rise time (rising transition duration) (units: s): the amount of time it takes an RFPA
to progress from 10 to 90% (in voltage) of any given rectangular RF pulse output.
What is ideal: the amplifiers output power rising transition duration is exactly equal
in time to the RF input signals rising transition duration, regardless of how fast or
slow. What is typical: rise times of 250750 ns are readily accomplished.
Fall time (falling transition duration) (units: s): the amount of time it takes an
RFPA to progress from 90% to 10% of any given RF pulse output. What is ideal:
the amplifiers output power falling transition duration is exactly equal in time to the
RF input signals falling transition duration, regardless of how fast or slow. What is
typical: fall times of 50500 nS are readily accomplished.
Pulse overshoot (units: %): the amount an RFPAs output deviates from an expected
100% output power value during the period directly following the rise time transition
duration. What is ideal: 0% overshoot, the amplifiers output exactly follows the
input. What is typical: 1015% overshoot is common though controlling overshoot
becomes more problematic with faster rising transition duration times along with
lower operating frequency range into the 130 MHz range.
Pulse droop (pulse tilt) (units: %): the amount an RFPAs output either decreases
(negative tilt) or increases (positive tilt) across the duration of a rectangular RF
output pulse. What is ideal: 0%, an RFPA with a perfectly flat rectangular RF input
pulse delivers an amplified exact replica on the output. Note: pulse tilt can be an
extremely elusive pulse parameter to define let alone design for or even measure. The
most problematic issue with pulse tilt is the pinpoint assignment of the 100% power
amplitude discrete location on the rectangular RF pulse envelope which will serve as
the reference point. Pulse waveforms can manifest themselves in an infinite amount of
subtly different shapes, even if they are all classified as rectangular pulses. What
is typical: a pulse tilt value of 10% is common. Less than 5% becomes very difficult
to manage over broad frequency and dynamic ranges.
Ringing/settling time: (units: seconds): The duration of time that an RFPAs output
overshoots and exponentially decays sinusoidaly down to a 100% pulse power output.
What is ideal: absolutely no ringing or overshoot which might initiate ringing. What is
typical: depending on the frequency range and rising transition duration time, ringing
can occur and last for 20500 nanoseconds or perhaps longer.
239
r Distortion, harmonic (units : -dBc): the level of unwanted signal components which
are integer multiples of the RF input signal frequency that are measured relative to
the magnitude of the RF output signal. What is ideal: absolutely no harmonics, the
only output of the amplifier is a replica of the input RF spectrum, with all frequency
components amplified exactly the same. What is typical: even-order harmonics are
less than 20 dBc at the second-order harmonic and decreasing further at higher
even-order frequencies, Odd-order harmonics are less than 12 dBc at the third-order
harmonic and decreasing further at higher odd-order frequencies.
r Distortion, inter-modulation (units: dBc): the level of unwanted signal components
that arise from the application of two or more RF input signals propagating through a
nonlinear medium. The distortion signals are close in frequency to the original input
signals. What is ideal: there are no IMD components, the output frequency spectrum
is an exact, amplified replica of the input spectrum. What is typical: IMD distortion
components will typically fall 20 to 30 dBc down from the two-tone output signals.
r Noise floor (units: dB relative to thermal noise floor): the amount of noise an
amplifier puts out when its input is terminated with a 50 resistor. RF power amplifiers
typically are not concerned with noise as their primary task is to provide large amounts
of electrical energy. In other words, the amplifier, per se, can be a substantial noise
source. There are, however, situations where an RFPA may be required to emit as little
transmitted noise as possible at frequencies other than the carrier. What is ideal: the
amplifiers noise output is zero dB over the noise power of a 50 resistor. What is
typical: a noise output level of 1015 dB above the thermal noise of a 50 resistor.
r VSWR, input (units: dimensionless): a measure of the RFPAs ability to keep its
input impedance close to a specific value (i.e., 50 ) over a given frequency range
so as to achieve a maximum transfer of power from a signal source to the amplifier
input. What is ideal: a 1:1 VSWR is a perfect match, all the signal sources power will
enter into the input port of the RFPA for all frequencies. What is typical: a 2:1 VSWR
(or less) over a broad frequency range is commonly acceptable. Usually the input of
an RFPA requires a small amount of signal power (on the order of 0 dBm), so a 2:1
VSWR corresponds to approximately 90% of the signal source power entering into
the RFPAs input port.
r VSWR, load (units: dimensionless): a measure of the RFPAs output impedance relative to a given load. An RFPAs output impedance is a dynamic parameter depending
on a variety of variables; power output, supply voltage and frequency. It is a desirable to match the RF transistor to its load impedance for maximum power transfer.
Unfortunately, for many applications, the load will vary widely and present a serious
challenge to the RFPA Engineer to design an RFPA that can withstand adverse load
VSWRs and maintain specified performance. What is ideal: a perfect match, 1:1
VSWR for all frequencies and power levels. What is typical: this depends heavily on
the end use application, but can vary anywhere from a close match 1.2:1 to an open
or shorted load (:1).
r Stability, spurious output, load pull dependent (units: -dBc): this defines an amplifiers ability to maintain stable operation (i.e., not generate any unwanted spurious
signals and maintain an output power that remains controlled by the input power
240
and a stable transfer function) while the input/output load VSWR is varied. This is
sometimes defined as load pull stability. A word of caution here to those who specify
or have been requested to design an amplifier as unconditionally stable, implying
the amplifier will not oscillate terminated by any input/output load VSWR. While
there does exist ways to theoretically show an amplifier is unconditionally stable into
adverse loads, it is strongly argued here that no such thing as a truly unconditionally stable amplifier has or ever will exist in the real world. The basis for this
argument is that any physical amplifier whether broadband or narrowband, can be
subjected to virtually infinite number of operating points, assembly process control
variations, device lot/date code variations and changing environments, be it frequency,
output power levels, operating temperatures, modulation formats, input/output port
isolation values and combinations of complex input/output load terminations. To be
certain, there will be one combination of the listed operating points that will cause
an oscillation or some level of spurious output. Since an infinite amount of operating
points exist, it would require an infinite amount of time to test and verify a given
amplifier is unconditionally stable, unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately, at least
for the poor soul tasked with testing an RFPA for unconditional stability) no one can
live long enough to test and confirm this. What is ideal: unconditional stability, no
oscillations for any condition of operation. What is typical: conditional stability, the
amplifier will be stable under a defined, discrete set of conditions such as Load VSWR
up to a given point (i.e., 3:1, fully rotational about the Smith Chart), dynamic range,
fixed frequency ranges, or at an output for spurious frequencies that are an acceptable
amount below the carrier. Typical values of load pull spurious are 40 to 60 dBc.
r Operating temperature range (units: degrees): the temperature range over which
the amplifier will be expected to meet all specifications. Every component in an RFPA
will have electrical characteristics that are temperature dependent. This dependency
can cause an RFPA to be specification compliant at one temperature and out of
specification at another. The key is to design the RFPA so that the effects of varying
temperature are minimized. What is ideal: the RFPA will operate uniformly at all
temperatures with no variation in gain, output power, distortion, etc. What is typical:
the RFPA will operate over a limited temperature range (50 to +125 C, for example)
where the high end of the temperature range is determined by the RF power transistors
junction temperature and required failure rate.
r Altitude (units: feet, meters above mean sea level (AMSL)): the altitudes within
which the amplifier is expected to meet full specification. Altitude can impact an
RFPAs performance primarily with ones that use forced air cooling as air becomes
thinner are higher altitudes, rendering the efficacy of this cooling method problematical. What is ideal: an RFPA is operational from Submarine to Outer Space with no
variation in performance. What is typical: the RFPA is limited to certain altitudes by
the method by which heat is removed, for low altitudes forced air cooling is adequate,
for high altitudes and space, liquid cooling becomes more effective.
r Shock/vibration (units: G, rms): the level of six axes (x, y, z and rotational: yaw,
pitch, and roll) mechanical energy an RFPA can withstand and still be specification
compliant. What is ideal: the RFPA can withstand exposure to shock and vibration
241
resulting from transportation (shipping) and application (military applications: airborne, ground transport, colocated ordinance etc.) and remain functional regardless
of what level of mechanical shock is imparted. What is typical: an RFPA will have
set limits of how much shock the unit can endure, amplifiers have been designed to
withstand as much as 5000 G of transient shock and as much as 60 G of continuous,
random, six axis vibration.
r Conducted/radiated emissions: the level of unwanted RF noise whether signal, spurious, distortion or other that gets out of the RFPA either on physical wires (conducted
emissions) or through an improperly shielded enclosure (radiated emissions). What
is ideal: the RFPA will contain all radio frequency energy within the confines of the
physical housing of the amplifier system. The RF energy will only exit the chassis
through coaxial cables and connectors. What is typical: all RF power amplifiers
will emit and conduct some level of RF energy unintentionally to other collocated
circuits, subsystems, and equipment, shielding measures must be deployed such that
the emissions are within acceptable limits based on the particular application EMC
guidelines.
r Conducted/radiated susceptibility: the ability of an RFPA to maintain its specified performance with unwanted signal/spurious/noise energy from other collocated
circuits, subsystems and equipment getting into its on physical wires (conducted susceptibility) or through improperly shielded RFPA enclosures (radiated susceptibility).
What is ideal: an RFPA can operate normally regardless of being subjected to any
level of electromagnetic (EM) interference or impulse. What is typical: All RF power
amplifiers will be affected at some level of RF energy unintentionally coupled into
it from collocated circuits, subsystems and equipment. Shielding measures must be
deployed such that the susceptibility thresholds are within acceptable limits based on
the particular application EMC guidelines.
r Mean time to failure (units: hours): the average amount of time an amplifier
will function before experiencing a malfunction or failure. What is ideal: a particular amplifier will be operated within its specified ranges and perform flawlessly indefinitely. What is typical: it depends heavily on the temperature of the
RFPAs semiconductor or die temperatures, MTTFs of 20,000 to 100,000 h are
common.
6.3.3
Specification/hardware realization
Regardless of the application, a specification defining an RFPA will draw from some or
all the above listed Operating Specifications. How these parameters are specified closely
influence how a particular RFPA design is realized.
There are multitudes of applications for RFPAs, it is nearly impossible to illustrate one
particular method to realize an RFPA design for each. However, it is possible to cover
techniques that can address Specifications that are common to several applications. The
steps exhibited and taken will progress from specification delineation and quantification
to block/wire design, then to RFPA module design.
242
Figure 6.1 Simplified system level block and wiring diagram for a typical RFPA system.
RFPA system design can be best accomplished by working backwards if you will.
That is, an RFPA system design begins by starting with the maximum RF power requirement of a particular application, and designing the RFPA output section first, as opposed
to last. We begin with output section first for the following reasons:
1. The application (or end use) demand for RF power is the first and foremost requirement for an RFPA to meet and the output section addresses this directly.
2. How the output module design of the RFPA evolves, and what its transfer/distortion
characteristics are, will dictate the design of the stages that will precede it (low-level
driver and intermediate power amplifier stages).
3. Depending on what RF power transistors are chosen for the RFPA section and how
they perform from a DC standpoint (i.e., DC operating voltages and DC current
demands) will also determine what type of DC power supplies are required.
6.4
RFPA system level design overview

The step following specification delineation and quantification for a RFPA system design
is the System Block and Wire diagram. A simplified System Block and Wire diagram is
shown in Figure 6.1 for a 1 kW amplifier example. The architecture in this diagram can
be used to realize any RFPA system application requirement. It shows the basic elements
or subsystems:
r low-level driver stage;
r intermediate power amplifier stage;
r RF power divider;
6.4 RFPA system level design overview
r
r
r
r
r
243
RF power amplifier section (usually consisting of multiple, identical RFPAs);

RF power combiner;
directional coupler;
DC supply section;
digital control section.
The top of the system level block and wire diagram shows the output power requirement
of each stage and above each subsystem block diagram are typical gain/loss values relative to each stage. Working the power requirement from right to left, it is apparent how the
application power requirement demands a focus on the output RFPA section first. Based
on the application power requirement, we need to select aN RF power transistor that can
provide adequate RF power, and most importantly, provide the necessary power while
concurrently satisfying the application requirements for linearity, efficiency, distortion,
transition duration response times and anticipated load VSWR excursions. Another
reason for working on the RFPA output first is the initial verification of meeting specifications on a modular, scaled down level. If, for example, distortion levels cannot be met
on a modular level, either the designer has to improve the RFPA module design or plan
for ways to provide system level error correction.
There are a variety of processes occurring in any RFPA system; however, if you were
to break them down and classify them, there are primarily two:
r power amplification;
r power transfer.
Power amplification, obviously, is accomplished with the RF power transistors; power
transfer is accomplished with matching networks, dividers and combiners. Therefore,
it is readily apparent that RF device selection and impedance matching will be critical
steps.
6.4.1
RF power amplifier module design overview

After the block/wiring top level system design, the output RFPA section itself can be
broken down further into a generic lower level block diagram as show in Figure 6.2.
RF power modules have the some or all of the following basic sections:
r
r
r
r
r
r
RF power transistor;
device bias/temperature compensation network;
input/output RF and DC coupling/decoupling networks;
input/output matching networks;
feedback networks;
heat removal.
This leads to the first major task in RF power amplifier stage realization: selection of
an RF power transistor. This is perhaps the single most important decision the RF power
amplifier design engineer makes, there are other decisions, for sure, but this is the most
critical. This is also not a decision that is made by merely comparing RF transistor data
244
Figure 6.2 Block diagram of the component level view of an RFPA module.
sheets of different RF transistor manufacturers; it is a decision that is made after data

sheet review, CAD simulation, prototyping, rigorous testing of individual PA stages and
then comparison of actual, application specific results. Careful review of RF transistor
data sheets is a very important, albeit initial step.
Figure 6.3 is part of a typical RF power transistor data sheet. Although the data sheet
contains a large amount of data, determining whether or not a particular device is suitable
for a given application may not be readily apparent when reviewing it. The reason is that
RF power transistor manufacturers simply cannot fully anticipate all the applications for
which a particular device may be deployed, they will make generic recommendations
for applications, but it is up to the RF power amplifier design engineer to make the final
judgment call, and only after several devices have been tested and evaluated.
In spite of its vague nature, the RF transistor data sheet is at least a starting point. The
following is a brief overview of its major sections:
1. Applications: manufacturers recommendation of potential applications for the
device; i.e.; medical, broadband, VHF communications, etc.
2. Absolute maximum ratings: maximum values for power dissipation, junction temperature, supply/breakdown voltages and device currents.
3. Electrical characteristics: quantification of key parameters:
r power output: how much power the device can reliably deliver when matched into
a 50 load.
r frequency range: what frequencies the device can be used over.
r gain: typical power gain level, usually at the maximum operating frequency.
r efficiency: how efficiently the device can convert DC power into RF power.
r thermal resistance: a measure of the devices ability to remove the heat of its
semiconductor dies to an outside surface.
245
TetraFET
D1020UK
METAL GATE RF SILICON FET
MECHANICAL DATA
C
(2 pls)
G
(typ)
1
H
P
(2 pls) A
E
(4 pls)
GOLD METALLIZED
MULTI-PURPOSE SILICON
DMOS RF FET
150 W 28 V 400 MHz
PUSHPULL
F
I
FEATURES
EXTRA LOW Crss
SIMPLIFIED AMPLIFIER DESIGN
DR
PIN 1
PIN 3
PIN 5
SOURCE (COMMON)
DRAIN 2
GATE 1
DIM
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
K
M
N
O
P
Millimeters
19.05
10.77
45
9.78
5.71
27.94
1.52R
10.16
22.22
0.13
2.72
1.70
5.08
34.03
1.61R
PIN 2
PIN 4
DRAIN 1
GATE 2
SUITABLE FOR BROADBAND APPLICATIONS

SIMPLE BIAS CIRCUITS
Tol.
0.50
0.13
5
0.13
0.13
0.13
0.13
0.13
MAX
0.02
0.13
0.13
0.50
0.13
0.08
Inches
0.75
0.424
45
0.385
0.225
1.100
0.060R
0.400
0.875
0.005
0.107
0.067
0.200
1.340
0.064R
Tol.
0.020
0.005
5
0.005
0.005
0.005
0.005
0.005
MAX
0.001
0.005
0.005
0.020
0.005
0.003
LOW NOISE
HIGH GAIN 10 dB MINIMUM
APPLICATIONS
HF/VHF/UHF COMMUNICATIONS
from 1 MHz to 500 MHz
ABSOLUTE MAXIMUM RATINGS (Tcase = 25 C unless otherwise stated)

PD
Power Dissipation
Drain Source Breakdown Voltage *
Gate Source Breakdown Voltage *
Drain Current *
Storage Temperature
Maximum Operating Junction Temperature
BVDSS
BVGSS
ID(sat)
Tstg
Tj
389 W
70 V
20 V
25 A
65 to 150 C
200 C
* Per Side
Semelab Plc reserves the right to change test conditions, parameter limits and package dimensions without notice. Information furnished by Semelab is believed
to be both accurate and reliable at the time of going to press. However Semelab assumes no responsibility for any errors or omissions discovered in its use.
Semelab encourages customers to verify that datasheets are current before placing orders.
Semelab plc.
Telephone +44(0)1455 556565. Fax +44(0)1455 552612.

E-mail: sales@semelab.co.uk
Website: http://www.semelab.co.uk
Document Number 2599

Issue 5
Figure 6.3 Typical datasheet of an RF power transistor (courtesy Semelab Ltd., UK).
246
r breakdown voltages: voltage levels (at the device terminals) where the device will
break down and fail.
r threshold voltages: range of DC voltage levels (for FETs) where the device begins
to conduct current.
r load mismatch tolerance: a measure of what level of load VSWR the device can
safely tolerate.
r large signal impedances: usually plots of large signal input/output impedances
plotted on a Smith chart that the device needs to see in order to deliver its rated
power output, gain and efficiency at a specific power input, frequency, supply
voltage and bias current.
r typical transfer function plots: power output, efficiency, gain and distortion versus
power input and output.
r typical scattering (S) parameters versus frequency for broadband computer aided
simulation.
r input, reverse transfer and output capacitances versus supply voltage plots
which visually show how the devices parasitic capacitance varies as a function of
supply voltage.
6.4.2
RF power transistor device selection process guidelines

The following is a discussion in more detail of each major section of a typical RF
transistor data sheet.
Proper RF transistor selection starts by taking into consideration the intended
application, in other words, primarily what RF signal/modulation format the RFPA
will ultimately be expected to amplify, to what power level with an acceptable level of
distortion.
A particular application may not demand a power level that will exceed that of an
individual transistor, however if it does, combiners and dividers must be employed to
reach a desired power output level. In either case, whether an RFPA design requires one
or more RFPA stages, the system level specification must be met with substantial design
margin at the individual final output stage level (if one transistor stage has adequate
power) or scaled up (if one transistor stage does not have enough power).This margin
will be eroded as more amplification stages are cascaded.
Inside the device selection process exists the decision not only for what particular
part within a class of transistors but also a selection of the specific class of transistor
itself. By class of transistor, it is meant bipolar junction transistor (BJT), vertically
diffused MOSFET(VDMOS), laterally diffused MOSFET (LDMOS), gallium arsenide
FET (GaAsFET), gallium nitride (GaN) and silicon carbide (SiC) transistors. No one
class of transistor is universally better than the others, each class of device has salient
features that make it more amenable to a particular application than another.
While BJT transistors have less gain and are more difficult to match across broad
bandwidths than their MOSFET counterparts, in some pulse applications they can exhibit
faster rising and falling transition durations. A disadvantage of BJTs currently is that
there are fewer companies manufacturing these devices. MOSFETs (both vertically
247
and laterally diffused) offer higher Gain, easier bias configurations, higher large signal
impedances and are less prone to thermal runaway. A limitation of MOS FETs is
the availability of devices operating broadband over 1 GHz. GaAsFET and especially
GaN devices offer excellent choices for ultra-broadband operation from 20 MHz to
over 6 GHz. However, GaAS and GaN devices are more expensive and require more
sophisticated bias schemes (sequencing) to safely turn the devices on. Silicon Carbide
transistors offer a significantly higher maximum junction temperature ( + 255 C as
opposed to + 200 C for LDMOS).
Therefore, in the device selection process, the initial step is selection of which class
of RF power transistor, then selection of a particular device within that class amongst
device power levels and different manufacturers.
Although it may be desirable to use as few RF power transistors as possible, there are
applications and situations where it can be prudent to use multiple devices as opposed to
fewer. For example, in mission critical Military applications, where reliability and battle
sure characteristics are key, it is preferable to use more RF power transistors since the
heat will be spread out over more devices (which can yield lower die temperatures) and
in the event there is a single device failure, the impact on overall system performance is
minimized.
With this in mind, RF power transistor data sheets within a preselected class are
first compared in terms of end use application compatibility. Although RF device manufacturers would prefer to make one transistor suitable for all uses, they do at some
point optimize transistors to lend themselves better to certain applications. For example,
Avionics RFPAs operate primarily in pulse mode and there exist RF transistors that are
designed to put out substantial power, but expressly in pulse format. Try to get the same
power out of this device in CW mode (or even extended pulse widths for that matter)
and the device will be destroyed.
A close review of absolute maximum ratings will cover just how far the device
will hold up under extreme conditions such as maximum dissipation and junction
temperature.
The power output of a transistor states how much RF power a device can deliver. Take
care in reviewing this parameter and note the conditions in which the device manufacturer
has specified the output power. Remember, the RFPA has to deliver power, but is more
accurate to state the RFPA has to deliver concurrent power, that is, deliver power while
concurrently maintaining a variety of other specifications such as distortion levels, pulse
fidelity, efficiency, etc. A particular transistor may deliver 300 W of RF power, but if
the application demands 300 W of power with less than 1 dB of Gain Compression and
your device is compressing 5 dB, the device, while capable of delivering the power is
not capable of concurrently delivering the power at the required Gain and Gain Linearity
level.
The frequency range of a particular RF device should not be thought of in an absolute
sense, that is, if a power transistor has a maximum specified frequency of 500 MHz,
this does not mean the device will cease to function at 501 MHz. It will function at
501 MHz, it may even function at 600 MHz, and you may be able to use it there, but bear
in mind if you do other parameters may not remain in specification such as minimum
248
Gain. The designer who does operate transistors far above their maximum frequency
should do so only with a good amount of design margin.
The gain specification of RF power transistors depends on many factors, frequency
of usage, how the device is matched (narrowband versus broadband), output power
level, temperature and load VSWR. Usually, a manufacturer will rate a device at a
minimum gain at a particular frequency. This is a minimum value; however the devices
they supply will usually have gain in excess of this amount. For the application where
large quantities of amplifiers are expected to be produced, be cautious to design an
RFPA stage that anticipates the minimum, and NOT typical gain of the device.
The reason is that over time, the wafer fabrication process may yield transistors with
lower gain than the typical value, and if you have designed a stage to require a device
with typical gain, if a lot code of transistors is delivered with minimum gain, your
amplifier will be out of specification and there will be no recourse with the manufacturer.
A way of insuring your transistors are more uniform in performance is to put their
performance under the restrictions of a source control drawing, or SCD. The SCD is a
document of mutually agreed upon RF Transistor performance specifications, where the
two parties in the agreement are the transistor manufacturer and RFPA manufacturer.
This document calls out tighter performance specifications than exist on the standard
device data sheet. It will force the device manufacturer to cherry pick devices from a
lot that meet the values in the SCD. This will invariably lead to higher transistor costs,
especially if the volume is low, but this issue can be eradicated by high-volume production
quantities.
How efficient a transistor operates is tied in closely with what class of amplification
the transistor is biased to, if it is operated broadband or narrowband, what load VSWR
it sees and what type of power combiner (zero degree versus quadrature) is used to sum
the power of multiple stages. Usually, the efficiency listed on a data sheet was measured
under narrowband, conjugate matched conditions so broadband efficiency will be lower
and frequency/output power level dependent.
The thermal resistance value is a measure of how easily the device can remove the
heat its die generates to an external heat sink. Selecting a device with the lowest possible
thermal resistance will yield lower die temperatures and failure rates. A low thermal
resistance also provides for better pulse tilt performance.
The breakdown voltages quantify what level of voltage the device will fail at, the
larger this value the more a particular device will tolerate load mismatches. Device
manufacturers specify transistors to handle severe load VSWRs, and they may in fact be
able to withstand load VSWRs of 10:1; however, sometimes a severe load VSWR may
precipitate oscillations which in turn can damage the part.
The threshold voltages show a range of where the particular device begins to draw
current based on a gate bias voltage. This voltage and its variation as a function of
temperature will play a key role in the design of the bias thermal tracking network.
The input and output impedance of the RF transistor is characterized by large signal
impedance parameters. This is usually presented on the data sheet as complex series
equivalent impedance that is plotted on a Smith Chart. The lower the input and output
impedances are the more difficult it becomes to match it to 50 . The lower the Q
of the impedances the better, as devices with a low Q lend themselves more readily
249
Figure 6.4 Generic circuit architecture for a thermally compensated bias network.
to broadband operation. These impedance levels provide a good starting point when
determining input and output transformation ratios.
Transfer function plots provide a good visual indication of how a device performs
over a specific dynamic range of output power levels in terms of gain, efficiency and
distortion.
Scattering or S-parameters and X Parameters when provided, will enable computer aided simulations. CAD simulations are an invaluable tool to optimize input/output
matching, broadband gain and efficiency.
Input, reverse transfer and output capacitances are parasitic capacitances that exist
within the semiconductor device. These capacitance values are dynamic (i.e., they vary
with DC supply voltage and output power level). The lower the capacitance values the
better as they will influence a host of parameters including gain, maximum operating
frequency, stability and phase linearity.
6.4.3
RF power transistor bias/thermal tracking networks

As discussed, there are three broad classes of RF power transistor:
r BJTs;
r metal oxide semiconductor FETs (vertically and laterally diffused, VDMOS,
LDMOS);
r gallium devices: arsenide (GaAsFET) and nitride (GaN).
All three transistor types require unique bias networks and some form of thermal
tracking to help maintain relatively constant quiescent currents while being subjected to
varying thermal environments. Without the thermal tracking networks, RF bias currents
may tend to drift and move into bias points that yield excessive or unstable gain or
undesirable transfer functions.
Figure 6.4 shows a simplified block diagram for a thermal tracking network architecture that might bias Bipolar, LDMOS/VDMOS and GaAs/GaN FET transistors. Bipolar
250
biasing requires a higher current capability than MOSFET devices. Bias networks for
FETs, in the simplest form, can be a simple potentiometer. In any case, the bias networks
must contain some source of temperature dependent voltage. Thermal tracking (or compensation) is a way to reduce bias current (or voltage) such that the quiescent currents
and bias point of the RF transistor remains reasonably constant over temperature.
The bias networks for GaAsFET or GaN devices are more elaborate sequenced networks, i.e.; the gate and drain voltages are sequenced or turned on/off in a defined
order so as not to damage the device. GaAs transistors will draw heavy and perhaps
destructive levels of drain current if a drain voltage is applied with zero gate voltage.
To safely turn these devices on, the gate voltage needs to be brought negative first, the
drain voltage is then applied, and the gate voltage is incrementally raised. The process is
reversed to turn the device off. The main roll of the sequencer is to control this process.
6.4.4
RF input/output coupling/decoupling networks

The input and output coupling capacitors are chosen to block DC and provide minimum
capacitive reactance at the low end of the amplifiers frequency range. These capacitors
must maintain resonance free operation across the amplifiers operating band. Capacitor
manufacturers data sheets usually show a typical capacitor series resonance performance
curves over a particular frequency range. These curves convey that even chip capacitors
will series self-resonate at some frequency. For narrowband applications, the series
resonant frequency of a particular chip capacitor will be the best frequency to use the
device as a coupling/decoupling capacitor as it exhibits the lowest possible impedance.
RF chokes are employed to decouple the RF signal and to feed in the DC operating
bias and supply voltages/currents. As in the case of coupling/decoupling capacitors,
the RF chokes should also exhibit resonance-free operation where a particular choke
exhibits only inductive reactance across the entire band of intended amplifier operation.
6.4.5
Power transistor impedance matching

There are a variety of methods to match the impedances of an RF power transistor to
50 . What method to use is determined by the frequency range and required bandwidth.
High frequency and very high frequency (HF, 130 MHz, VHF 30300 MHz) RFPAs
are best matched with discrete LC networks for narrowband and transmission line
transformers for broadband (>1 octave) applications.
Ultra-high-frequency (UHF, 300 MHz-1 GHz) RF power transistors are matched with
printed micro-strip, transmission line transformers or combinations of the two.
For the HF to UHF frequency range, transmission line transformers are by far the
most versatile matching technique as they are architecturally identical regardless of
where in the frequency spectrum they are applied. The frequency range may be different,
however the transformer coaxial impedances and interconnections are the same. How
long the coaxial line elements are, and whether or not they are ferrite loaded are the
primary differences between a transformer operating at HF or UHF frequency ranges.
In addition to extreme bandwidth capability, the transmission line transformer has the
251
Figure 6.5 Schematic of an RLC feedback network applied to an enhancement-mode, N-channel
MOSFET.
ability to convert an unbalanced signal to a balanced drive required for commonly

available Gemini RF Power transistor packages that are prevalent in this frequency
range.
6.4.6
Feedback networks
Feedback can be employed to reduce low-frequency gain and help improve the individual
amplifier module gain flatness. Figure 6.5 shows the generic circuit architecture for an
resistive-inductive-capacitive (RLC) feedback network. The inductor (L) and capacitor
(C) are chosen to resonate at the lowest operating frequency of the RFPA. The intent
is to have maximum negative feedback where the gain of the transistor is greatest. The
capacitor will also block the DC supply voltage from reaching the gates (or bases) of the
RF transistors. The value of (R) adjusts the amount of feedback. This represents only
one method of RF Feedback, there are other more complex methods (transformer based)
that achieve DC isolation by magnetically coupling the feedback signal.
6.4.7
Thermal management
While generally not considered part of the RFPAs circuitry, the method by which heat is
removed from an RFPA is equally vital. Improper heat removal can lead to degradation of
an array of RF performance parameters including linearity, efficiency, gain and stability,
252
etc. In addition, higher operating die temperature equates to reduced operating lifetime
and increased Failure Rates.
For most applications, forced air cooling is adequate, in high-altitude airborne applications, liquid cooling is a preferred option as the reduction in air density inhibits the
efficacy of forced air. In either case, however, the thermal interface between the RF
power transistor and the module base, heat sink or chill plate is critical, so the details of
creating a proper transistor flange thermal interface are covered.
6.5
Hypothetical amplifier design example: (20400 MHz RFPA subsystem

module for 1 kW amplifier application in electronic warfarecommunication jamming)
To help illustrate and better convey a typical RFPA module realization, a hypothetical
amplifier design example is presented. The process will involve:
r
r
r
r
r
r
r
6.5.1
hypothetical application example overview;

RFPA qualitative specification delineation;
RFPA specification quantification;
RFPA module hardware design;
RFPA module physical construction;
test setup;
test results.
Hypothetical application example overview

RF Power amplifiers that are used for electronic warfare (EW) communication jamming
applications must have very broad bandwidth capability such that they have the ability to
jam various communication bands. Frequencies in the range of 20200 MHz are popular
for land/mobile communications and military aviation bands heavily populate 225
400 MHz. It is beneficial to have one amplifier cover both bands so the design goal is
to span 20400 MHz. The amplifier will be used to selectively inhibit communications;
its output will be connected to a broadband antenna, so the load VSWR will deviate far
from a perfect match.
6.5.2
Amplifier qualitative specification delineation

The following is a list of specifications that are critical to broadband jamming applications. This is a cursory initial attempt, only field trials and beta testing will reveal if
certain parameters are more essential than others.
1. High power: the RFPA must have enough output capability to overpower receivers
and block enemy signal transmissions.
2. Broad bandwidth: the RFPA must have adequate operating frequency range to cover
a variety of communication bands.
6.5 Hypothetical amplifier design example
253
3. High gain: the amplifier must have enough gain such that it can be driven to full
power output by a small signal level input.
4. Flat frequency response: the amplifier should perform uniformly at all frequencies
within the desired range.
5. Load VSWR tolerant: since the RFPA will be used to jam point to point communications at various frequencies; it will more than likely have to drive antennas that
present less than ideal load VSWRs which may go as high as 5:1. The amplifier
must be able to drive into these loads without damage.
6. Stability, spectral load pull: as the RFPA must not be damaged by driving adverse
load VSWRs, it also should not oscillate at unacceptably high power levels under
these conditions as well.
7. Linear: although high gain linearity is not usually critical, certain jamming situations
will require the RFPAs output levels to be precisely controlled.
8. Temperature range/stability: the amplifier will be most likely used in adverse field
environments where high temperatures are common. The amplifier will be expected
to provide acceptable performance in these temperature extremes.
9. Altitude: the amplifier may be in an avionics platform if it is expected to jam airborne
communications, in this case, forced air cooling will not be an option, liquid cooling
and chill plates are preferable.
10. Shock/vibration: most military amplifiers are deployed in mobile transport environments. Ability to withstand severe shock and continuous vibration is essential.
11. Radiated emissions and susceptibility: while the RFPA is intended to render specific
enemy communication equipment ineffective, it must not interfere with or have its
own operation impaired by other colocated equipment. The RFPA must then be
adequately shielded for EMI.
12. Mean time to failure: the amplifier, above all, must be reliable, lives will depend on
it. To ensure this, the transistor silicon (or die) temperature must be kept as low as
possible.
6.5.3
Amplifier specification quantification

With a generic list of required specifications, the next step is to assign quantities to
each line item. Since the focus here is on HF/VHF/UHF RFPAs, the specifications that
directly address the power amplifier module will be covered quantitatively. (Note: for
ease of illustration, quantities will be loosely assigned and may not represent actual
system requirements, which in many cases, is classified information).
r
r
r
r
r
r
system power output: 1 kW, continuous wave, minimum;

bandwidth: 20400 MHz, minimum;
gain: +60 dB, nominal;
gain flatness: + / 3 dB, maximum;
antenna load VSWR: <5.0:1, maximum;
stability, spectral load pull< 45 dBc up to 5.0:1 load VSWR, maximum;
254
Figure 6.6 System block and wiring diagram for 20400 MHz, 1 KW RFPA system.
r gain linearity (AM to AM distortion): + / 1.5 dB over 20 dB dynamic range,

maximum;
r phase linearity (AM to PM distortion): + / 10 C over 20 dB dynamic range,
maximum;
r temperature range: 10 to +50 C;
r altitude: 40,000 feet AMSL, maximum;
r shock/vibration: 10 G rms, six axis, maximum;
r radiated emissions and susceptibility: Mil-Std-461E;
r mean time to failure: >100,000 h, minimum, calculated.
6.5.4
Amplifier hardware design/realization

The requirement has now been defined quantitatively. The process to start the physical
realization begins with the System Block and Wire diagram as shown in Figure 6.6.
The simplified diagram shows all the stages in the RFPA system. While there do exist
RF transistors that can deliver 1 kW of CW output power, the challenge becomes heat
removal and AC coupling of the RF signal. If an RF device puts out 1 kW of RF power
at, for example, 50% efficiency, then 1 kW of heat will need to be dissipated. Add in
bad load VSWR and the dissipation will worsen. In addition to heat dissipation, the
RF current that will be present at the low-impedance output of a 1 kW transistor will
tax even the highest quality chip capacitor. It will be a more reliable approach to use
multiple RF power transistors.
One of the benefits of a system level block and wiring diagram is it shows the
insertion gain, loss and RF power levels as power propagates through the amplifier
255
stages. It displays just how much power is lost through directional couplers, RF dividers
and combiners.
The loss values shown in the block and wire diagram are from actual couplers and
hybrid combiners. Note that for an amplifier to produce 1 kW of linear load power into a
5:1 VSWR it actually needs to be capable of driving 2788 W of power into a 50 load.
After adding losses for the coupler and combiners, the total required RF transistor die
power is about 4172 W. Choosing a binary multiple port combiner with 32 ports, then
4172 W divided by 32 yields about 130 W. We now have an approximate maximum RF
transistor output power.
The next phase is RF device selection where the selection guidelines are for an RF
power transistor capable of 20400 MHz operational bandwidth at a power level of at
least 130 W of linear power.
The system block and wire diagram is broken down further in Figure 6.7 to a block
diagram of the basic RFPA module.
6.6.5
RF transistor selection
Current popular output power ranges for RF transistors are 100, 150, and 300 W of
output power. Since we need approximately 130 W of CW output power, the focus is
on the 150 W range of CW RF power transistors that are designed for operation up to
400 MHz.
An overview of classes of transistors was first considered. Since the frequency of
operation was only to 400 MHz, GaAs and GaN devices were ruled out. They will work
far in excess of 400 MHz; the added cost for this unneeded capability is not economically
justifiable.
BJTs were not selected due lower gain and most importantly, a limited amount of
device manufacturers. Few manufacturers mean a low probability of obtaining a second
source (i.e., an alternate manufacturer with an equivalent part that will replace the
primary device in terms of form, fit and function) of BJT transistors. It sounds innocuous,
but not having a second source of a replacement RF transistor is a very difficult situation
to be in. You simply do not want to one day find yourself in this particular fix and heres
how this might happen:
1. RF transistor semiconductor wafer fabrication processes are fickle, although they are
tightly controlled, in the end they are run by humans. At any point in time a particular
device process control can vary yielding devices that may work on a substandard
level and can render an RFPA with slim design margins in violation of specification.
2. RF transistor device manufacturers have, can and someday may either discontinue,
de-rate or sell a particular line of transistors to another manufacturer.
If either of these situations occur, a once profitable RFPA design can overnight devolve
into a lab queen (an amplifier that can only meet specification by copious amounts of
tuning, requiring days or weeks in the test lab) or, even worse, cause a stop production
mode where shipments have ceased leaving the RFPA engineer (yes, this would be you)
frantically searching for an alternative part.
256
Figure 6.7 Multilevel breakdown of an RFPA module to component level.
257
D1020UK Vgs vs Temp

5.6
5.4
Vgs for Ids = 2 amps
5.2
5
4.8
4
8
4.6
4.4
4.2
4
Flange TemperatureC
Figure 6.8 2 A Idq bias point of the D1020UK versus temperature.
This leaves the MOSFET class of devices. For this particular application, either
vertical or lateral MOSFETs will work equally well. The selection process now descends
to segregating parts that work across the 20400 MHZ band at a minimum of 150 W of
linear CW power with a manufacturer recommended application for communications in
the HF/VHF and UHF band and a load tolerance at least up to 5:1 VSWR.
Several devices were considered, their data sheets compared and RFPA stages were
constructed and actual test data compared. The Semelab D1020UK was selected based
on its ability to satisfy the design criteria. The data sheet for this device is in Figure 6.3.
6.5.6
Gate bias/temperature tracking/compensation network

The gate voltage versus temperature plot of the D1020UK is shown in Figure 6.8. This
was obtained by biasing the device to 2A quiescent and varying the gate voltage for a
constant Idq as the ambient temperature was varied from 50 to +150 C. Note the gate
voltage level to sustain 2A quiescent drops approximately 4.4 mVDC/ C. In other words,
if the gate bias voltage is held constant over increasing temperature, by virtue of the
fact that the 2A bias voltage point is continuously lowering with increasing temperature,
then the fixed gate bias voltage migrates by default into higher and higher drain currents.
This makes the gain and operating class point of the FET dependent on temperature. To
mitigate this issue, an open loop thermally tracked bias voltage can be deployed. This is
accomplished by mounting a temperature sensing IC mechanically adjacent to the device
that is to be compensated. Ideally, it is desired to have the bias voltage dropped by the
equivalent amount that the 2 A gate bias voltage point drops. What is nice about the bias
voltage variation of the D1020UK is that it is approximately linear. This makes it easy to
correct as temperature sensors that have linear outputs (in mV/ C) are readily available.
Vtemp
0.1
Figure 6.9 Operational amplifier based thermal tracking circuit for the D1020UK.
D1020UK Quiescent Bias Current vs Temperature

3
2.5
D1020UK IDQ (Amps)
mps)
258
2
1.5
Uncompensated
Compensated
0.5
0
-10
10
20
30
Ambient Temperature (Degrees Celsius)
40
50
Figure 6.10 Comparison of the quiescent currents of D1020UK without (dashed trace) and with
(solid trace) a thermally tracked bias voltage.
All that needs to be done is to adjust the transfer function slope of the temperature sensor
such that it has the inverse slope of the gate voltage.
The gate bias/temperature compensation network for the amplifier is shown in
Figure 6.9. It consists of a simple precision variable voltage divider ( 5 VDC) network that is summed together with a temperature dependent voltage (Vtemp) that is
mechanically linked to the RF transistor to lower its bias voltage as the device heats
up. The part chosen for the temperature sensor is the Analog Device TMP35 which has
a scale factor of about 10 mVDC/ C. The 5 K resistor and 10 K potentiometer
adjust this scale down to 4.4 mVDC/ C and then it is summed into the precision variable
5 VDC reference.
This is an open loop compensation network and helps the D1020UK maintain a more
temperature stable bias current. Figure 6.10 shows the drain current versus temperature
with and without thermal tracking. Without thermal tracking the Drain current varies
259
1.1 A over the 10 to +50 C temperature range. Adding the thermal tracking network
reduces this by over 80% to 0.2 A of drain current variation.
While this is considered good performance, it is important to note that this is open
loop correction and the temperature compensation accuracy can vary from lot code to
lot code and also on the same device due to memory effects. Thermal compensation
networks can be designed with greater accuracy if they take into account the behavioral
modeling of a particular class of device.
6.5.7
Input/output RF/DC coupling/decoupling networks

A coupling/decoupling network is merely another name for capacitors and coils in an
RFPA. Coupling networks are usually capacitors that pass the RF power signal from one
device to another while blocking DC voltages and currents. Decoupling capacitors are
used to bypass RF signals to ground. Inductors in coupling networks perform the duality
function, that is they will pass DC voltages and currents while suppressing RF signals.
In a broadband RFPA, the values selected for these components are solved for at the
extremes of the operating band edges. These networks will be based relative to the large
signal input and output impedances of the D1020UK.
The coupling/decoupling components generally have to meet three criteria:
r satisfy a minimum reactance(impedance) requirement at the lower frequency limit;
r handle high DC and RF currents, voltages, and power;
r sustain resonance-free operation beyond the RFPA upper frequency limit.
By viewing the three requirements, one need only solve for a component value at the
lower band edge. The remaining criteria are assessed by manufacturers data sheets and
component verification testing on a vector network analyzer (VNA).
The values for the coupling and decoupling inductors and capacitors are solved for
in the next section as it will be required to see what impedance matching network is
required first.
6.5.8
Input/output impedance matching networks

There is a multitude of ways to match the input and output impedances of an RF power
transistor. If one looks at the characteristics of the input and output impedance of the
D1020UK, it becomes apparent (at least for a broadband amplifier application), that it
will be difficult, if not impossible, to provide an exact, complex conjugate match for the
device at all frequencies and input drive/output power levels to be expected to be used.
A balance has to be struck between where to choose to match a particular device. On
the input, the device should be matched at the point in the frequency range where its
gain is lowest (the highest frequency it will operate at). The output is matched at the
highest level of expected RF output power.
To match impedances over multiple octaves in the HF/VHF/UHF band, the transmission line transformer is the most effective method. In addition, it converts an
260
unbalanced signal to a balanced drive required for Gemini packaged transistors such as
the D1020UK.
The transformer, while able to transform impedances over wide frequency ranges,
only does a fixed transformation ratio. RF power transistor terminal impedances will
vary, so a transformer will transform impedances of a transistor effectively over a limited
frequency range and output power level. Outside of these areas, input VSWR, gain, and
efficiency will suffer.
Starting with the input matching network, the input terminal impedance of the
D1020UK is extracted from its Smith chart on the device data sheet. The gate to gate
series equivalent input impedance at 400 MHz is 0.4-j2.3 . Converting this to a parallel
equivalent impedance yields a real portion of 13.62 from gate to gate. Dividing 50
by 13.62 equates to 3.67:1. The nearest realizable balanced drive transformation ratio
is 4:1.
A rough estimate of output impedance from drain to ground is given by the
equation:
Ro =
2
Vdd
2Po
(6.1)
The transistor will be operated at 28 VDC and at approximately 75 W of power

per side. This estimates approximately 5.23 from drain to ground. The pushpull
configuration of the Gemini package doubles this to 10.45 . We can also extract a close
value also from the Smith chart drain to drain series equivalent impedance as was done
for the input. The series equivalent value is 0.9-j3 at 400 MHz. Converting to the
parallel equivalent yields a real portion of 10.84 . Dividing 50 by 10.45 equates to
4.78:1. Again, the nearest realizable ratio with a balanced drive capability is 4:1.
The term realizable ratio means a value of transformation ratio that can be physically
constructed with a finite number of transmission lines. For a particular transformation
ratio to be physically realized, the square root of the transformation ratio must be a
rational number. If it is not, an infinite number of transmission lines would be required
to realize the ratio, an obvious impracticality.
For both the input and output transformations, an approximate 4:1 ratio is required.
Invoking a topological network synthesis procedure [1] for transmission line transformers, the first step is to satisfy the necessary and sufficient conditions for finite coaxial
element equal delay transmission line transformers:
N = Rational Number
(6.2)
where N = required transformation ratio. The square root of 4 is 2, a rational quantity.
The necessary and sufficient realizability condition is satisfied. The synthesis procedure
can now begin with the reasonable expectation of a physically realizable network.
The first step is to determine the number of coaxial lines in the first subgraph:
(6.3)
n 1 = 4 = 2,
where n1 is the truncation of the square root of the transformation ratio N, and in this
case is the number 2.
261
Zo
Z in
Z out
Zo
Figure 6.11 Subgraph result of a topological synthesis of a 4:1 transmission line transformer.
Z in
Zo
Zo
Z out
Zo
Figure 6.12 Completed unbalanced to balanced drive 4:1 transformer network.
The synthesis procedure will terminate if:
N1 = N n 1 = 0
N1 = 4 2 = 0
(6.4)
The process terminates and two coaxial lines are inserted into subgraph 1 as shown in
Figure 6.11. The characteristic impedance, Z0 , of the coaxial lines is solved for by:

(6.5)
Z 0 = Rs Rl
where Rs and Rl are the source and load resistances terminating the transformer, respectively. These values are 50 and 12.5 and solve for a characteristic impedance of
25 . The synthesis procedure provides a transformer architecture that is applicable to
unbalanced to unbalanced loads. The D1020K in a pushpull configuration demands a
balanced drive network. Therefore the transformer of Figure 6.11 needs to be converted
to a true balanced network (one that would present an electromagnetically balanced
distributed network) by interchanging the shield and center conductors of the lower
transmission line element. The transformer configuration now provides a balanced to
balanced drive. A 1:1 balun transformer is added at the high impedance port to provide the unbalanced to balanced drive conversion such that the input to the transformer
can be reached by ground referenced coaxial or micro strip feeds. The final 4:1 unbalanced to balanced transmission line transformer architecture is realized and shown in
Figure 6.12.
The synthesized 4:1 architecture is a boiler plate circuit structure, that is, in this
format it is an engineering construct that can conceivably work in broad frequency spans
262
Figure 6.13 Simplified parasitic model of 4:1 transformer network.
anywhere from 10 kHz to well over 1 GHz. Thats comforting, but the RFPA specification
only requires 20400 MHz. The transformer architecture needs some massaging to get
it to have a sweet spot of 20400 MHz. By sweet spot it is desired to have the
transformers absolute values of insertion loss minimized and return loss maximized
from 20400 MHz.
In the world of engineering constructs, the physical transmission line transformer is
an ideal transformer nested in a plethora of parasitic reactances. These reactances will
limit the usable frequency range. The reactances that limit the lower and upper frequency
range of the transmission line are primarily inductive in nature. The low-frequency range
is limited by shunt inductance, the high end is limited by parasitic series inductance, and
these are shown schematically in Figure 6.13. Parasitic distributed gradient capacitive
reactances will resonate with line inductances and may cause in-band insertion loss
suck-outs, a narrow band of frequencies within the pass band where the insertion
loss spikes to very high values and then returns to low values. Additional losses in the
transformer are from ferrite cores, coaxial line dielectric, copper conductors as well as
radiation losses.
After realizing the 4:1 architecture, the next step is ferrite loading the coaxial line
elements in order to suppress even mode (nontransmission line) currents and create a
net mutually coupled inductance that is in far excess of the impedance to be transformed
so that its parallel loading effect is immaterial.
As shown, a physical transmission line transformer is a complex model, an ideal
transformer, mutually coupled inductors, parasitic reactances, and transmission lines.
An equivalent circuit of the mutually coupled inductors is shown in Figure 6.14. There are
essentially four inductors in the 4:1 transformer section, two in each coaxial transmission
line. For all intents and purposes, inside the coaxial lines, the coefficient of coupling is
263
i
L1
L1
L3
M12/21
L2
M34/43
L3
L2
L4
L4
Figure 6.14 Mutually coupled inductances of a 4:1 transmission line transformer.
considered bi-directionally unity, that is, all the flux generated by the center conductor
of the coaxial line is linked to the outer shield and vice versa. The 4:1 is open circuited to
help visualize the mutually coupled inductors with a common-mode current, i, flowing
through all four inductors. The net value of this inductive reactance should be at least
510 times the value of impedance of 50 so it does not adversely load down the very
impedances the transformer is trying to step up. The path for finding the total inductance
starts with:
vi = L 1
di
di
di
di
di
di
di
di
+ M12 + L 3 + M34 + L 2 + M21 + L 4 + M43
dt
dt
dt
dt
dt
dt
dt
dt
(6.6)
where
Mx y = k
Lx L y
(6.7)
and
k=1
Lx = L y
(6.8)
L 1 = L 2 = L 3 = L 4 = M12 = M21 = M34 = M43 L t = 8L SW
(6.9)
So
What the above equations state is that due to the 4:1 transformer configuration of four
mutual, bi directionally unity coupling coefficient inductors, to solve for the net shunt
inductance, simply multiply the inductance of what will result from winding an inductor
of a single wire on a given ferrite (Lsw ) by eight.
We would like to have the shunt inductance to be >510 times greater than 50 so
as not to load it down. We also must keep the length of the 25 coaxial lines as short as
possible so as not to incur in-band resonances in the response of the 4:1 transformer. We
therefore start out with keeping the number of turns through a ferrite core to a minimum
of two turns.
264
Figure 6.15 Measured results of mutually coupled inductances of a 4:1 transformer.
Solving for the required inductance factor at 20 MHz:

Xl
= l
= + j500
= 8n 2 Al
(6.10)
where n = number of turns through the ferrite core = 2. Note that the above equation is
laced with approximately equal to (
=) signs instead of equal to (=). The reason is
that the inductance factor tolerance of ferrite toroids is about + / 25% at best, so there
is little point in trying to solve this equation precisely as any inductor or transformer
you might construct using ferrites will vary wildly in value.
It has been factored in ahead of time to have the shunt inductance of the transformer
to be 510 times 50 , so if you land in this region, the transformers low-end response
will be acceptable. The equation was nevertheless solved and an approximate inductance factor of 124 nh/n2 was calculated. A ferrite core from ceramic magnetics (Part
6.T503125T-C2050) was chosen as its measured inductance factor is 100 nh/n2 . The
transformer is constructed with 25 coaxial lines with two turns through each ferrite
toroid core.
The transformer was evaluated on a VNA with the low-impedance side of the transformer loaded by an open circuit. This will measure the parallel inductance. The plot
in Figure 6.15 shows the results with the value of inductive reactance at an adequate
level of 4.3 H which yields a parallel inductive reactance of + j540 , more than
enough so as not to impair the low-frequency return loss response. The transformer can
265
Figure 6.16 Input return loss of the 4:1 input transformer with 6.25 chip resistor terminations
on the low-impedance port.
then be terminated with 6.25 chip resistors to evaluate how the device transforms
the resistances to 50 . The graph of the transformers input return loss is shown in
Figure 6.16. It yields an average of 21.6 dB of return loss. The plot of the transformers
input Insertion Loss is shown in Figure 6.17, (note the values on the data need to be
divided by two as the plot is of the transformers return loss with an open circuit load,
hence the insertion loss is half). There is a small resonance at 383.62 MHz, these can
occur in ultra-broadband transformers, the best way to mitigate them is to shorten the
length of the coaxial lines. Typically, the transformer will also have series inductive reactance that will impair the high-frequency range. This can be tuned in with compensation
capacitors. Although these can be calculated, it is fairly quick to optimize a transformer
by substituting different values of shunt capacitance during test procedures and selecting
the value that yields the best broadband return loss.
Since both the input and output ports of the amplifier demand a 4:1 transformer,
the same device architecture will be used both ports. The output transformer uses larger
cross-sectional area ferrites and larger diameter coaxial cable to accommodate the higher
power levels.
With the impedance matching transformers solved for, it is now a fairly simple task
to go back to solve for the coupling capacitors. We know the capacitance value must
present a low reactance at 20 MHz. The coupling capacitors are to be inserted at the
266
Figure 6.17 Low-impedance open port return loss of 4:1 transformer (to obtain insertion loss,
divide plotted values by 2).
50 point between the 4:1 and 1:1 transmission line transformers. It is desired to have
the reactance at least 1/100th of 50 or less than j0.5 at 20 MHz. Solving for C:
1
= 0.0159 F
(6.11)
.0.5
The maximum amount of average current that the series coupling capacitor will see
occurs at 150 W CW, therefore
Pmax .z
150.50
vrms
Imax =
=
=
= 1.73 A (rms)
(6.12)
z
z
50
Based on the three criteria set earlier we have two of them solved for, the minimum value
of capacitance and the maximum average current with a 50 load. To be conservative,
the maximum current will be doubled to account for driving adverse load VSWRs. The
D1020UK is a + 28 VDC device, so the DC operating voltage must be in excess of this
value.
The chip capacitor selected is a 0.1 F, 50 WVDC 200B series capacitor manufactured
by ATC. The capacitor can handle over 9 A of average RF current so it will be suitable
not only for the output coupling capacitors but the input as well.
The remaining issue is to verify the capacitor, on its own, will maintain a lowimpedance, resonance-free, operation throughout the entire amplifier bandwidth. This
C
267
Figure 6.18 Impedance of 0.1 F chip capacitor from 20400 MHz.
is verified by doing a one-port impedance analysis using a VNA. Figure 6.18 shows the
response of the coupling capacitor across the 20400 MHz bandwidth.
6.5.9
Feedback network
Manual calculation of the feedback resistance value can be very roughly determined by
the following equation [2]:
(V2 + V3 )
R f = V1 V2 V2 R4
R2
R1
where:
Rf = feedback resistance in ;
V1 = voltage gate to gate at 400 MHz = 9.7 V rms;
V2 = voltage gate to gate at 20 MHz = 2.17 V rms;
V3 = voltage drain to drain on D1020UK at 150 W output = 43.3 V rms;
R1 = R2 = impedance on output of input matching transformer = 12.5 ;
R4 = output load, drain to drain = 12.5 .
(6.13)
268
This equation only provides a rough estimation of feedback resistance value. In a

broadband amplifier, intentional negative feedback can swing positive if not carefully
modeled. In this particular case, the equation yielded a value of 52.5 . At some levels
of drive the amplifier went into oscillation, so the value was increased to 100 and the
amplifier became stable. With this level of feedback the gain at 20 MHz was reduced by
approximately 8.3 dB. The small signal gain plots are given in Section 6.5.12.
6.5.10
Test setup configuration/analysis

Prior to the discussion of the example RFPAs construction and electrical test results,
some effort will be devoted to what is required to verify the amplifier is specification
compliant on a modular level. It is prudent to verify compliance at a modular level for
the obvious reason that if you cant meet specification there, in certain parameters, it
is unlikely performance will improve at a system level. Knowing how to test an RFPA
is every bit as essential as knowing how to design one. How accurately the test results
are acquired will ultimately advise the RFPA engineer of how much design margin
does/doesnt exist. The tests must be performed only on test equipment that is within
its calibration cycle and has National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)
traceability. This is to insure that whatever test results you obtain will ultimately agree
with your customers data.
Even though the module is fairly small and may cost only a few thousand dollars to
fabricate, to fully analyze and test for this particular requirement will require several
million dollars in test equipment. Decisions will need to be made along the way whether
or not to purchase, rent, lease or use a test facilitys equipment. The key piece of test
equipment is the VNA. This unit has the ability to measure input return loss, transformer
insertion loss, small/large signal gain, gain flatness, and insertion gain/phase linearity.
The spectrum analyzer in conjunction with the paralleled loads and binary stepped
transmission line will monitor the modules spurious response while being subjected
to various load VSWRs. The binary stepped transmission line [3] is simply lengths of
coaxial cable cut to specific lengths and switched in line with 2, 3, 4, and 5:1 load
VSWRs such that impedances along constant load VSWR circles can be applied to the
output of the RFPA module. This leads back to an earlier discussion in this chapter on
the topic of unconditional stability. This is the very test that is performed to assess load
pull stability. It becomes apparent that it is impossible to present a circuit at the output
of an RFPA that can emulate all impedance points bounded by constant load VSWR
circles on the Smith Chart.
Figure 6.19 is a block diagram that illustrates the interconnection of a typical test
setup that will verify a substantial portion of the modules performance. The output of
the VNA is fed to a low-level test driver to increase the power to the point where it is
sufficient to drive the RFPA to full power. The precise output power level of the RFPA
is sampled with a calibrated directional coupler and fed to an RF Power meter. For gain,
gain flatness, and insertion gain/phase linearity, the VNA has the ability to calibrate out
the response variations of the low-level driver. The VNA can characterize a majority of
the amplifiers frequency and power domain responses. In addition, when the RFPA is
269
Figure 6.19 Typical RFPA module/system test configuration.
subjected to temperature, altitude and vibration analysis, the very same test setup can be
deployed with the initial response transfer functions stored in memory and compared as
temperature and vibration levels are increased.
While the setup in Figure 6.19 can cover a majority of the required tests, to execute
radiated and conducted emissions tests will require the sophisticated setup in Figure 6.20.
These are highly elaborate systems, the center of which are 3 and 10 m anechoic chambers
which effectively provide a controlled EMC environment in which to test the amplifiers
susceptibility to, and emission of, EM radiation. The RFPA is placed in a 3 m chamber
and subjected to high-power RF energy emitted from closely placed bi-conical log and
double ridge horn antennas. The amplifier is then monitored for its ability to maintain
specified operation without degradation of performance while the frequency and field
strength of the radiated RF energy is varied over very broad ranges.
For radiated emissions, the amplifier is placed on a turntable within the semi anechoic
10 m chamber; it is then rotated while transmitting full RF power output. Highly sensitive,
Bi-conical, Log periodic and Active Loop antennas are located about 20 feet away and
will be elevated and lowered based on the EMI/EMC specifications. The signal received
by the antennas is plotted on a graph with limit lines that show if the amplifier is
emitting RF energy beyond acceptable amounts. Radiated emissions is one of the few
requirements of the RFPA specification that if the amplifier is not compliant at a module
level, it remains possible to be compliant at a system level since the amplifier will be
mounted within a metal chassis that will allow for further shielding and reduction of
emissions.
270
Figure 6.20 Simplified block diagram of 3 and 10 m EMC test chambers.
A highly accelerated life test (HALT) chamber is shown in Figure 6.21. This has the
unique ability to apply random vibration to the RFPA module in six axes (X, Y, Z, yaw,
pitch, and roll). This is more effective than a single or dual axis vibration table as it
can effectively impart vibration energy to the module that is close in line with what it
will encounter in the field. In addition, the HALT chamber has the ability to change
temperature from 100 to +200 C.
271
Figure 6.21 HALT chamber.
6.5.11
Physical RFPA module construction

A photo of the individual breadboard RFPA stage is shown in Figure 6.22. The printed
circuit board with micro strip interconnecting transmission lines is mounted into an
aluminum module. There are two PC boards, one for the input divider/matching network
and one for the output.
The transistor is mounted in a milled-out channel 0.070" deep such that the gate
and drain leads sit flush with the PC board. This channel is perhaps the most important
machined surface within the entire module, care was taken to specify that it has a surface
flatness of better than 5 m/cm along with an RA (average surface roughness) of better
than 1 m. The device manufacturer has provided this mounting information [4].
With the mating surface ready, a very thin layer of thermal compound was applied to
the bottom of the RF transistors flange. The compound is applied such that the color
of the gold plating on the flange is visible through it. The idea here is that the best
thermal interface is metal to metal contact, but since the surfaces of both the transistor
and finely machined surface are not perfect, very small air pockets will exist. The role of
the thermal compound is therefore not to get in between the module to transistor (metal
metal) contact, but rather to fill the minute air pockets. The final step in mounting the
transistor is to use the appropriate screws with the recommended mounting torque. In
this particular case, two 440 screws were deployed with a torque of 5.0 in.lbs.
272
Figure 6.22 Breadboard of 20400 MHz, 150 W CW RFPA module; thermal tracking sensor is
located in the front center on the module wall.
The input 1:1transformer consists of two turns of 0.062 inch, sleeved, 50 semi rigid
coaxial cable on a 0.5 inch Ceramic Magnetics ferrite toroid part 6.T503125T-C2050.
The input 4:1 transformer consists of two turns of 0.062 inch, sleeved, 25 semirigid
coaxial cable on two of the same cores.
The input coupling capacitors isolate the DC bias voltage on the gates and couple the
RF input signal from the 1:1 to the 4:1 transformer.
The temperature compensated bias voltage sensor is mounted to the side wall and
its output is fed to the gates of the transistor through a 5 K resistor. The resistor
values can be this high as the gates of a MOSFET present an extremely high DC
impedance.
The output 1:4 transformer is constructed with a heavier gauge (0.085 ) sleeved 25
and 50 semirigid coaxial cable. Three turns of 25 coaxial cable are wound through
Ceramic Magnetics toroid part 6.T874525T-C2050 for the 4:1 transformer and similarly
for the 50 coaxial cable on the output 1:1 transformer. The selection of toroidal
transformers helps also to meet EMC requirements as transformers wound on toroids
will radiate less RF energy.
Although not shown, the RFPA module will be populated with three more identical
amplifier stages, the outputs of which will be connected to a four port combiner. With
150 W of output capability per stage, one module will yield about 500 W of output
power after combiner losses.
273
Figure 6.23 Rubberized EMI gasket seated in milled out channel in RFPA module wall top surface.
The module is a machined out enclosure, the side walls have a channel milled out
to seat a metallized rubber EMC gasket (Figure 6.23) that will seal the interface to the
top cover. This mechanical configuration will provide an effective method of limiting
unwanted radiated emissions at a modular level. While there exist many numerical
methods to design an RFPA to meet certain electrical specifications such as power
output and gain, designing an RFPA to comply with radiated/conducted emissions and
susceptibility represents a formidable challenge. This is due to the fact that many of
the things that influence the modules shielding properties are difficult to model. This
will tax even the most sophisticated EM simulation programs. There are preventative
measures one can take in the design phase of an RFPA:
1. Form all inductive (transformers and chokes) components on toroidal cores if possible.
2. Individually shield each stage with milled out enclosures and covers that seal the gain
stage with EMI rubberized gasketing.
3. Use inline filtercons on all DC/signal feeds into and out of the RFPA module where
possible.
4. Test each unique RFPA for EMC compliance at a modular level.
6.5.12
RFPA module test results

The final RFPA module schematic is shown in Figure 6.24, the transistor is connected
to the inputoutput transformers, bias adjust and thermal tracking networks. The values
274
Figure 6.24 Complete 20400 MHz, 150 W CW RFPA module schematic.
of compensation capacitance will change and depart from those that provided the best
return loss with chip resistor test terminations and will now be chosen to satisfy the best
input match/gain at 400 MHz and best efficiency at 150 uniformly across the band.
The two port small signal response of the network is shown in Figure 6.25a, b. Figure
6.25a shows the input match characteristics. The RFPA module stage has high gain at
the 20 MHz low-frequency band edge with poor return loss and the inverse at the high
end of the band. The RLC feedback networks as shown in Figure 6.5 were used to lower
the gain 8.3 dB at the low end of the band and improve the overall gain flatness. Figure
6.25b shows the gain flatness plot with this feedback. The gain flatness is 6.8 dB peak
to peak, this can be compensated for on a system level by using a small signal gain
equalization network or an ALC loop.
The feedback capacitor is chosen primarily as a DC blocking component and the
inductance value is chosen so as to resonate at 20 MHz such that the feedback and gain
reduction is maximized where the devices gain is greatest.
The gain and phase linearity (AMAM and AMPM distortion) response of the
amplifier is shown in Figure 6.26ae. With a bias current of 2A at a Drain voltage
of +28 VDC , the linearity response of this device is very good for a broadband class
AB biased device. On average the gain linearity is + / 0.74 dB, with a peak deviation
of + / 1.05 dB. From the average value vantage point, there is + / 0.76 dB of gain
linearity margin, however the peak gain linearity deviation at 400 MHz is + / 1.05 dB.
This leaves + / 0.45 dB of gain linearity margin. In other words, the low-level driver
gain and intermediate power amplifier stage gain linearity transfer functions will have to
have substantially less gain linearity error if the aggregate response of the entire system
(Figure 6.6) is to maintain the specification compliance value of + / 1.5 dB.
a)
b)
Figure 6.25 (a, b) Input return loss, and small signal gain of the RFPA module.
275
276
a)
b)
Figure 6.26 (ae) Phase and gain linearity test results over 20 dB dynamic range to 150 W.
c)
d)
Figure 6.26 (cont.)
277
278
e)
Figure 6.26 (cont.)
The same is true with phase linearity; overall the average phase linearity error
is + / 4.4 with a peak deviation of + / 7.9 at 400 MHz. This leaves + / 2.1 of
allowable phase linearity error in the front two stages of the RFPA system. This is not
leaving much room for these stages to have any non linearity present in their own transfer functions. A possible remedy is optimize the transfer function of the D1020UK at
400 MHz, or move to a higher frequency part that will have improved gain and phase
linearity at 400 MHz.
Figure 6.27 shows the efficiency of the amplifier from 20400 MHz. The average
efficiency is 56.8% with a worst case value of 42.9%. The devices data sheet specifies a
minimum efficiency of 50%, so between the gain/phase linearity and efficiency, we have
a reasonably good indication that the output impedance of the device is well matched.
Using the test setup of Figure 6.19, the output of the RFPA module is connected to
a binary stepped transmission line, then into 50 high-power loads that are paralleled.
First two loads are paralleled for a 2:1 VSWR. The binary stepped transmission line
will switch in 50 coaxial cable lengths that will ultimately rotate the impedance in
discrete steps about a constant 2:1 VSWR circle. While this is occurring, the RFPAs
frequency and output is incremented from 20400 MHz and 0150 W, respectively. The
spectrum analyzer is monitoring the frequency spectrum to confirm that there are no
279
D1020UK Drain Efficiency vs. Frequency @ Pout =150W CW

80
70
Drain Efficiency(%)
ency(%)
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
20
115
210
Frequency (MHz)
305
400
Figure 6.27 Broadband drain efficiency of the 20400 MHz RFPA module at 150 W CW.
spurious signals that rise above 45 dBc. This process is then repeated for a 3:1 load
VSWR, then 4:1, and finally 5:1.
The RFPA module did exhibit some spurious oscillations that were 60 dBc down
below the carrier level. One might be lulled into a false sense of security that the Spectral
load pull stability requirement is met as the spurious outputs that did appear are lower than
45 dBc. This may be the case, but to confirm this continuously over all frequencies,
power levels, load impedances, potential modulation formats and temperatures represent
countless hours of bench testing, even with automated load pull test setups. Any load
pull stability test, no matter how comprehensive, will only be a cursory attempt at best.
It may be fair to say the amplifier module has conditional stability within the limits and
scope of the available test methods and conditions.
Figure 6.28 shows the RFPA module undergoing six axis random vibration and temperature stress. As with other requirements, it is beneficial to evaluate random vibration
on a modular level. Random vibration performance is similar to radiated emissions in
that an RFPA that meets specification at a modular level will more than likely pass at a
system level as the chassis that the module is integrated into will absorb a good portion
of the random vibration energy imparted to it. The module was subjected to 15G rms
of random, six-axis vibration. This was 50% over the required specification on a system
level. RFPA circuitry, by virtue of its nature in terms of construction (i.e., chip capacitors,
resistors) readily lend itself to be inherently immune to high levels of mechanical shock.
The weak point in the RFPA circuitry is any component that protrudes well off of the PC
board with some degree of mass to it. In this particular case, the ferrites loaded onto the
transmission line transformers can sometimes impart enough force on the coaxial lines
on which they are wound to generate enough torque that may either crack the solder joint
280
Figure 6.28 RFPA module undergoing vibration and temperature qualification testing.
or delaminate the metallization of the PC board. Care must be taken to secure these and
other devices with similar mechanical properties.
While the thermal circuit is usually considered separate from the electrical network, it
is every bit as important and has perhaps more direct impact on reliability than anything
else. The section on RFPA module construction covered the details in preparing a
proper thermal interface between the RF transistor and the module base. The next task
is removal of the heat from the module of the entire system. While this is outside
the scope of this material, the objective of whatever method of cooling is deployed
is simple; the transistors die temperature must be kept as low as possible. Lower die
temperature will not only increase MTBF, but lessen the amplifiers vulnerability to
failure from excessive overdrive and load VSWRs. Bear in mind, a 10 C reduction in die
temperature may seem trivial, however, it can approximately halve the failure rate of the
transistor.
The plot in Figure 6.29 shows typical MTBF of RF power transistors versus die
temperature and drain current. Both of these two quantities can be minimized with
optimized thermal design, system architecture and output matching networks. Thermal
design will cover mechanical interfaces, appropriate selection of chill plates, heat sinks
and exchangers. If the heat generated by any given architecture yields excessive die
temperatures, then adding modules may be an option to spread the heat out amongst
more devices. In either of these cases, the output matching networks of the RF transistors
must be optimized such that the efficiency is the best it can be.
281
Mean Time To Failure
MTF, Mean Time To Failure (Hrs)
10000000
ID = 1 A
1000000
3A
100000
5A
10000
1000
120
140
160
180
200
220
TJ , Junction Temperature (C)
Figure 6.29 Graph of a typical RF power transistor MTTF versus junction temperature and drain
current.
6.5.13
Beyond the test data

The test data on the amplifier looks good and with some CAD based circuit optimization
will probably yield better design margin. It is important to note at this time that the test
data itself should be used for more than determining whether or not a particular module
is meeting specification.
Data in discrete form is no doubt useful, it defines the performance of a particular
module, however, RFPA data in comparative trend format is far more powerful. It not
only defines the performance of a particular module, but also highlights potential hidden
process variations that may be in decline, not only in the manufacture of the RFPA, but
also in the component suppliers.
The HF/VHF/UHF RF power amplifier market has never seen demands for true
commodity commercial volumes of millions of amplifiers. As such, attempts to try to
apply statistical control processes such as Six Sigma can end in frustration. There are,
however, facets of Six Sigma that lend themselves to lower volume production runs.
Short term sigma level (or Zst ) scorecards look at amplifier test data in small lot
quantities (say, for example, 25 systems). In this environment, amplifier performance of
25 systems can be statistically compared and areas where the amplifier is running close to
specification or experiencing a transient period of either marginal or exceptionally good
performance can be easily highlighted and brought to attention. This attention to test
data trends along with root cause analysis will uncover both supplier and manufacturer
process deviations and flaws.
282
Another useful process to consider primarily in the testing of RFPAs is gauge repeatability and reproducibility (gauge R&R). The underlying concept behind this is determining or quantifying the variability in a measurement system by measuring the performance
of a particular RFPA several times to determine repeatability. Reproducibility is found
by having several different RF technicians measuring the RFPA performance in order to
quantify the variation in a measurement system resulting from operators. The net result
of a gauge R&R study is that it will ultimately provide error tolerances that may require
certain amplifier parameters to be more tightly specified in order to circumvent the
possibility that even in the event of the presence of manufacturer measurement errors,
the system still arrives at the customer within specification.
While the above two topics relate to test data and test equipment, the following topics
address what the module design should go through next. A manufacturing engineer
should assess the module construction with a design for manufacturability (DFM) study
to ensure that its construction is amenable to low-cost assembly processes such as
semiautomated or fully automated assembly and acceptance test procedures (ATPs).
Further along in the design process, quality engineers need to be involved to perform
failure mode and effects analysis (to identify RFPA design and process problems before
they occur). Wiebull analysis along with calculated and demonstrated MTBFs will
provide insight into the expected lifetime of the newly minted RFPA design.
Summary/conclusions: current technology/future trends

in amplifier design
It has been said here that two things primarily occur in any RF power amplifier:
r efficient amplification;
r efficient or maximum power transfer.
One must amplify a signal, transfer it to the next stage, then do it all over again. The
devices responsible for amplification are obviously transistors. So if we wanted to know
what may happen in the future, we can extrapolate what has occurred in the past.
Twenty-five years ago, the class of RF transistors most common were BJTs. MOSFETS
were starting to become commercially available. Since then, MOSFETs (whether vertical
or lateral) have been the workhorses of HF/VHF/UHF RF power amplifiers. BJTs for
now, appear to be in decline. In the 198590 timeframe, MOSFETS that could operate
up to 175 MHz at power levels of 300600 W became available. In the last year, 50 V
LDMOS FETs have arrived that can deliver 1 KW up to 500 MHz. What was true then is
still true now, namely operating such high-power devices presents the same challenges
of heat removal and the AC coupling of high-power, high-current RF signals.
GaN and GaAsFET devices continue to find themselves in amplifiers that are breaking
barriers in ultra broad bandwidths.
It is apparent that a continuing trend in RF power transistor technology can be expected
with higher and higher power outputs and broader bandwidths found in smaller or
equivalent sized packages. No one, however, has found a way to produce a device
References
283
that is distortion free or has significantly improved efficiency performance; all devices
discussed have varying degrees of non linear transfer functions and inefficiencies. This
is not to say a device of this nature will never arrive, only that in over a half century of
transistor development, it simply has not.
On the topic of matching and maximum power transfer, suffice it to say, if the computer
industry progressed with the same speed, we would all still be using abacuses. A quick
review on one of the earliest papers on transmission line transformers by Guanella [5] and
Ruthroff [6] show that they remain virtually unchanged in construction and application
since the 1940s. It is a testimony to what elegant and efficient devices they are, and also
to how difficult they are to improve upon.
So if we match transistors the same way and if they really are not more linear or
much less efficient, then where are the improvements to come from? Based on advances
in the cellular and plasma processing amplifier markets, improvement on raw amplifier
performance has, can and will come in the form of advanced amplifier error correction
techniques such as predistortion, feed-forward and high-speed, digitally based ALC
loops. These advances evolve primarily from advances in higher speed analog to digital
conversion, digital signal processing and error correction.
Dedication
I would like to dedicate this chapter to my wife, Catherine Leigh, son Justin Daniel, and
daughter Mikaela Sienna Myer.
Acknowledgments
The author would like to acknowledge the contributions of Robert Schoepfer, Gregory
Muller, and Thuy Lu.
References
1. D. Myer, Synthesis of equal delay transmission line transformer networks, Microw. J.,
vol. 35, no. 3, pp. 106114, March 1992.
2. N. Dye and H. Granberg, Radio Frequency Transistors-Principles and Practical Applications,
Butterworth-Heinemann, 1993, pp. 193197.
3. R. K. Blocksome, A binary stepped transmission line, R.F. Des., July/August 1982,
pp. 2229.
4. N. Padfield, Mounting guidelines for SEMELAB RF MOSFETs Semelab PLC Application
Note, pp. 19.
5. G. Guanella New method of impedance matching in radio-frequency circuits, Brown Boveri
Rev., Sept. 1944, pp. 327329.
6. C. L. Ruthroff, Some broad-band transformers, Proc. IRE, vol. 47, pp. 13371342,
Aug. 1959.
Microwave hybrid amplifier

realization
Dominic FitzPatrick
PoweRFul Microwave
7.1
Introduction
The variety of approaches taken in the design of power amplifiers is vast and the
subdividing of the approaches into various categories, such as hybrid is (like the
term microwave itself) a generalization in which the edges are somewhat blurred.
The Cambridge Advanced Dictionary defines hybrid as something that has been produced from two different types . . . especially to get better characteristics, or anything
that is a mixture of two very different things. In this case the mixture is considered
to be of lumped and distributed components. Until recently a hybrid amplifier was
considered as one which used packaged devices, however in striving to achieve better
performance at higher frequencies discrete devices and MMICs have been integrated
into circuits containing both distributed circuits and discrete components, see Figure 7.1.
Hybrid amplifiers have thus been created as an effort to cherry pick the best technical
solutions within an economic framework.
The place of hybrid amplifiers in the market ranges from the prototype and feasibility proving stages of product development, to volume manufacturing, to low-quantity
highest performance products. Microwave hybrid power amplifiers (MHPAs) are used
in low-volume applications such high-energy physics particle accelerators to volume
applications in mobile phone base stations. Solid state powers amplifiers (SSPAs) have
become the technology of choice for the mobile communications market and a significant proportion of the satellite communications market. The advent of wide bandgap
materials has seen huge improvements in bandwidth performance below 6 GHz, and
the next generation of commercial products will see these advances cover X band and
beyond.
Many electrical engineering students undertake an amplifier design project as part
of their studies, while large engineering companies have found amplifier design groups
expensive and difficult to manage (often leading to very successful spin-out companies!). Some managers have struggled to understand why the design and development
of MHPAs is not as predictable a process as the design of other electronic system
components. This chapter seeks to highlight some of the pitfalls that have so troubled
some design programmes; it will also hopefully help designers in selecting the optimum
approach to meeting customer requirements. Too often the term black art has been
applied to what is in effect a process which is poorly controlled, and this starts right at
the very basic level of the design . . . .
7.2 Printed circuit boards
285
Figure 7.1 Mixed technology microwave hybrid power amplifier. Photo courtesy of Cree Inc.
12.3 GHz SiC 50 W Amplifier, www.cree.com.
7.2
Printed circuit boards

It might seem strange to start a chapter on MHPAs with a discussion on printed circuit
boards (PCBs). However, as with house building, this is the foundation of our structure and a poor choice here will lead to the final design solution being compromised.
Microwave PCBs are divided into two categories, hard and soft substrates. Hard substrates are primarily alumina, a ceramic with a tightly controlled dielectric constant
(r 9.8) although other materials such as glass and sapphire are used. Alumina substrates benefit from high thermal conductivity and high operating temperatures which
has made them popular in military and space applications. The patterning of the conductive circuits is achieved either by deposition (thick film) or etching (thin film). Resistors
can be integrated into the circuits by adjusting the metalization (such as using a nickelchromium layer). Grounding is an issue as the material is brittle and holes either need to
be punched when the material is in its green, unbaked form or laser drilled. Similarly,
the mounting or attachment of the substrate can cause problems due to poor thermal
coefficient of expansion mismatch with some of the common metal housing materials,
see Figure 7.2. New electrically conductive adhesives have been developed which allow
a sufficient amount of give between the layers, however this is neither a cheap material
nor is the dispensing and curing easy. Metal alloys with a closer thermal expansion have
been developed as will be discussed later.
Soft substrate is the term applied to a now vast range of products that are composite
materials, either fibre or particle based. The all-pervading FR4 fibre glass material of the
conventional electronics industry is inappropriate for MHPAs as the dielectric constant is
poorly controlled and the dielectric losses high. At the other end of the spectrum is pure
polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE), a synthetic fluoropolymer which has a low dielectric
constant, which can be tightly controlled, with low loss. However, it has poor thermal
performance. By mixing PTFE with fibre based boards then low loss, controlled dielectric
constant, and a reasonable thermal performance can be achieved. Additionally, profiling
and drilling the boards is cheap and relatively simple. By adding ceramic particles the
500
450
Silver
Copper
400
Thermal Conductivity (W/mC)
286
350
Gold
300
250
Aluminium
200
Tungsten
150
Molybdenum
100
50
Alumina
Solder (PbSn)
Teflon
Kovar
0
0
GaAs
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
Thermal Coefficient of Expansion 106/C
80
90
100
Figure 7.2 Thermal properties of common microwave materials.
dielectric constant can be adjusted, even to the extent that they can be close to that
of alumina, thus offering circuits of similar dimensions. A further advantage of these
substrates is that they are easily laminated, so a wide range of thicknesses are available,
and they can be provided with a range of metal backings. Processing is similar to that of
conventional circuit boards except that with PTFE based materials an additional stage to
roughen up the surfaces is necessary in order to successfully plate to the surface. As
the demand for circuits for the mobile phone industry rose then so the number of PCB
processors who could handle PTFE substrates increased and prices fell.
The key parameters of substrates commonly used in hybrid amplifiers are shown in
Table 7.1. Not included in the table is cost, this is because when considering the cost of
a circuit substrate one should not only consider the purchase price of the raw material
but also the processing costs. For example, a circuit on a low dielectric maybe three
times larger than on a high dielectric. Furthermore, the finished PCB cost needs to be
put into the context of the whole amplifier itself. What is the cost/W of output power?
Knowing this figure of merit will aid the decision in choosing an output PCB; is it more
cost effective to opt for an expensive low-loss board or a cheaper higher loss material?
Non-PTFE materials have been developed so that standard PCB fabrication techniques
can be employed. A side benefit of this development has been that the step change in
dielectric constant, r , at around room temperature has been removed. The typical
change in r due to the crystalline structure altering in a PTFE material can be seen
in Figure 7.3. This change causes equally sharp changes in the equivalent electrical
length of transmission lines. Some materials (such as ceramic loaded PTFE), while not
displaying as significant an inflection point, have a much greater overall change in r
287
Table 7.1 Properties of common substrates used in MHPAs
Property
Dielectric constant
Thermal coefficient of
dielectric constant
Dielectric loss (tan )
Dielectric strength
Volume resistivity
Thermal conductivity
Coefficient of thermal
expansion
Water absorption
(ASTM-373)
Type
Soft
Units
Hard
Alumina1
99.6%
RT/duroid
5880
RT/duroid
TMM10i
RT/duroid
R4003C
ppm/ C
9.9
2.2
125
9.8
43
3.55
+40
0.0001
8.7
1014
26.6
8.2
0.0009
285
2 1013
0.20
X = 31
Y = 48
Z = 237
0.015
0.002
AC-kV/mm
-cm
W/m/K
ppm/ C
2 108
0.76
X = 16
Y = 16
Z = 20
0.16
0.0027
31.2
1.7 1016
0.64
X = 11
Y = 14
Z = 46
0.06
Ceramic loaded
thermoset
plastic
Woven glass,
ceramic filled
thermoset
Substrates
Ceramic
PTFE/
microfibre
Er(T)Er(25)
Chart 1: RO4000 Series Materials

Dielectric Constant vs. Temperature
1.008
1.006
1.004
1.002
1.000
0.998
0.996
0.994
0.992
0.990
0.988
50
30
10
10
30
50
70
90
110
130
150
TempC
RO4003
RO4350
PTFE/Woven Glass
Figure 7.3 Relative change in dielectric constant with temperature. Courtesy of Rogers Corp.
www.rogerscorp.com.
with temperature. Another advantage of thermoset materials is that they do not soften
when heated and thus are more suitable for wire bonding applications.
In the ideal world we would want the substrate to be a totally homogeneous material
where the dielectric constant is isotropic, i.e., has a consistent value throughout. Due
to the manufacturing processes and material compositions this does not happen and the
1
CoorsTek, ADS-996.
288
dielectric constant may even vary with orientation of board, thus if the circuit layout
and the substrate orientation is not consistent between manufacturing runs there may be
variations in performance. It is obviously essential that board manufacturers are aware
of these differences and take account accordingly. The effects of these dielectric constant
changes are most dramatic in high Q elements such as resonators. Thus, isotropy of the
substrate material is an important consideration in the design of narrow-band amplifiers.
It can also affect wide-band designs where coupling structures are produced on the
PCB, such as Lange couplers [1]. Generally speaking, the finer and more randomly
placed the loading materials in substrate the lower will be the variation in dielectric
constant, thus woven glass based materials tend to exhibit the highest anisotropy. Very
consistent dielectric materials such as pure PTFE can be used; however these have their
own problems.
The thermal conductivity of the PCB is important in medium power amplifiers where
surface mount devices are used, although even in these cases the majority of the heat
generated is conducted to the heatsink through the grounding vias. In high-power amplifiers the power devices are bolted through the PCB to the housing floor or directly to
a heatsink. The amount of power dissipated in the circuit structures themselves should
not be underestimated. If a power device delivers 100 W and the output circuit following it has 0.5 dB of loss this means that 11 W is dissipated in the PCB (assuming the
majority of the loss is not radiated). There are two main methods of loss in the PCB,
resistive loss in the metal conductors and dielectric loss in the substrate. The conductor loss is determined by the properties and dimensions of the metal used while the
substrate loss is dependant not only on the loss of the material itself (quantified by tan
) but by the percentage of the electric fields flowing through the substrate. These two
have a tendency to work against each other; to get the lowest substrate loss one would
look to use as thin a substrate as possible and narrower lines, while for minimizing
conductor loss one needs wider lines. The thickness of a transmission line, particularly
in MHPAs, is affected by two considerations, the DC current and the frequency of
operation. For DC currents the cross-sectional area of the transmission line is inversely
proportional to the resistance, i.e., double the cross-sectional area, halve the resistance.
At microwave frequencies however, the currents are flowing only in a limited proportion of the thickness, the extent of which is referred to as the skin depth. This term
leads to a common misconception, the current flows in the electrical surface closest
to the ground plane (the electrical fields are between the surface of the ground plane
and the underside of the transmission line), thus plating up or changing the metalization of the top surface conductor may make no difference. The formula for skin depth,
, (in metres) is:

=
2
2 f o r
(7.1)
where is the bulk resistivity of the conductor (-cm); f is the frequency (Hz); o is
the permeability constant (H/m) = 4 107 , and r is the relative permeability.
289
Table 7.2 Bulk resistivity of commonly used metals

Material
Aluminum Copper Chromium Gold Nickel Palladium Silver
Bulk Resistivity 2.65

(-cm)
1.67
18.0
2.30 8.71
10.8
1.59
Table 7.2 lists the bulk resistivities of some common materials. For example, at
5 GHz the skin depth in a copper conductor will be 0.92 m, while a 1/2 oz. copper plated
PCB has a copper thickness of 18 m. A common rule of thumb is that the copper PCB
trace should be at least 5 to minimize loss. Also note that the purpose of gold plating
or flashing on microwave PCBs is to passivate the surface or improve the contact of
bonding areas, not to reduce the RF resistivity. As the RF current flow is primarily on
the underside of the track the surface roughness of the substrate will impact the loss.
The most common conductor material is copper. There are two standard approaches to
attaching the copper to the substrate material. The lowest cost and hence most common
method is electrodeposited or ED copper. The alternative is rolled copper, where thin
sheets of copper are bonded to the substrate material. Rolled copper has lower insertion
loss due to the uniformity of the material and the reduced surface roughness; this is
particularly noticeable as frequency increases. However, ED has a better adhesion to
the substrate, i.e., higher peel strength. Traditionally, both types are specified in ounces,
this comes from the number of ounces of copper per square foot of board area, (1 oz.
0.0355 mm). Copper cannot be left bare and so it is common practice to either plate or
coat the copper. Such treatments range from flashing with a nonreactive metal such as
gold (typically 5 m), to hot air solder leveling (HASL), and conductive polymers.
When selecting the substrate material the most significant consideration is the
impedance range that can be realized. The general rule of microwave design, Watch out
when dimensions approach a significant fraction of a wavelength applies here. If the
substrate thickness is too large then instead of the electromagnetic (EM) fields forming in
the quasi-TEM mode, other modes propagate. A good rule of thumb is that the thickness
of the substrate should not exceed 20 phase length at the highest operating frequency.
Table 7.3 summarizes the impedances, circuit dimensions, and current limitations for a
range of substrate materials.
Other considerations in the selection of the dielectric and its thickness are the current capacity required (usually limited by DC bias currents), and the size of discrete
components, such as device tabs. In linear design software models there are limitations
on the ratio of track width to substrate thickness, which usually restrict the minimum
impedance to 25 . Therefore it may be necessary to use an EM analysis for parts of
the circuit where wide lines are unavoidable. When deciding whether a hard substrate is
the optimum solution it is important to consider the surface area of the circuit. Generally,
hard substrates are limited to a maximum size of 50 50 mm. Hence, a circuit may need
to be made from a number of ceramic tiles. Conversely, antennas have been made on
soft substrates over 1 meter long. Typically, however, blank soft substrates sizes range
from 250 250 mm to 800 600 mm.
290
Table 7.3 Typical substrate trace dimensions with approximate current rating
Substrate
Thickness
(mm)
50
width
(mm)
Alumina
(Thin-film)
(Thick-film)
CuClad
217LX
RO4350B
TMMi 10
9.8
0.635
0.61
/4 (90 )
@ 10 GHz
(mm)
2.87
2.17
0.787
2.40
5.46
3.66
9.8
0.508
0.508
1.09
0.48
4.41
2.90
Current
for a 30 C
temp. rise2
(A)
12
12
5
3.8
2.3
Figure 7.4 Impact of processing on track dimensions and edge coupling (slopes exaggerated).
In the design of microwave circuits it is easy to assume that the circuit dimensions
produced by the CAD software are those that will be fabricated; however it is essential to
understand the processing that will be involved in manufacturing the PCBs and to take
into account the impacts. For example, where the production process involves etching
away the unwanted copper the actual shape of the cross-section of the track is trapezoidal,
and the size of the etch angle is proportional to the thickness of the track, see Figure 7.4.
There are two main PCB conductor creation approaches, (a) subtractive, and (b) additive.
In the subtractive process the etch angle results in the track width being wider at the
bottom (remember that this is what determines the RF impedance), while in the additive
process the track is plated up from a thin layer and thus is wider at the top. Also worthy
of note is that the edge coupling between the adjacent tracks (and ground planes) is
2
Approximate as this depends on a number of factors including peripheral circuit features, trace termination,
backing material and fixing method (see later).
291
assumed in most simulator models to be between vertical walls (or whatever the etching
process was of the sample from which the models were derived). A further complication
is that some PCB manufacturers take into account the etch factor of their process, while
others dont, hence the designer must know whether or not to take this into account when
creating the mask.
Grounding is an important part of microwave circuit designs. Typically, the ground
plane is a continuous conductor on the reverse side of the substrate, so it is necessary to
connect to it. The standard approach is to drill the substrate material and then plate the
hole with a conductor (plated through hole PTH) to create a via. With many RF substrate
materials this has its own problems. PTFE materials are difficult to bond to and hence
the surface of the hole must be roughened to promote adhesion of the copper during the
plating process, and this is particularly difficult to achieve in through-holes. Also, due to
the differing thermal coefficients of expansion between the conductor and the substrate,
cracking around the top of the via can result, particularly where the PCB undergoes
significant temperature cycling. These factors therefore push the designer to use larger
holes and thicker plating. Rather than using via holes, slots may be cut in the board and
their edges plated, but this may be a nonstandard approach for some PCB manufacturers,
who would normally do slot cutting after plating and should therefore be highlighted
in the requirement drawings. Inserting pins through boards is acceptable for simple
prototype circuits, but the result is generally not flush with the substrate surfaces and
thus may necessitate profiling of the box floor or restrict the placement of components.
Substrates can be supplied metalized on the back side which makes it possible to directly
solder the substrate to the metal; however this will require using background heating.
When using aluminum backing it is necessary to plate the aluminum first (not a trivial
process), hence copper or brass backing are preferred. Electrically conductive adhesives
are also available and can be used to bond the metal and substrate together. For large
bonding areas the adhesive can be supplied in films which may be more convenient.
The use of metal backed substrates is popular for a number of reasons:
r
r
r
r
r
it provides good heat sinking;

edge mounted connectors can be directly attached;
good mechanical base for mounting large components;
shrinkage and warping of the PCB is reduced;
easier attachment to housings.
However, weight, substrate, and processing costs are increased. Metal backed materials
are particularly popular for test jigs and prototypes where the expense of a custom
housing can be avoided and weight is not a significant issue.
Mounting PCBs within housings or directly to heat sinks can be done simply using
screws to clamp the board in place. However, care should be taken to ensure that the
contact between the board and the backing material is consistent by the use of appropriate
screw head size and quantity dependent upon the stiffness of the substrate. Areas where
particular care should be taken are around the input and output connections and where
pockets are machined out for the devices. Gaps between the ground plane on the back of
the substrate and the box floor may produce resonant cavities which will alter the response
292
of the amplifier. They can also provide feedback paths leading to oscillations. Screws
should have metal lands under them, especially with PTFE boards as under compression
the PTFE has a tendency to creep away from under the screw. It is advisable to use cap
heads to avoid damage from screwdrivers slipping, especially where there are fine tracks,
or delicate air-wound inductors. Crinkle or spring washers are usually adequate to lock
the screws. The standard size is sometimes larger than the screw head, so where space
is at a premium the next size down or an imperial size will fit the body of the screw and
not protrude far beyond the screw head.
Direct screw clamping is not recommended for hard substrate materials such as
alumina due to the brittleness of the material. Most commonly the substrate is soldered
or epoxied directly onto a metal carrier which in turn is screwed into the housing.
Alternatively, spring clips can be used to hold the tiles in place. Modern epoxies have
proved increasingly popular in mounting both substrates and active devices. The type
of epoxy used must be considered carefully, some can crack under thermal stress. For
such applications thermo-plastic adhesives which have some give are a better solution.
Conventional PCBs may also be soldered directly into housings. This gives excellent
thermal and electrical conductivity with the added advantage that no board real estate
is taken up by the mounting screws. In order to get an even solder join, solder paste is
screen printed onto the underside of the PCB or a preform used. Pressure needs to be
applied across the PCB during reflow to prevent areas from lifting and, if not constrained
by walls, to keep the PCB correctly aligned. Attention must be paid to the temperature
distribution across the unit as all parts of the solder joint must reach the reflow point,
but without going so high as to damage the substrate, housing plating or degrade the
solder. A low-flux solder should be used, particularly when large boards are involved,
otherwise pockets of flux may form under the board. Some solder pastes may require a
drying period after application to the PCB to allow solvents to dissipate.
An alternative configuration to microstrip is to use coplanar waveguide (CPW). In
this construction method the ground plane is brought to the top surface, this produces a
circuit with very tightly contained fields which is therefore less susceptible to proximity
effects such as lids and to radiative coupling. Although popular for low-power devices
it has draw backs for MHPAs, due to the need to heatsink devices. With flange mounted
devices there is a discontinuity in the odd and even modes at the device package junction,
and for surface mount there needs to be a ground plane connected to with vias. Typically
the substrate requires a large number of vias to ensure ground continuity, hence losing
one of the advantages of CPW. Another major drawback is that tuning of line impedances
in CPW is very difficult compared with microstrip.
It is often necessary to have slots in the PCB material for flange mounted components.
Rather than being directly attached to the PCB these are bolted to the housing floor
with leads soldered to the substrate tracks. For microwave devices the alignment of
the PCB and housing is critical so that gaps are minimal as they can cause unwanted
impedance changes and resonances, as shown in Figure 7.5. As the same requirements
are imposed on the input and output connector launches the dimensional tolerances on
the housing and PCB can be extremely tight. One solution, particularly suitable to PCBs
soldered into housings or test fixtures, is to machine the slots into the PCB and housing
simultaneously. This ensures precise alignment between the two. Unfortunately, this
293
7.3 Housing
RF Link
W, width of microstrip
Substrate
H
Metal Backing
Housing
Z
S
s
Z = 377
w
X = Z tan
2H
L = Inductance of RF Link (e.g. bondwire or device tab)

Note: H is in metres
Figure 7.5 Ground path effects.
option is not possible with hard substrates, and with soft substrates held in place a much
higher degree of clamping is required, and care must be taken to ensure swarf is not
forced into the gaps between board and ground plane.
A final consideration with soft substrates is their moisture absorption. During processing and cleaning, PCBs are subjected to a large number of chemicals. These can
cause a variety of problems, from producing corrosive liquids to changing the electrical
properties of the substrate. For instance, the dielectric constant can alter and if the circuit
is tuned to compensate for this, then over time as the substrate dries out the r will
change and hence, the circuit performance changes. Thorough cleaning followed by a
baking out stage is necessary.
7.3
Housing
Other than for prototypes and test jigs MHPAs require housing. Although this may at first
seem trivial, before considering the construction of a suitable housing the requirements
should be considered.
r interference: to stop the signals in the amplifier interfering with and being interfered
by external signals, circuits and materials;
r protection: to prevent the circuits being harmed by mechanical or chemical action;
r heat sinking: the heat generated by the power components needs to be removed in a
controlled manner. The housing can either incorporate or provide the connection to
the method of heat removal;
r mounting and connecting: the amplifier does not exist in isolation; it requires signal
connections, supply connections and a method of fixing to its surroundings. The role
of the housing is to ensure that these are reliable and convenient.
294
The relative importance of each of these must be balanced against the other considerations of cost and weight. The same approach would not be taken in a safety-critical
application in a harsh environmental to a laboratory test amplifier. As in all elements of
design, the end solution is a compromise between conflicting needs.
7.3.1
Materials
The most common material for MHPA housings is aluminum. It is relatively cheap,
easily machined, strong and light weight. It has good electrical and thermal conductivity
and so is excellent for screening and heat sinking. The main drawback is that it cannot
be directly soldered to. This can be overcome through plating, but this is a multistage
process with typically first a nickel seed layer followed by the gold or tin plating. It is
rare that the aluminum is left untreated as although the oxide layer that forms on the
surface is fairly un-reactive, there is a danger that small residues of acidic solutions will
be left behind from the flux used in many solders. These can react with the aluminum
oxide to form salts which can cause dendrites to grow leading to short circuits. A lowcost aluminum surface treatment is chromate conversion, commonly known by the brand
names Iridite or Alodine. Some forms of this process are banned under the Restriction of
Hazardous Substances (RoHS) legislations as they contain toxic hexavalent chromium.
Care should also be taken as the electrical conductivity can be inconsistent and dependent
upon thickness. The coating cannot be soldered to. For high-performance hermetically
sealed systems Kovar is used as an alternative to aluminum as will be discussed later.
Kovars thermal coefficient of expansion (TCE) is closer to that of GaAs, see Figure 7.2;
however, it is three times denser and its thermal conductivity is considerably lower than
aluminum which is an obvious drawback for MHPAs. Aluminum alloy 6061 is preferred
due to its good mechanical properties and machinability. Where the lid is to be welded
to the unit (rather than clamped) then aluminum alloy 4047 is preferred. This contains
silicon which improves the ductility of the weld and reduces cracking.
7.3.2
Sealing and hermeticity

Very few things are as likely to illicit impassioned debate amongst MHPA design
engineers as the issue of the appropriate level of sealing. When one looks into the area in
depth, one can easily be lead to despair that there is nothing that can be done to prevent
moisture ingress. However, we should take heart from the fact that systems continue to
operate for many years, and in fact the ruggedness and survivability of some relatively
cheap products such as mobile phones, satellite low-noise down-converters (LNBs), and
GPS receivers is impressive. The aim should be to provide reliability commensurate
with the cost of the unit (including cost of replacement). In fact many military systems
providers are now looking at availability of parts rather than requirements to survive
storage of 20 years in harsh conditions.
Protection of amplifier circuits is required not only from mechanical damage but also
from corrosion and vapour ingress. In the fabrication of amplifiers there are a large
number of chemicals used, from the lubricant used during machining of the housing, to
7.3 Housing
295
those used in the PCB processing and housing plating, to the fluxes in solders. These,
especially in the presence of water, can form particularly corrosive solutions. Condensation can cause short circuits or changes to performance in RF applications by changing
the electric fields around transmission lines. Avionic systems have proved particularly
vulnerable to condensation, where equipment can be sitting in warm moist air, and within
only a few minutes be at high altitude and low temperatures. The temperature at which
condensation forms is called the Dew Point and varies with the humidity of the air; as
the air temperature increases so does its ability to hold water.
The extent of the protection required is dependent upon the expected lifetime of
the product, temperature range (higher temperatures increase chemical activity hence
storage temperature is a key factor), and sensitivity of the circuits to corrosion, which in
turn depends upon the materials used and how the active circuits are packaged. Standards
were established for military systems covering many areas of the design and testing of
electrical systems. MIL-M-38510, the general specification for microcircuits, required
that all hybrid microcircuits that contain active semiconductors should be hermetically
sealed. The MIL standards are no longer supported, mainly because they could not
keep pace with the speed of component and process developments, but many of their
requirements have been assumed into requirement specifications. Recent work [2] has
shown that hermetic sealing to MIL-STD 883 may not be adequate and that modern
plastic packaging can provide better reliability. A big fear in the early days, particularly
of GaAs circuits, was hydrogen poisoning and so hydrogen getters were incorporated
into circuit packages. Improved passivation of the active devices has resulted in the virtual
elimination of this issue.
A complete seal against moisture ingress is difficult if not impossible to achieve.
Welding, brazing, or soldering all of the joints can produce an adequate seal; however
there is the need to provide RF and DC interfaces and access to the unit for repair and
maintenance. Moisture can ingress into a housing in three ways:
r diffusion;
r capillary action;
r breathing.
Diffusion: water vapour will diffuse in if the partial pressure differential is inwards
even if there is an absolute pressure differential in the opposite direction. Hence, a
condition can exist where a filler gas in the housing (such as nitrogen) can be diffusing
outwards while the water vapour is diffusing inwards. It is often not realized that water
vapour molecules are smaller than the other main gases in the atmosphere oxygen and
nitrogen. Water vapour (H2 O) has a molecular weight of 18 as compared to nitrogen
(N2 ), 28 and oxygen (O2 ), 32. Thus, the water vapour seal is the hardest to achieve. The
measure of diffusion is moisture vapour transmission rate (MVTR) and is dependent
upon the relative concentrations on either side of the barrier. Table 7.4 shows the MVTR
values for different composition rubber o-ring seals tested under identical conditions.
No material provides a 100% seal, the relative gas permittivity of various materials is
given in Table 7.5 [3], however the real question should be, when does a leak become
critical, which comes back to the intended life and operating and storage conditions.
296
Table 7.4 Relative rubber o-ring sealing

performance
O-ring material
MVTR
(g m1 day1 )
Fluorocarbon
Nitrile
Silicone
Polyurethane
9.5 104
40 104
90 104
130 104
Table 7.5 Relative gas permittivity for various materials
Nylon
Silicones
Epoxies
LCPs
Glasses/
ceramics
Metals
102
104
106
108
1010
Capillary action: water may form on the outside of the unit from direct exposure or
condensation, depending upon the environment. The rate at which the water permeates
the unit will depend upon the nature of the material in which any hole or crack exists.
Obvious risk areas are along the lid edge and any screw holes that break through into
the chamber.
Breathing: for unsealed units the majority of the water ingress will be through breathing. As the pressure changes between the inside and outside of the unit there will be a
movement of air. Thus, moisture will be contained within the unit.
A degree of protection to components and tracks can be offered by conformal coatings,
however these can affect the RF impedance of circuits, there is also the problem of when
to apply them. Application before tuning may mean that the coating integrity will be
breached if it is necessary to change components during tuning and test, however adding
the coating afterwards runs the risk of altering the circuit performance in an uncontrolled
manner. Also, although a conformal coating protects from short circuits, condensation
above the protective layer can still detune the matching circuits.
The ultimate solution is to hermetically seal the amplifier. The argument against
hermetically sealing is that if harmful chemicals build up over time then by allowing
the unit to breathe the concentration is reduced, whereas in a sealed chamber it may
reach harmful levels and cause corrosion. The main problem is due to water moisture,
thus not only is it necessary to seal the amplifier but also to reduce the moisture content
within the unit (obviously cleaning so as to remove as much of the contaminants as
possible is essential), therefore air is driven out before sealing and replaced with an
inert gas such as nitrogen. The decision to hermetically seal should not be taken lightly
as this requires special components such as the RF and DC connectors as well as the
lid seal itself, and with each one there is not only a high-integrity seal to produce but
another potential failure point. Of course if it is decided that the unit requires to be sealed
then an additional test stage needs to be incorporated to prove the integrity of the seal.
7.3 Housing
297
Studies have shown [2] that the required level of hermetic sealing for high reliability is
5 1011 mbar l/s. However, standard leak testers struggle to meet these levels so often
specifications have actually been set lower at about 108 mbar l/s.
Hermetic joints must be metal; epoxies and gaskets do not offer sufficient sealing,
hence solder or welded joints are used. The standard approach to hermetic sealing is
for the lid of the housing to be laser welded or soldered to the walls. Specialist advice
should be sought for laser sealing as to the dimensions of the lid and housing as these are
critical to producing a good seal and related to the laser power. Of course this process
must be carried out after tuning and testing, and if there is a subsequent failure then
the lid must be machined off to allow for repair/retuning. For RF and DC connections,
hermetic feed-throughs are usually made from a Kovar (an iron nickel cobalt alloy) outer
ring and center pin with a glass body. The TCE of Kovar is close to that of glass and the
Kovar can be plated so that it can then be soldered in place. For RF connections the ratio
of the diameter of the center pin to the outer barrel must be such as to present a 50
impedance.
It is obvious from the reliability of modern electrical components such as mobile
phones and LNBs that it is not necessary to provide a hermetic seal to achieve reasonable
reliability. Improvements have been made in the passivation layers on the surface of active
semiconductors and in the construction of the device packages themselves. However,
system specifications tend to be conservative and a degree of environmental screening is
often required. An alternative approach, where full hermetic sealing is not required, but
where protection from harsh environments is necessary, is to use a compression gasket
around the lid. Sometimes environmental and electrical screening cannot be achieved to
the degree required in a single gasket so two separate ones used. There is a large variety
of gaskets including solid and hollow tubes to flat custom forms. They can be complete
rings, spooled line or moulded in place. The benefits of this approach are that the unit can
be opened at any time making tuning and repair simpler (especially important in power
amplifiers!), also no specialist equipment such as a welding system is required. Some
of the key considerations are shown in Figure 7.6. To ensure that the correct amount
of compression occurs the dimensions of the trough are critical. Typically, the gasket is
compressed 2530% hence the dimension d in Figure 7.6b should be such that this is
achieved, similarly w should be determined such at that at the correct compression the
gasket is not restricted horizontally. Where the gasket is not recessed (e.g., flat gaskets) it
is advisable to include protrusions in the machined face which ensure the correct amount
of compression is achieved, but not overdone.
A disadvantage of the gasket sealing approach is that the wall width required to fit
the gasket and fixing screw is greater than without, which can lead to space issues.
With appropriate cutting tools the material under the gasket can be removed as shown in
Figure 7.6d, however this results in more difficult assembly, hence it may not be an option
for volume applications. The lowest cost form of the gasket material is provided on a
spool and can be laid in the recess, which can include intricate routing. Fixing screws
need to always be outside of the sealing ring, or where this is not possible (for example,
in center posts) include their own gaskets. When joining up the ends of the gasket it is
better that the two ends overlap rather than form a butt joint as shown in Figure 7.6e
298
Lid
d
w
Housing
Wall
Conductive
Gasket
(a) Before compression.
(b) After compression.
Fixing hole separation
(c) Housing gasket detail and mounting screws.
(d) Under cutting the gasket

recess.
(e) Joining Gasket ends, butt join (left)

and angled join (right) -preferred.
Figure 7.6 Housing sealing using compression gaskets.
and manufacturers can supply suitable adhesives to join the ends. An example of this
type of seal can be seen in Figure 7.7. Although not a MHPA, this is an example of a
hybrid microwave assembly that is mounted externally and subject to a north European
climate and must be highly reliable. The housing is made from cast aluminum with a
chromate passivation. The RF circuits are electrically sealed by an internal lid which
includes compartments. The environmental seal is provided by a compression gasket
and a layer of silicon rubber. RF screening is provided by an interference fit between the
internal lid and PCB. The unit is designed to be mounted at an angle so that if there is
any condensation within the unit it will drain to the lower right hand corner away from
the active circuits.
7.3 Housing
299
Figure 7.7 Gasket sealed satellite down converter (LNB), manufactured by Grundig Ltd.
[1] Pinned through board connection, [2] waveguide to microstrip interface, [3] Die cast main
housing with gasket recess, [4] Foam RAM for mode suppression, [5] internal lid with cavity
walls and connecting mouse-holes.
One consideration specific to MHPAs is that the unwanted by-product which we seek
to minimize heat actually works to our advantage. Although the danger of short
circuits exists at switch on, especially after storage in cold conditions, the operating
temperature of most MHPAs will keep the air in the unit above the dew point and so
condensation is less likely.
7.3.3
Construction
The construction of MHPAs can vary from the simple to the very intricate. The basic
model is a cavity into which the RF and DC circuits are all fitted, as shown in Figure 7.8.
For larger amplifiers it is often preferred to separate the DC circuits into another chamber.
This may be so that bias adjustment can be carried out with the lid in place for the RF
unit, for electrical isolation, for testing and monitoring, or because the sealing method
of the DC components is different to that of the RF. It can also reduce the lengths of
feed connections which are areas of danger for interference and oscillation. The variety
300
Figure 7.8 Simple construction, wideband hybrid amplifier module, before and after lid sealing
and painting. Courtesy of Labtech Microwave Ltd. www.labtech.ltd.uk.
of configurations for amplifier modules is enormous; Figure 7.9 describes some of the
more common approaches.
a. H section: this is simple to construct and has the benefit that the RF and DC cavities
can be sealed independently. The feed locations of DC and monitoring points to the
RF PCB can be positioned where needed, with complicated routing being kept in
the DC compartment. The drawback with regard to MHPAs is that the heat sinking
for power devices is poor. Floor thickness can be increased under the power devices;
however this still gives a higher thermal resistance due to the thermal path length than
other options.
b. Orthogonal Cavities: Similar benefits to the H section, but with longer wire links
to the RF PCB. The depth of the cavity of the RF section is related to the minimum
height of the DC PCB, which could cause issues with box modes. It does offer the
ability to have the power devices mounted on a face which can be attached onto a
heat sink or cold wall.
c. Wrap around: a good solution where there are power components in the DC section
that also require heat sinking. The long RF section would typically be split into a
number of chambers using internal dividing walls as shown in Figure 7.10.
7.3 Housing
301
RF PCB
DC PCB
Feed through
(a)
Coaxial
Connector
(b)
Link cable
(c)
(d)
Lid
Heatsink/Base
(e)
Figure 7.9 Typical amplifier housing formats: (a) cross-section of H section module;
(b) cross-section of orthogonal cavity module; (c) wrap-around module; (d) split section
module; (e) planar module.
d. Split section: this format, although requiring additional RF connectors and a cable,
has the benefit of giving interstage access which can be useful in tuning and fault
finding.
e. Planar: one of the problems with the previous module formats is that the circuits are
within cavities and this can cause production issues with assembly and test due to
302
Figure 7.10 (a) X band and (b) S Band MHPA modules: (a) wrap-around construction showing
bias control with RF chambers around the perimeter. Note the weight reduction removal of
excess material where possible; (b) side-by-side construction. Photos courtesy of Surrey Satellite
Technology Ltd. www.sstl.co.uk.
access. A solution to this problem has been to incorporate the sidewalls into the lid.
The RF and DC circuits may then be incorporated into a single PCB. The circuit
design must have a low susceptibility to ground proximity effects; otherwise the
fitting of the lid will detune the performance. The construction allows power devices
to be mounted directly to the heatsink thus maximizing thermal transfer. Another
7.3 Housing
303
Figure 7.11 Handling internal corners.
issue with this design is that the RF connections need to come vertically through
the board which can give rise to difficulty linking to them and launching unwanted
modes (see later). It is possible to mount connections in line with the PCB; however
the junction with the lid requires close attention.
The housings themselves may be formed by three main methods: direct machining,
casting, and piece parts. Improvements to the performance and speed of computer
numerically controlled (CNC) machining centers has dramatically reduced the cost and
increased the possible intricacy of housings. Designs should be discussed with the
machinist before finalizing, as there are a number of simple aspects that will reduce cost
and improve manufacturability. These include:
1. Use as large a cutter as possible for the internal cavities, where possible avoid tight
corners. If necessary a corner can be opened up using a drill hole, see Figure 7.11.
2. Holes that require tapping are best drilled through to stop taps from jamming. Use
as large a hole and thread size as possible. The minimum tap depth is 1.5 diameter
of the fixing. Blind holes can be a store for the chemicals and substances used in
processing; it is much easier to completely clean through holes3 .
3. Reduce as far as possible the number of cutting axes required, this will speed up
machining and reduce cost.
4. Countersinking holes is an additional operation, only countersink where necessary.
5. Minimize the number of different cutters and drills required.
Making amplifier housings from cast parts is limited to volume requirements, and for
MHPAs the parts will still require some machining to produce the necessary surface
finishes for mounting power devices. Complex shapes can be created and this has lead
to this being a popular option for base station amplifiers.
3
This caused a problem with flange mounted transistors failing over time. Removing the blown devices
revealed a very thin layer of sticky goo under the devices. Assembly technicians were reminded of the
need for scrupulous cleaning under the devices and an inspection stage was introduced prior to device fitting.
Still the transistors failed. Eventually, running a cotton bud down the transistor mounting holes revealed the
source of the goo. As the devices were being clamped down, dissolved flux was forced up the holes and
spread under the device flange, increasing the thermal resistance. In this case the RF PCBs were soldered
into the box and then cleaned in an ultrasonic surfactant cleaner, leaving residue in the blind holes.
304
The third option of using piece parts covers a number of different applications ranging
from low-cost custom assemblies to high-cost light weight units for the avionics industry.
In the first case simple box extrusions are used for the side walls which can be bolted to
heatsinks or lids. The second case utilizes a process called aluminum dip brazing. This
can produce assemblies with very thin walls (<1 mm) thus lightweight, but also with
integrated features such as air and water cooling sections that are sandwiches of corrugated and sheet aluminum through which water or air can be forced, see Figure 7.13e,
and bosses for screw fixings. The parts are cut out and assembled using tabs and slots
with aluminum silicate pastes administered along the joints. The whole assembly is
immersed in a bath of molten salt which solders the joints. In this way a pressure-tight
seal can be formed. Such a process is expensive and the number of manufacturers limited,
but where weight is at an absolute premium this can be the best solution.
Where screws are used to compress the lid, the number and spacing will depend upon
whether the required screening is primarily electrical or environmental. For environmental screening the number of screws is dependent upon the stiffness of the lid ( to
thickness) and the gasket material. When there is a pressure seal it is necessary for the lid
and walls to be thick enough (or stiffened using webbing) so that they dont buckle under
pressure. The extent of electrical continuity is dependent upon the operating frequency
of the amplifier. If the length of any electrical gap exceeds /8 (in air) at any operating
frequency the slot so formed can create a radiating element from which signals can
escape or leak into the amplifier. It should also be remembered that it is not necessarily
the maximum operating frequency of the amplifier itself that should be considered but
that of the devices inside.
An important side note is screw locking. In many mechanical applications epoxies
are applied to the screw holes to prevent screws coming loose. This can be an absolute
disaster for microwave applications as the screw lock is nonconductive and can effectively
insulate the screw from the housing. Appropriate locking methods including epoxy
painting (this can be a useful additional protection especially against chemicals which
could attack rubber seals) and, where height allows, using pan head screws with spring
washers.
An important consideration in the design of microwave amplifier housings is the
resonant frequency(s) of the cavities. A fully enclosed metal box will have a resonant
frequency dependent on its dimensions [4]. The presence of a dielectric material (the
PCB) on one face will affect this frequency and the tracks on the PCB will couple with
the cavity. This can not only cause oscillations but also unpredicted disturbances to the
amplifier gain. As a rough guide, when the width of the cavity approaches /2 the cavity
will become resonant. Thus, cavities should be made small enough that they will not
support any modes within the operating band, however this is not always practical. The
fields can be broken up by the judicious use of pillars within the cavity to short out
the resonances, however it is important that these are grounded at the top and bottom;
any gap where contact is not made with the lid can turn the pillar into a resonator
itself. This is also true of internal walls. Alternatively, microwave absorber or radio
absorbent material (RAM) can be used to load the cavity. These come in two basic types,
magnetically loaded and dielectrically loaded. Different sizes are targeted at different
7.3 Housing
305
frequency ranges so it is important to choose the correct one for your application. Lowcost foam versions (see Figure 7.7) are often also electrically conductive so care must
be taken not to short out circuits. Although an excellent solution to moding problems,
one should not dive in and distribute RAM about the cavity before investigating the
cause of the oscillation or perturbation in the response. It could also be caused by poor
grounding of the circuit board, thus you would be treating the symptom and not the
cause.
7.3.4
Thermal issues and heat sinking

Above room temperature the reliability of most components is inversely proportional to
temperature, and components will have a maximum operating temperature above which
permanent damage will be done. For microwave transistors a common figure quoted is
that for every 10 C increase then the mean time to failure (MTTF) will reduce by a
decade. Power amplifiers require good thermal management, not only for maximizing
lifetime but also to obtain the best performance. The maximum temperature for the
device is specified as the junction or channel (the current carrying region within the
transistor) temperature. The manufacturer will also specify the thermal resistance (TR)
from the junction to the device flange. The design task is to ensure that the junction
temperature is kept as low as possible, within the constraints of size, weight, and cost.
Under steady-state conditions the resistance to heat flow is a product of two factors,
the intrinsic TR of the material and the interface with the next layer. Initially, there is
also thermal inertia (TI) (or thermal capacitance) which may be important in pulsed
amplifiers, as gain and output power are proportional to the channel temperature. The
thermal components can be represented by electrical analogues, resistors for TR and
capacitors for TI. For example, consider a transistor screwed into a box which in turn is
bolted to a heatsink. In this case there is the TR of the device channel to flange, jc , that
of the layer between the flange and the box floor, fb , the box material itself, bx , the box
heatsink junction, bh , and finally that of the heatsink (assumed to be either in still air
or a fixed air flow), h . All of these TRs add to give a net T , see Figure 7.12a. A note of
caution, the thermal resistance is not constant, it is proportional to the temperature
difference, the greater the difference the greater the heat flow. The TI of the interface
layers is typically very small and is ignored. The temperature differential between
the device channel and the heatsink is the dissipated power PD , times T . The TI can be
calculated by observation of the actual temperature rise profile [5], which is described
by the formula:

(7.2)
Trise = jc Pd 1 et/ jc C j
where t is the time. A typical response is shown in Figure 7.12b. The TR of a particular
junction is a result of the intrinsic material thermal conductivity (W/m C), where the
m refers to the thickness of the material in metres. While this would appear to suggest
that all materials should be as thin as possible this is not quite the case; in order for the
heatsink to operate most effectively the temperature must be given the opportunity to
spread, otherwise only a limited portion of the heatsink will be effective in removing
Channel
Junction to
Flange, jc
Box Floor,
bx
Flange to
Box Layer,
fb
Box to
Heatsink
Layer, bh
Flange
Thermal
Inertia, Cj
Heat
Source
PD
Heatsink to
Ambient
Air, h
Box Floor
Thermal
Inertia, Cb
Heatsink
Thermal
Inertia, Ch
T = jc + fb + bx + bh + h
(a)
Temperature Rise
160.00
140.00
120.00
Temperature (C)
306
100.00
For:
80.00
jc = 2.8 C/W
60.00
Cj = 0.1 106 C/s
40.00
Pd = 50 W
20.00
0.00
0.00
0.20
0.40
0.60
1.00
0.80
1.20
1.40
1.60
Time (s)
(b)
Device
Mounting Holes
Device Flange
70, spread angle
x = H tan 70
(c)
Figure 7.12 Thermal performance: (a) electrical analogue of thermal resistance and inertia;
(b) example thermal profile showing effect of thermal inertia; (c) thermal spreading below
device.
7.3 Housing
307
the heat. In terms of heat transfer it is recommended that the heat sources be separated
such that the heat illuminates an area defined by a 70 angle as shown in Figure 7.12
(c). In practice, other considerations come into play, such as:
r thickness required for mounting screw tapping (1.5 diameter minimum);
r separation of devices, determined by flange width or the RF matching circuits. Ideally
H and the device separation should be set such that the illuminated areas just touch
for each device;
r box width.
One of the advantages of using multiple devices over a single high-power device is the
ability to spread the thermal load over a larger area. The response in Figure 7.12b is
typical for a power device flange, this has limited thermal capacity because of its physical
size. When considering large boxes the effect can be a much greater time delay.
For surface mount devices (resistors and loads as well as transistors) the heat is mainly
transferred to the ground plane through via holes. The ability of a single via to conduct
heat is given by the thermal resistivity, v :
v =
4h
(do2 di2 )
(7.3)
where h is the substrate thickness and do and di are the outer and inner diameters of the
via. The constant, k, is dependent upon the conductor (plating) material and for copper
is 384 W/m C. This assumes that the via is unfilled, filling the via will improve the
thermal conductivity, however the conductivity of solder (Figure 7.2) is significantly
less than that of copper and hence, it is best to err on the side of caution and ignore the
filling effect. A number of vias will be required to achieve the required TR, it should
be remembered that as the via gets further away from the heat source then so its TR
increases.
It can be seen from Figure 7.12a that the easiest way to reduce the operating temperature is to remove an interface, e.g., directly mounting devices to the heatsink. For
MHPAs a problem comes from maintaining a good RF ground; the ground plane of the
matching circuits must be continuous with that under the devices as shown in Figure 7.5.
Extruded heatsinks have a reasonably wide dimensional tolerance, which must be catered
for in approaches such as Figure 7.9e. A solution is to manufacture the housing and
heatsink as one unit.
In order to reduce the TR of the interface layers a thermal compound is used to fill the
microscopic air gaps between the mating surfaces, but applying it liberally can actually
increase the thermal resistance; thermal compounds are not as good thermal conductors
as the metals used in the flange or the housing. Although widely used below microwave
frequencies this approach is seldom used above 1 GHz, as the best thermal compounds
are electrically nonconductive, and attempts to improve the electrical conductivity have
degraded the thermal resistance. An alternative is to use soft thin metal shims such
as Indium under the flange. These deform and compensate for any surface roughness;
however, they also introduce another interface layer. The best solution is for the finish of
the metal surfaces to be as flat as possible. Selectively machining the recess where the
308
devices sit to a mirror finish is an acceptable solution in lower volume applications;

this is smoother than that on the underside of most transistors. Where a heatsink is
bolted to the housing floor the electrical conductivity is less of an issue and in this case
a thermal layer is appropriate and a graphite sheet may be considered. This has high
thermal conductivity (20 W/m C) and is manufactured in sheets as thin as 0.13 mm. It
is much easier to handle and less messy than thermal grease.
In addition to the flatness of the mating surfaces it is important that the correct torque
is applied to the screws fixing the transistor. This information is available from the device
manufacturers and depends on the material and thickness of the flange. Over-tightening
can cause the flange to bow, which will not only increase the thermal resistance but could
damage the brittle materials inside the package (ceramic and active device). The screws
should be as large as will fit in the flange holes, with both a flat and spring washer.
Cap-head socket types have less risk of the driver slipping and damaging surrounding
circuitry. When tapping into soft metals such as copper or aluminum, it is important to
use a slight countersink. If over tightened the edges of the hole can become raised and
thus distort the mating surface (some flanges have the countersink included which is
equally acceptable). The finish and flatness of the underside of the device flange should
be inspected as part of the assembly operation, if not on an individual basis then certainly
on a sample of each delivery. Any sign of twisting or scratching of the flange should
be a reason to reject the device back to the supplier. Some device suppliers suggest that
the flange flatness can be improved using wet/dry abrasive paper dont accept it! The
manufacturer is responsible for providing the devices in a useable condition, but such
polishing may be necessary on the housing mating surface. For class A biased devices a
simple check is to measure the flange temperature under known conditions. Where the
budget allows or volume is sufficient, a thermal imagining system can quickly spot a
device that has not been mounted correctly. Note: issues have been seen with some
of the handheld infra-red thermometers when amplifiers are operating with RF signals,
the exact interference mechanism is not currently known.
Detailed thermal calculations are very complex. Finite element software is available
that can model thermal behavior, however these tend to be expensive and the simulations
difficult to construct. In a known environment, that is, where the power to be dissipated
and the size of the amplifier housing are known, it is often simplest to construct a test
using an equivalent load resistor (dissipating the same heat as the power transistor(s) in
the worst case scenario) bolted to the floor of a representative housing. This not only
assists in the selection of the best heatsink and the required air velocity, but also where
size and weight are critical parameters, what customization of the heatsink can be made
without affecting the heat transfer to the air. It is important to include in the experiment
heat sources for the main power dissipating circuit elements, including those of the
DC bias circuit. Many different types of heatsink are available, from the conventional
parallel finned to the post style used with computer processors. This latter type often
comes with fittings for fans to be directly attached and uses a turbulent air flow, as well as
relatively large surface area to maximize heat transfer to the air. Standard heatsinks use
a parallel array of tapered fins, while others use a root style as shown in Figure 7.13a.
These are made using aluminum extrusions, cut to the appropriate length. Where the
309
7.3 Housing
125
60
16
Typical Performance
C/W Black
Length
50 100 150 200 300
C/W
0.64 0.46 0.35 0.28 0.24
1.00
135
C/W
0.80
Natural Finish
0.60
0.40
Black Anodised
0.20
0
50 100 150 200 250 300

Length in (mm)
(a)
1.0
0.9
0.7
0.6
0.5
0.4
0.3
0.2
0.1
ABL REF
No.of fins
195AB
300
22
196AB
400
30
197AB
500
38
198AB
600
46
199AB
750
58
0.30
0.25
C/W
MULTIPLICATION FACTOR CW
0.8
195AB
0.20
196AB
197AB
198AB
199AB
0.15
0.10
0.05
50
100
150
Length in (mm)
200
AIR VELOCITY Meters Second (m/s)
(b)
(c)
(d)
Figure 7.13 Heatsink types: (a) root style, note improvement in q from black anodizing;
(b) impact of air flow; (c) high power ridged fan heatsink; (d) extruded heatsink with cross-cut;
(e) bonded fin assembly; (f) complex dip-brazed assembly. Photos (a)(c) courtesy of ABL Ltd.,
www.ablcomponents.co.uk, photos (d)(f) courtesy of H.S. Marston Ltd., www.hsmarston.co.uk.
heat is distributed evenly across a housing floor, sheets of aluminum can be brazed or
epoxied into an aluminum housing or base plate, Figure 7.13e. Although the junction
between the fin and the plate is not as thermally efficient as an extrusion, the surface
area of the heatsink is greater for an equivalent footprint (more fins).
Heatsinks can be constructed out of the housing itself. An integrated heatsink will
have superior performance as the thermal junction between the housing and the heatsink
310
(e)
(f)
Figure 7.13 (cont.)
has been eliminated. In volume applications the housing may be cast; the internal floor
will require machining to give a good surface flatness where the power devices are to be
mounted, but with a rougher finish the heatsink fins will cause more air turbulence and a
larger surface which will improve heat transfer, Figure 7.13c. The capability and speed of
modern machining stations has meant that it is often cost-effective to produce housings
by direct machining; however, producing the relatively narrow, deep gaps required may
be difficult using conventional cutters. An alternative that has been used successfully is
to make an array of diamond wheel cutters on a spindle, with the appropriate gaps set
using spacers. This can then cut the slots required in the housing block.
The alignment of the heatsink fins relative to the heat producing components is
important when forced air cooling is employed. Where possible the arrangement should
be such that the components are perpendicular to the airflow, otherwise the air will be
7.3 Housing
311
preheated by the first components. Without forced air the heatsink should be mounted
with the fins vertical. The primary method of heat loss is convection but radiation can
play a secondary roll. The ability of a surface to emit infra-red radiation is referred to
as emissivity (ratio compared to an ideal black body), thus black anodized aluminum
finish is common for heatsinks (emissivity of 0.8 compared to 0.05 for polished),
see Figure 7.13a. The treatment to increase emissivity must not insulate the heatsink
from the air. As most of the cooling is a result of convection, it follows that cooling
effectiveness is dependent on air density and hence altitude. An altitude of 3000 m will
degrade a heat sinks efficiency by 20%.
When pushed to reduce the junction temperature then increasingly complicated methods can be used. The effectiveness of a heatsink can be increased by forced air cooling.
If this is available within the system it is a simple solution, however if including a fan
with the amplifier, consideration must be given to failure and maintenance. The fan is
probably the most unreliable component (moving parts) and will have a limited life. It
is also more susceptible to shock and vibration. Airflow improves the effectiveness as
shown in Figure 7.13b.
Aluminum is commonly used in microwave housings for reasons of cost, weight
and machinability, however its thermal conductivity is almost half that of copper (250
compared with 400 W/m C). Some amplifiers have been constructed with a copper
puck fixed into the floor of an aluminum housing, with the devices bolted onto the
copper. Water cooling can be very effective, but many steer away from it for the simple
reason that water and electricity is not a good mixture! One solution is to use water to
cool a plate onto which the amplifier modules are bolted. This can be constructed using
dip brazing techniques or having copper pipes epoxied or soldered into the cooling plate.
Another extension of this approach is to use heatpipes. These components have thermal
conductivities up to a thousand times greater than copper. Typically, they are made in
rod form and work by the heat at one end causing a liquid in the tube to change to a
vapour which, due to the low pressure inside, quickly moves to the other end where it
cools back into a liquid, so transferring energy. The liquid is absorbed into a porous
lining and is drawn by capillary action back to the hot end. Heatpipes can be embedded
in amplifier modules or cold plates with the cold end clamped to a water-cooled heat
exchanger.
Sometimes the customer provides a cooled-surface onto which the amplifier module
is clamped. This is also known as a cold-wall. The responsibility for removing the
heat is theirs, however the designer must ensure that there is sufficient thermal transfer
between the two surfaces. It is also important that the customer is fully aware of how
much heat will be generated. There are broadband class A power amplifiers that have
efficiencies of between 10 and 20% which may surprise some.
7.3.5
RF connections
Microwave signal connections are most often coaxial, although direct waveguide interfaces are also used (Figure 7.7). The type of coaxial connector is dependent upon the
operating frequency and power level. To make connectors function at high frequencies
312
Table 7.6 Coaxial connector power handling calculations

Maximum average power (W)
Connector type
SMA
3.5 mm
2.4 mm
Max. oper. freq.
18 GHz
26 GHz
40 GHz
65 GHz
Frequency (GHz)
Max. power (W)
1
1900
10
570
1
590
10
180
1
280
10
85
1
130
10
36
Note: this assumes a perfect match, 23 C, in dry air at sea level.

Temperature ( C)
De-rating
Altitude (m)
40
80
1500
15,000
1.2
1.0
0.8
1.0
0.95
0.5
the size is decreased; this reduces both the current handling and the voltage breakdown,
thus reducing the power handling capabilities. Besides match, the operating environment
must also be considered as both temperature and altitude reduce the power handling
ability of coaxial connectors; the quoted figures from Astrolab Ltd.4 are included in
Table 7.6. The performance of the connector depends upon the materials used (their
purity), method of constraining the center conductor, and the precision of the manufacturing. The use of epoxy center contact captivation (identified by a hole in the metal
walls filled with the epoxy typically blue or black) should be avoided in high-power
applications; the epoxy has higher loss than the surrounding PTFE and consequently
experiences localized heating which can result in the epoxy blowing out of the connector.
Example de-rating calculation: SMA connector at 10 GHz operation at 80 C and
1500 m, then 180 0.8 0.95 = 136.8 W.
The most common method of connecting to the RF PCB is to bolt the connector
through the sidewall of the chassis, Figure 7.14a. The connector center pin can be
supported by an extended dielectric (usually PTFE). In hermetically sealed and fieldreplaceable units the center pin will be a separate part mounted in a glass bead and
soldered or fired directly into the housing. Where the pin is unsupported the diameter
of the hole through which it passes must maintain 50 . In the PTFE sleeved case, the
manufacturer sets the PTFE diameter to produce a 50 transmission line. In the case
of an air-filled hole the relationship between the pin diameter and that of the hole can be
approximated by a simple formula:
Z 0 = 138 log
D
d
(7.4)
which, for 50 impedance, simplifies to

D = 2.303 d
where D is the outer diameter and d is the pin diameter.
4
www.minibend.com.
(7.5)
7.3 Housing
313
Figure 7.14 Coaxial launches: (a) panel mount; (b) impedance discontinuity at transition;
(c) through-board mode suppression; (d) stress relief tape bond; (e) stress relief sliding contact.
Photo (e) courtesy of Anritsu Ltd.
314
Table 7.7 Coaxial transition parameters for

50 and cut-off frequency
Centre pin
(mm)
Feed hole
(mm)
Cut-off frequency
(GHz)
0.5
1.0
1.5
2.0
2.5
3.0
3.5
4.0
4.5
5.0
1.15
2.30
3.45
4.61
5.76
6.91
8.06
9.21
10.36
11.52
115.6
57.8
38.5
28.9
23.1
19.3
16.5
14.4
12.8
11.6
For power applications it is important to maximize the current carrying capacity of the
connector, as the diameter increases so the coaxial transmission line can support other
modes which can be excited at a discontinuity, e.g., the transition from coax to microstrip
and vice versa. Thus, it is necessary to keep the dimensions below the frequency at which
these other modes can start to be supported. Table 7.7 shows the relationship between
pin and hole diameter and higher order mode cut-off frequency.
It has been noted that where a discontinuity exists this can launch other modes.
Figure 7.14b highlights the risk area around the connector launch. This figure shows the
region where the coaxial fields of the connector are changing to the transverse fields
of the substrate. It can also be seen that the length of the signal path and that of the
ground path are different, which causes the even and odd mode phase velocities to
become out of step. Note that this is also an issue where different parts of a circuit
are mounted on carrier tiles. At connector launches this ground path problem can be
resolved by extending the housing wall to overhang the PCB and by placing ground
pads with vias included on the top surface of the PCB. An approach using this method
has been described [6] which shows excellent performance to >40 GHz. A modification
of this is to create a taper transition from coplanar to microstrip. A drawback of this
approach is that the PCB needs to be mounted under the connector.
It is sometimes required to mount the connector through the substrate material as
shown in Figure 7.14c. PCB mount connectors are becoming increasingly popular;
however care must again be taken to avoid moding. Many conventional PCB connectors
have integral posts at the four corners of the flange which are intended to be soldered
through the PCB. As well as providing a mechanical connection these can also help to
reduce moding at the right-angle connection. As the operating frequency increases four
posts are not sufficient and additional vias are required. These grounds can be posts,
plated vias, or mounting screws.
Direct solder attachment of the center pin to the PCB track is the standard approach
with soft substrates as the give in the substrate material provides thermal and mechanical stress relief. Mechanical pressure is put on the pin during the mating cycle. For hard
7.4 Components
315
substrates there is little compliance so a direct solder attachment is not recommended.

There are a number of variations on the wire bond link shown in Figure 7.14d, including having the center pin flattened at the end and the wire bond at right angles to the
pin (which is slightly offset from the track). A very successful solution is shown in
Figure 7.14e where a sliding contact fits over the center pin. This contact can itself be
soldered directly to the PCB track.
7.4
Components
The components used in hybrid microwave amplifiers can be divided into active and passive. MHPAs take advantage of the compact space that a lumped element component can
provide or the tailored frequency performance of a distributed component. Advances in
processing have produced low-temperature co-fired ceramic (LTCC) discrete packaged
devices, which may contain a mixture of discrete and distributed components in what
appears to be a single element, thus there is even a blurring of the categorization between
lumped and distributed. A conflict exists between accepted practice in the general electronics engineering industry and what tricks you can play to improve RF performance.
For example, mounting a surface mount chip resistor on its side can shift a package resonance up in frequency out of the wanted band but will give production engineers with
automated assembly lines high blood pressure! Chip components have recommended
pad sizes for solder connections. These pads will have an associated capacitance which
the designer may want to minimize. Hence, a compromise needs to be reached between
the RF performance and the production requirements. In the end, the component must
meet its RF performance requirements while still being manufacturable.
7.4.1
Passive lumped components

Amplifiers require capacitors, resistors and inductors for their operation. In microwave
design such elements do not behave as a pure element. By knowing the properties of the
element, these can be incorporated into the circuit design and used for our advantage. For
example, a feedback network may comprise of a resistor, a capacitor and an inductor.
The capacitor (C), and resistor (R), will have parasitic inductance. By choosing the
appropriate physical size and shape for the capacitor and resistor they can either reduce
the inductance needed or encompass it entirely within the two elements.
Modeling the Rs, Ls, and Cs can be done either using a physically based model or by
using experimentally measured S-parameters. Many component suppliers now produce
libraries of data on their components which can be readily used in simulators. Users
should approach these with caution, particularly as frequency increases. Ideally, the surroundings should have been entirely de-embedded so that the model exists independent
of its environment. It is important to verify the models used in the environment in which
the components are intended. It is also useful to understand the construction of the
components so that there may be some expectation of the behavior with frequency.
316
Resistors
These have a wide variety of uses in amplifier circuits, e.g., low-frequency biasing, loads,
attenuators and feedback elements, and signal balancing in combiners. In microwave
applications resistors are mainly made from metal films, the metal being chosen for
its resistance properties rather than its conductivity as in PCB tracks. The majority of
resistors used are based upon a surface mount chip, however there are times (particularly
below 3 GHz) when the inductance associated with a leaded resistor can be of benefit.
Leaded resistors for such applications should be metal film as carbon composition or
wire wound resistors generally contain many parasitic elements and thus have widely
varying impedance characteristics. The inductance of the lead lengths associated with
the resistor is calculated from:

4l
Inductance in nH = 0.2 l 2.3 log 0.75 ,
(7.6)
d
where l is the lead length and d is the diameter (in mm).
Chip resistors basically consist of a ceramic tile onto which has been deposited a metal
film (thin film) or paste (thick film). The paste is fired at high temperatures and then
the resistance can be trimmed to the necessary value. The continued miniaturization of
electronics has been beneficial to the microwave industry as the smaller the component
then the lower the parasitics and hence the closer the performance is to that of the pure
element. With size reduction comes lower power handling. The exact power handling
ability is dependent on a large number of factors and has been excellently documented
in other work [7]. As discussed in Section 7.2, at high frequencies the current is not
evenly distributed through the conducting material, thus the quality of the conducting
surface is of paramount importance, and this tends not to be well controlled in thick film
products due to the nature of the paste. The key aspect of thick film is that it is low cost.
Thin-film resistors are more expensive to manufacture. A thin resistive layer, typically
of nickel/chromium (nichrome) or tantalum nitride is deposited on the ceramic and then
conductive terminations are deposited at either end. Sheet resistances vary between 5
and 250 /sq which are very suitable for the typical resistances required in amplifier
circuits. It is important to check how the resistance values are trimmed, see Figure 7.15a,
as sometimes a path is cut in the conductor which can have intrinsic capacitive and
inductive effects. The end terminations on standard resistors tend to be wrap-around
as the topside is also often printed with the resistive material. Better RF behavior may be
achieved by mounting the resistors upside down as this reduces the effective electrical
length, but it will also increase the capacitance to ground. High-performance thin-film
resistors are often offered with the option to have the end terminations on the top side
only, and are mounted flip chip. For high-power application a third metallization can
be added to the underside of the resistor so that it may be soldered directly to the ground
plane for optimum thermal transfer. Specific values for resistors, such as 50 , have
been produced with one of the end terminations wrapped around to cover the complete
underside of the resistor. This is for use in terminations or loads.
The majority of surface mount resistors are made using alumina substrates. For
high-power applications beryllium oxide (BeO), thermal conductivity 290W/m C, or
317
7.4 Components
CAP
ID=Cf
C=0.021 pF
Helical Trim
PORT
P=1
Z=50 Ohm
RES
ID=R1
R=100 Ohm
IND
ID=L1
L=LPS nH
PORT
P=2
Z=50 Ohm
Pulsed Trim
CAP
ID=Ci
C=0.02 pF
CAP
ID=Ci
C=0.02 pF
Meander Trim
(b)
(a)
Thru Loss
Insertion Loss (dB)
DB(|S(2,1)|)
100R_Modelled_RTD
DB(|S(2,1)|)
100R_Modelled_AI
10
DB(|S(2,1)|)
100R_Sparams
DB(|S(2,1)|)
Lumped Model AI
12
DB(|S(2,1)|)
Lumped Model RTD
14
10
Frequency (GHz)
15
20
(c)
Figure 7.15 Surface-mount resistors: (a) resistor trimming approaches; (b) simple equivalent
circuit for 0603 resistor on 0.8 mm thick r = 2.2 with recommended mounting pads; (c)
performance of 0603 100 resistor, manufacturers raw data (100R_Sparams), resistor model
and EM on 0.635 mm alumina and RT duroid 5880 substrates and lumped equivalent circuit.
aluminum nitride (AlN), thermal conductivity 170W/m C, are used. Despite having
lower thermal conductivity, AlN is increasingly popular as beryllia is highly toxic in its
powder form. It is banned in a number of applications and countries, products containing
it must be appropriately labelled, and it is difficult to dispose of. Increasing volumes
and the number of suppliers have seen the price of AlN products fall to acceptable
318
Table 7.8 Conventional thick-film resistors mounted on

0.8 mm FR4 substrate
Reference
Size (mils)
Size (mm)
Power rating
(mW)
0201
0402
0603
0805
1206
2010
2512
20 10
40 20
60 30
80 50
120 60
200 100
250 120
0.51 0.25
1.02 0.51
1.52 0.76
2.03 1.27
3.05 1.52
5.08 2.54
6.35 3.05
50
63
100
125
250
500
1000
levels. Where single terminations cannot handle the power level required, resistors can
be used in parallel. This has the added advantage of reducing the series inductance, but
capacitance can increase.
Resistors in microwave circuits are often approximated by a simple equivalent circuit,
as shown in Figure 7.15b. However, it should be noted that the value of Ci is dependent
upon the pad size and the substrate used, hence a generic model for the resistor should
not be used. The value of Cf depends upon the resistor size, pad dimensions, and end
terminations. An example of how different models and substrates will affect the model
performance is shown in Figure 7.15c. A 100 resistor has measured S-parameters
from 45 MHz to 2 GHz; these are extrapolated to 20 GHz as a reference. The resistor is
modeled using both a lumped element equivalent circuit as in Figure 7.15b and a using a
modified equivalent circuit replacing Ci with an EM simulation for the mounting pads.
The parasitic inductance and the resistance are constant for all simulations. This shows
that the performance of the resistor itself cannot be taken in isolation. If S-parameters
are used they need to cover the full frequency range and be properly de-embedded from
the measurement test fixture. The mounting pads need to be included in the simulation,
either directly or as tracks feeding the component. Table 7.8 lists the power rating and
size of common surface-mount resistors.
Capacitors
These are essential in the operation of microwave amplifiers, they have functions at
both DC and RF and the requirements are often at odds. They are used for interstage
bias de-coupling, matching, by-passing and localized charge storage. As with resistors,
not only must their primary characteristic capacitance be considered but also the
parasitic elements. In its most basic form a capacitor consists of two parallel plates separated by an insulating material. Such capacitors, called single-layer capacitors (SLCs),
are commonly used in microwave applications. The capacitances that can be achieved
are determined by the relative dielectric constant of the insulating material, r . The
capacitance, C in pF is given by
C=
0.00885r A
,
d
(7.7)
7.4 Components
319
Horizontal Orientation
C17AH101K-7UN-X0T 100.0 pF Temp = 25
0
1
S21 (dB)
2
3
4
5
6
0
10
Frequency (GHz)
Vertical Orientation
C17AH101K-7UN-X0T 100.0 pF Temp = 25 C
0
1
S21 (dB)
2
End termination
Capacitive Plates,
end termination
removed.
4
5
6
0
4
5
6
Frequency (GHz)
10
Figure 7.16 Effect of plate orientation. Courtesy of Dielectric Laboratories, Inc.,

www.dilabs.com.
where A is the area of the plates in mm2 and d is the separation in mm. Working against
the application of the capacitor in MHPAs is that the closer the plates are then the lower
the breakdown voltage, and the higher the r the worse the temperature stability and
often the loss. In order to achieve high capacitance values layers of capacitors can be
made with alternate plates joined together as shown in Figure 7.16, hence their name
multilayer capacitors (MLCs). In this way higher capacitance values can be achieved
for the same foot print. The parasitic elements of a capacitor are largely due to the
dielectric materials and the physical size. The inductance is proportional to the length of
the plates. The loss in the dielectric, (the energy that is dissipated as heat) is expressed
as a resistance in parallel, RS . Modeling capacitors in the microwave region can become
very tricky, not least because the performance changes dramatically with orientation, as
shown in Figure 7.16. With the plates parallel to the ground plane (horizontal) a series
of resonances exist, rotating the capacitor 90 so that the plates are now perpendicular
to the ground plane (vertical) removes half of the resonances. There are a number of
320
Table 7.9 Characteristics of various dielectric materials and approximate changes with
frequency
Material
Tan (DF)
Q100 MHz
Q1 GHz
Q10 GHz
Barium Titanate
Ceramic
Alumina
Porcelain
12008000
30
10
15
0.030.1
0.002
0.0005
0.00007
3310
500
2000
14000
310
50
200
1400
<1
5
20
140
theories regarding this behavior, one is that it is due to the physically longer path-length
between the signals of the top and bottom plates in horizontal mounting, another is
that the capacitor acts like a folded transmission line connected to the feed track at one
end and open circuit at the other, thus becoming a resonator [8]. It is arguably simpler
and more practical to measure the S-parameters of a capacitor than develop a model,
particularly if one would need to make a measurement to verify the model! As in the
discussion on resistors, the effect of the substrate cannot be ignored. For MHPAs the
most important characteristic is the insertion loss. Assuming that a suitable value of
capacitance is chosen to keep the impedance low (1/C) then the loss is a result of the
dielectric loss. This has several measures, quality factor (Q), dissipation factor (DF) or
tan .
Q=
1
XC
1
=
=
DF
tan
RS
(7.8)
An ideal capacitor would have the RF current lead the voltage by 90 . In the real
world this is not the case and the phase difference is . This is more commonly quoted
as tan (where the measure of substrate loss comes from). Tan is dependent upon
frequency and temperature, but unfortunately few manufacturers provide information
on this relationship. For example, having measured the output power of a device and the
insertion loss of the output matching circuit including a decoupling capacitor, it is found
that the output power is lower than expected. The measurement of the matching circuit
was under small signal conditions, under power conditions the loss causes heating, which
increases the tan , increasing the loss. It must be remembered that an insertion loss of
0.1 dB equates to 2% of the power being lost in the device. In 100 W that is 2 W in a
very small space. Table 7.9 gives a summary of the characteristics of some of the most
common materials used in capacitor dielectrics.
The manufacturers measurements are generally made at low frequencies and the
values for Q in the table are approximate based upon observed performance. Although
exact data is rarely provided in data sheets at the frequencies, temperatures and power
levels that a designer might want, what is clear is that the materials used should have
the lowest possible loss. The insulation resistance, RP , (the DC current path through the
dielectric material), is typically of the order of 100,000 M and so is usually ignored
for RF purposes.
For frequencies up to 8 GHz where MLCs are used, the capacitance values decrease
with frequency to avoid self-resonance with the internal inductance. SLCs are preferred
7.4 Components
321
above 8 GHz although their planar construction may necessitate wire bonding or careful
hand soldering. Dielectric Laboratories offer a Gap Cap, where the bottom plate of
the SLC is split in half effectively making two series capacitors. This may be more
suitable for some production environments than a SLC, but note that it does have a
slightly lower self-resonant frequency (SRF). For narrow band applications it is possible
to use MLCs above the SRF for DC blocking, however it should be noted that above SRF
the impedance of the capacitor increases like an inductor. Indeed, in some applications
chip capacitors have been used above their SRF as inductive elements as they are more
repeatable, lower cost, and easier to handle than very high-frequency inductors. It is risky
to operate near the SRF as the impedance varies rapidly in this vicinity and is sensitive
to temperature. It should also be noted that although capacitors from a single supplier
are highly repeatable, performance will vary for similar types of capacitor between
suppliers, particularly the SRF.
The electronic industries association (EIA) divides capacitors into three classifications, which are basically determined by the stability of the capacitance. For matching
and coupling EIA class 1 are used, for charge storage and low-frequency bias decoupling
class 3 is used. Aging is generally not a significant issue in class 1 capacitors; however in
class 3 the variation can be significant. This is caused by temperature and high-voltage
field strengths affecting the crystalline structure of the dielectric.
As mentioned, for the parts of the circuit where the RF signal flows it is required
that the insertion loss be as low as possible, but there are parts of the circuit where this
characteristic is not the case. Where broadband decoupling is required, for example at
the ends of bias lines, the intention is to ensure that unwanted signals are terminated.
Damping resistors in the bias lines cause problems with changing voltage drops with
frequency, but a lossy decoupling capacitor will not affect the DC performance. Here
a mixture of capacitor types are used, a high-quality MLC and one or more increasing
capacitance ceramics.
Inductors
The properties of inductors include the fact that their impedance increases with frequency. To increase the inductance the wire can be wound in a coil. This increases
the magnetic flux linkage, which opposes the flow of current through the wire, hence
increasing the inductance. The coil also has capacitance between the turns, which causes
the inductor to have a self-resonant frequency. Conversely to the case with the capacitor, above SRF the inductor behaves as a capacitor, i.e., its impedance decreases with
frequency. For the lower microwave regions wound inductors can still play a part, however they are usually air cored and their impedance can vary dramatically. Their main
application is in bias circuits where a few turns of spaced coils can produce a useable
inductance; at higher frequencies a single loop of wire can be used. A danger with
these types of component is that the fields are not well contained and thus they can be
sources of transmission and reception of radiation. Where they are used they are often
positioned such that they are at right angles, and physically separated as far as possible. Some companies have succeeded in producing low-inductance surface mount chip
322
inductors, however their current handling and range is relatively limited. The inductance,
L, of an air cored coil is given by [9]:
L=
0.394 r 2 N 2
,
9r + 10l
(7.9)
where r is the coil radius in cm, N is the number of turns, and l is the length of the
coil. Also, for optimum Q, l = 2r. Very wideband inductances have been achieved by
winding fine gauge wire either on a removable conical former (hence, air cored) or on a
conical iron former to increase the inductance.
An advantage of using air cored inductors or even single loops of wire is that the
effective impedance can be tuned, either by altering the height of the wire above a
ground plane, or by altering the spacing (and the parasitic capacitance) of the turns on
the coil. For many microwave applications it is preferred to use distributed components
as discussed later.
Integrated components
The developments in LTCC technology have given designers the option of incorporating
a number of elements in a single packaged device. These are still volume applications
unless the size/weight benefits can justify the setup costs. The approach consists of
incorporating conductive, resistive and dielectric pastes onto green ceramic tapes.
Different layers are laminated together and the whole assembly is then fired. Internal
vias can be created, and each layer is inspected prior to laminating. In this way a variety
of components from simple structures such as lumped element filters or bias tees to
complete functional blocks can be created.
Isolators and circulators

Another benefit of the mobile communications revolution was the packaging development of these magnetic/ferrite components. In the 1980s the manufacturing control
of the ferrite and magnetic material was not as refined as currently and much of the
assembly was by hand and integral with testing. The high volumes required for the base
station industry put emphasis on packaging for automatic placement on circuits. This
has resulted in parts which are now readily available in common frequency bands, and
which are small and cost effective. Isolators and circulators have three main functions,
(a) to provide isolation between stages, (b) to protect circuits from reverse power, and
(c) to give the amplifier acceptable output impedance (Figure 7.10). The circulator is a
three port device consisting of a snowflake copper foil sandwiched between two ferrite
layers with a magnet adjusted for the correct biasing of the ferrite. The magnet ensures
that the fields are orientated correctly. The operation of the circulator is described in
Figure 7.17. The behavior is due to the nonreciprocal nature of the ferrite material. The
signal entering port 1 splits and travels around to the other ports in opposite directions.
As the phase velocity depends upon the direction of travel, then addition or cancellation
can be arranged at the appropriate port by correctly applying the magnetic field. The
center conductor is patterned to ensure symmetry of the structure and impedance matching (the impedance in the ferrite section is less than 50 ), the wider the bandwidth
the more intricate this structure. An isolator is a circulator with port 3 terminated in
7.4 Components
323
Signal Flow: Port 1-2 Port 3 Isolated

Port 1
Port 2
Port 2-3 Port 1 Isolated

Port 3-1 Port 2 Isolated
Physically the circulator is symmetrical internally.
Port 3
Figure 7.17 Functional diagram of a circulator.
a load. Circulators can be made to handle power levels up to kWs; power handling is
proportional to size, the higher the power the stronger the magnetic field and the larger
the copper center conductor. In isolators the load often determines the maximum power
rating. Circulators/isolators have a bandpass characteristic, but care should be taken in
high-power applications, hysteresis in the magnetic fields results in circulators having
nonlinear characteristics and hence they can generate harmonics at high power levels,
which can cause intermodulation problems.
In systems where there is substantial electrical gain there also tends to be a risk of
oscillation if the reverse isolation between stages is inadequate. Attenuators between
the stages can help, however throwing away power is anathema to PA design engineers.
Isolators, which are low loss in the forward direction (typically <0.5 dB) and high loss
in the reverse (20 dB), can be a better solution. In class C pulsed applications, the
input impedance of devices changes with applied power. Therefore, the load impedance
seen by the driving device changes during the rising and falling edges of the pulse. It
can be difficult to ensure a completely stable network especially when frequency and
temperature are also thrown into the mix. The problem is exacerbated as one moves down
the amplifier chain as each device is not only producing a changing input impedance
due to its own drive level, but the load it sees is also changing. An isolator in the middle
of the line-up can reduce this problem dramatically. Where the isolator is being used to
protect the amplifier then smart loads are becoming more popular. These incorporate
a temperature sensor onto the load which can be used to trigger a shut-down sequence if
the reflected signal is too high. Care must be taken when handling and storing isolators as
they are magnetized components and their behavior depends on the strength of this field.
7.4.2
Passive distributed components

Distributed elements are those structures whose physical dimensions fundamentally
determine their electrical characteristics. Hence, the tolerances and repeatability of the
manufacturing processes have a direct effect on the performance. On alumina circuits
capacitors and resistors can be incorporated directly during the circuit fabrication process. For resistors, as with their lumped element equivalents, resistive pastes can be used
in thick film circuits or a NiCr layer in thin film. These resistive materials are specified
in terms of /square and the resistance, R, is proportional to the ratio of the length, l, to
the width, w.
R = resistivity
l
w
(7.10)
324
The width can be adjusted to match that of connecting transmission lines. Common
resistivities are 50 and 100 /sq.
Capacitors can be incorporated by putting down a dielectric on top of conductors and
then overlapping with a conductive paste/plating. Although these have been proposed for
use in soft substrates, particularly using conductive inks, there has not been a large scale
take up as yet. Inductors on microstrip can be difficult to distinguish from high impedance
lines. The exception is where the line is wound in a spiral (round or square sided) as
is popular in MMIC applications. This is used less frequently in hybrid applications
due to the relatively large size and lower Q compared to wound components. Similarly,
interdigital capacitors are used less often in hybrid circuits. An exception is when
edge coupled lines used in some bandpass filter applications fulfil two functions, that
of filtering and DC blocking. For narrow band applications where the volumes are
extremely high, edge coupled lines may be justified on their own.
The most common distributed components are transmission lines. As mentioned earlier, the impedance ranges that can be created are limited due to moding and etch
tolerances. In practice, circuit structures are also limited by the ability to simulate
them within design tools. Distributed circuits have re-entrant properties, that is, the
impedances repeat (approximately) at multiples of 90 and 180 . The behavior of distributed components with frequency differs to that of pure elements. For example, at
a specific frequency a shunt inductor of impedance XL can be replaced by a shorted
transmission line of impedance, Z0 tan where Z0 is the characteristic impedance and
is the electrical length. However, whereas XL increases linearly with frequency, the line
impedance increases with tan , which is periodic. There are a variety of equivalents
between lumped and distributed components, some of which are given in Figure 7.18.
The realization of distributed series capacitors, as mentioned above, is very difficult in
hybrid applications. An exception is where very small values are required which can be
achieved by using narrow gaps.
A short circuited transmission line or short-circuit stub, is basically a transmission
line with one end terminated in zero impedance, but this becomes more difficult to
achieve as frequency increases due to parasitics. Common methods of producing a
short circuit include using a via hole, edge wrapping and a solid ground plane (with
or without via holes). One of the benefits of a distributed circuit is that a short circuit
at the end of a /4 line looks like an open circuit at the other end of the line at the
design frequency. Thus, another way of creating a short circuit is to attach a /4 opencircuit stub at the point where a short circuit is desired. This is inherently a narrow band
structure; to broaden the bandwidth a radial stub can be used. Even more effective is
a double radial or butterfly stub [10]. These solutions are often adopted as frequency
increases and the inductance/phase length of via holes has more impact, or when an
RF short is required but not one at DC. In bias feeds it is required that DC current
be injected into the circuit but that the feed arrangement not load the RF matching
network. Although microstrip impedances are typically limited to between 25 and 90
, it is possible to create effectively lower impedances by adding two o/c stubs in
parallel. A comparison of the performance of various distributed stubs is shown in
Figure 7.19.
7.4 Components
Inductor
XL = L
Transmission
Line (Series)
325
Transmission
Line (Shunt)
Z = Z0sin
Z = Z0tan
Capacitor
Transmission
Line (Series)
Open Circuit
Stub
XL = 1/(C)
Z = Z0sin
Where <45
Z = Z0cot
For <<90
In the special cases where = 90 (quarter wavelength) at the resonant frequency:
Z0 = L/4
Z0 = 4L/
And when = 180 (half wavelength) at the resonant frequency:
Z0 = 2L/
Figure 7.18 Equivalent lumped and distributed circuits.
When designing with microstrip elements it is important to remember that the models
used were developed and optimized for specific substrate thickness to line width ratios.
There are often a variety of models for the same structures and it is important to choose
the most appropriate one for the materials and frequency range used. Where appropriate
models do not exist, the use of EM simulation is necessary. This can be used for a specific
section of the design, as simulating a whole circuit in this way can be time consuming
and difficult to optimize.
Transistors have a natural gain slope in |S21 | of 6 dB/octave. A method for compensating for this is to use lossy stubs or equalizers. These do not provide a DC path to
ground and hence do not upset device biasing. The basic version of this approach consists of a resistor connected to an o/c stub, as is shown in Figure 7.20a. By altering the
Table 7.10 Equalizer behavior as a function of resistor value

Worst-case return
loss (dB)
25
50
75
100
5.9
3.4
2.4
1.8
6.1
9.6
12.2
14.1
Swp Max
8 GHz
0.
2.
0
0.6
1.0
Approximate slope
(dB/octave)
0.8
Nominal resistor
value ()
0
3.
S(1,1)
Radial Stub
4.0
5.0
0.2
10.0
5.0
S(1,1)
Via
10.0
4.0
0.6
0.4
0.2
S(1,1)
OC Stub
10.0
S(1,1)
Butterfly Stub
.0
.0
S(1,1)
Double Stub
1.0
0.8
0
.6
.0
.0
.4
2
0.
326
Swp Min
2 GHz
Figure 7.19 Relative performance of short-circuit elements.
resistance different slopes can be achieved as shown in Figure 7.20b and summarized in
Table 7.10. In narrow band applications the equalizer can be used for stopping highfrequency oscillation by introducing loss at the problem frequency.
Couplers
There are a number of cases in amplifier design where it is useful to have the ability to
sample the signal. Running a track close to the transmission line will intercept some of
the electrical fields from the main line and as a result power will be coupled; the closer
the line, the higher the coupling. Also, the more field the main line distributes into the
surrounding, the greater the coupling. A 3 dB coupler will transfer half of the energy to
the coupled line, however this will require very tight coupling. As a rule of thumb, when
the separation is of the order of the substrate thickness the coupling will be about 20 dB.
327
7.4 Components
PORT
P= 1
Z=50 Ohm
ID=TL1
W=0.6 mm
L=5.8 mm
ID=TL3
W=0.6 mm
L=5.8 mm
MTEES
ID=TL2
1
2
PORT
P=2
Z=50 Ohm
MSUB
Er=9.8
H=0.635 mm
T=0.02 mm
Rho=1
T and=0.0005
ErNom=9.8
Name= SUB 1
TFR
ID=TL4
W=WR mm
L=LR mm
RS=50
F=5000 MHz
WS=0.6
LS=9.2
MLEF
ID=TL5
W=WS mm
L=LS mm
(a)
Lossy Equalizer
6 GHz
0.08673 dB
10
15
20
DB (|S(2.1)|)(L)
Equalizers
Return Loss (dB)
Insertion Loss (dB)
3 GHz
6.143 dB
25
DB (|S(1.1)|)(R)
Equalizers
2
3 GHz
5.967 dB
4
6
Frequency (GHz)
30
10
(b)
Figure 7.20 Lossy stub equalizer: (a) schematic of lossy stub; (b) performance, S21 and S11, as
resistance is varied between 50 (faint traces) and 25 (bold traces).
Couplers are frequency dependent, (/4 long). To increase the bandwidth multiple
sections can be used. In order to achieve tight coupling designers have moved away
from planar microstrip structures to multilayer stripline. This allows very small gaps
between the tracks on different layers separated by a thin dielectric layer. These have
become standard discrete components that can be either surface mounted or bolted in a
similar manner to flange mounted devices. In this way compact quadrature (90 ) hybrid
328
Figure 7.21 Discrete quadrature (90 ) hybrid couplers, narrow and octave bandwidths from 2 to
8 GHz. Courtesy of SJ Technologie, www.sjtechnologie.com.
couplers have been produced which are very important in creating balanced amplifier
designs which are described in Section 11.7. Wide bandwidth designs can be bought off
the shelf, Figure 7.21, and standard products are available up to about 8 GHz, however
for reasonable quantities (>1000 p.a.) a number of companies will be prepared to create
a custom design.5 Figure 7.22 shows an MHPA utilizing these components.
Where volumes are not sufficient and the standard products dont meet the necessary
performance there is an alternative product which can be easily customized to produce
octave band, 3 dB couplers over the desired frequency range. Commonly known as
R
, these consist of two wires with a tightly controlled separation within a
Wirelines
50 environment maintained by an outer jacket such that they look similar to a piece of
semirigid cable, as shown in Figure 7.23. They have been successfully used in amplifiers
up to at least 6 GHz, although careful attention to the wire connections is required to
avoid the inductance of the wires reducing performance.
Quadrature couplers can be created directly on the substrate as shown in Figure 7.24.
The most basic approach is to use a Wilkinson splitter with a /4 line, Figure 7.24a, to
produce a 90 phase difference between the output ports. The balance between the ports
is excellent over a wide bandwidth; however the phase difference is frequency dependent.
The resistor between the output arms is used to dissipate any imbalance in the voltages, it
may be omitted (and often is in high-power applications) at the cost of degrading isolation
This approach has been successfully used in a 48 GHz amplifier application.
7.4 Components
329
Figure 7.22 MHPA incorporating quadrature couplers: (1) Surface-mount quadrature hybrid
coupler; (2) bolt-in quadrature coupler; (3) edge coupler; (4) output circulator. Courtesy of
Microwave Amplifiers Ltd., www.maltd.com.
Figure 7.23 Wireline couplers. Photo courtesy of Sage Laboratories Inc., www.sagelabs.com.
between the output ports. Part of the problem with this resistor is the associated parasitics,
and as the power increases and the resistor gets larger, so the problem gets worse. For
narrow band designs the resistor can be offset by /4 lines reducing the parasitic effects at
the center frequency. The Branchline Coupler, Figure 7.24b has a number of advantages;
330
Wilkinson
-0
-10
-0.1
-14
-0.2
-18
-0.3
-22
-0.4
-26
(a)
-30
-0.5
2
Frequency (GHz)
DB(|S(2,1) |) (L)
Wilkinson
DB(|S(1,1) |) (R)
Wilkinson
DB(|S(3,1) |) (L)
Wilkinson
Branchline
-2
-4
-10
-6
-20
-8
-30
-10
(b)
-40
2
Frequency (GHz)
DB(|S(1,1) |) (R)
Branchline
DB(|S(2,1) |) (L)
Branchline
DB(|S(3,1) |) (L)
Branchline
Large
-2
-5
-4
-10
-6
-15
-8
-20
-10
(c)
-25
2
Frequency (Ghz)
DB(|S(2,1) |) (L)
Large
DB(|S(3,1)|) (L)
Large
DB(|S(1,1)|) (R)
Large
Large SdB Back2Back
-2
-5
-4
-10
-6
-15
-8
-20
-10
(d)
-25
2
Frequency (GHz)
DB(|S(2,1) |) (L)
Lange Back2Back
DB(|S(3,1)|) (L)
Lange Back2Back
DB(|S(1,1)|) (R)
Lange Back2Back
Phase Difference
160
140
120
100
80
(e)
60
40
20
2
Frequency (GHz)
Figure 7.24 3 dB 90 Couplers and their characteristics: (a) Wilkinson splitter with 90 extension:
(b) branchline coupler: (c) 3 dB Lange coupler: (d) two back-to-back 8 dB Lange couplers:
(e) comparison of phase performance.
7.4 Components
331
the load resistor is offset from the signal path, the phase is relatively flat over up to a 20%
bandwidth (this can be extended by using multiple sections, however the loss increases
proportionally), and the design can be adjusted to non 50 output impedances which
can ease the problem of matching to a transistor. For octave and greater bandwidths,
Lange couplers [1], Figure 7.24c, are extremely effective, the drawbacks are the small
geometries that are required and the wire links between non adjacent fingers. One
solution has been to produce the Lange on a separate substrate to the rest of the circuit,
inserting it into pockets. Where the PCBs are soldered to the housing floor or a carrier
then this can be done quite successfully. It is possible to wire-bond the links even on soft
substrates, however soldering fine wires (the strands of 0.2/7 equipment wire are ideal)
using solder paste and a microscope is also possible. A method used at 3 GHz involved
winding several turns of wire around a needle and adjusting the spacing to match the
pitch of the fingers. Applying solder paste to the appropriate area of the fingers, while
holding the coil in place, the joints were made with a hot air soldering pencil. On alumina
substrates wire bonding is the standard approach, although with processes that include
air-bridges the links can be fabricated in situ. One solution [11] to the fine geometries
is to produce two 8 dB Lange couplers back to back, Figure 7.24d. Wider bandwidths
can be achieved in this way, at the expense of size, complexity and higher insertion
loss.
7.4.3
Transistors
Beware of headline power Figures! A certain amount of gamesmanship is played
among power transistor manufacturers. Statements like 200 W CW Power Achieved,
need to be examined carefully, the key piece of data, achieved in class A/B with a CDMA
signal, under average power levels of 40 W, is sometimes hidden away. There is no need
to go over the exact specification arguments here, but in broad terms if anyone claims to
be able to handle more that 4045 W CW in a packaged device, alarm bells should start to
ring. Very high PAEs and power outputs have been achieved [12], but these are in class B
and over very narrow bandwidths. In broadband class A applications a GaAs FETs efficiency and hence output power is greatly reduced due to thermal limitations. Although
new wide bandgap devices offer higher power densities, it is actually current packaging
technologies that limit the heat dissipation and hence the maximum output power. Wide
bandgap transistors have maximum junction temperatures typically 75 C higher than
GaAs, but the thermal resistance from the junction to the case tends to be higher as
the active region of the GaN devices is smaller for the same RF power. Table 7.11
compares some of the main characteristics between 45 W GaAs and GaN packaged devices. It should be noted that the GaAs device has band-specific internal
matching whereas the GaN device is intended for wideband operation and hence
unmatched.
Data sheets should also be examined with care as many parameters are quoted differently by manufacturers. For example, some quote linear gain, while others quote 1 dB
compressed gain.
332
Table 7.11 Comparison of commercial GaN and GaAs 45 W C band transistors

Characteristic
GaN CGH40045F
GaAs TIM374245SL-341
Units
Gain
P1 dB
Drain source voltage (max.)
Gate source voltage (max.)
Operating voltage
Operating current
Thermal resistance
Operating junction temperature
Package size
Manufacturer
12.1 @ 3.6 GHz

44 (typ.)
84
10 to +2
28
3.5
2.8
225
20.5 6
Cree
11 @ 3.6 GHz
40 (min.)
15
5
10
9.5
1.2
175
24.5 17.4
Toshiba
dB
W
V
V
V
A
C/W
C
mm
The choice of transistor technology essentially boils down to a bucks/W decision.

This is more complicated than a simple comparison of transistor prices. The problem is
simplest in the standard communications bands around 0.9, 1.9, 2.1 GHz, where devices
are pitched at specific applications. LDMOS and GaN devices tend to run off + 28 V
while most GaAs FETs are +1012 V. Depending on the supply rail available the price
of DCDC converters may need to be included in the calculation and with GaAs and
GaN a negative rail is also required. The application may not only specify a particular
output power, but also the linearity at that level, in which case class of operation and
technology will play a factor.
The decision becomes harder away from the standard bandwidths. In this case the
designer needs to look at the input and output impedances and their frequency dependence. Although improving, the ability of circuit models to predict large signal performance is not exact, and a number of manufacturers still only provide S-parameter data.
Nonlinear data that does exist is only accurate over the frequency range and at the bias
and power levels at which they were characterized, thus even if known they limit the
design engineers ability to optimally use the device. Recent advances in active load
pull measurement systems [13] have enabled users to interactively characterize and test
devices in synthesized impedance environments. Commercially, these have been limited
to narrow band systems targeted at the communications frequencies.
There are very little benefits in terms of performance for operating GaAs FETs pulsed.
The primary limitations are the current capacity of feed networks and package leads,
and the maximum breakdown voltage. Higher voltage devices such as LDMOS, silicon
bipolar and GaN allow significantly higher power to be achieved within the average
power package constraints. Pulsed radar and L band avionics are practically the only
area that silicon bipolar still holds it own in the microwave region, although there is
much work being done producing GaN devices and other new technologies such as
high voltage vertical FETs [14]. The relatively low cost of silicon, the maturity of the
processing, and the legacy systems still operating will ensure a requirement for silicon
bipolar devices for some time.
7.5 Amplifier design
7.5
333
Amplifier design
The amplifier is biased to provide the necessary power, gain and linearity performance.
The output match is determined such that the necessary compression point, saturated
power or PAE is achieved. This is done either from the device model by simulation or
by direct measurement using load-pull systems. The input match may be such that the
maximum amount of gain is achieved, a specific gain or set so that it provides a flat
gain response with frequency. It may be necessary to deliberately mismatch the device
at certain points to prevent that or subsequent stages from being overdriven. First, we
will look at the topologies that are commonly employed and then we will take a more
detailed look at how impedance matching can be realized for MHPAs.
7.5.1
Topologies
The number of stages required in a line-up is a function of the overall gain, the technology
used, the frequency range, and the topology. The gain of the output block determines
the output power level from the preceding block and so on. In most cases it is important
that the compression characteristics are determined by the final stage, thus the earlier
stages do not limit the output performance of the whole amplifier. In the case of single
ended line-ups, that is, when one device directly drives another, the determination of the
required power from each stage is fairly simple. The output power of the driver equals the
output power of the succeeding stage less the succeeding stages gain plus the required
margin. Although at face value it may seem that the output device will be the largest
power transistor available in the frequency range, in fact there are many benefits from
choosing lower power devices and combining them in parallel to achieve the desired
output power. Such reasons would include redundancy, bandwidth (higher power usually
means lower output impedance hence more difficult matching), economics (output power
is proportional to price, it may be more cost effective to standardize on one device and
combine this is parallel), and spreading thermal loads. For example, a 1 kW 12 GHz
CW amplifier has been constructed [15] from 128 10 W GaAs devices in parallel; one
of the stated advantages is that a failure of any one device has no significant impact on
the output power of the whole amplifier.
If binary combining is used as shown in Figure 7.25a then the coupler loss is multiplied by the number of stages. This loss multiplication factor, n, is proportion to the
number of output stages, s:
n=
log s
log 2
(7.11)
An alternative is to use a multiway combiner on the output as shown in Figure 7.25b. This
will have less loss than the equivalent binary combiner and using, for example, N-way
Wilkinson combiners without resistors it is possible to achieve wide bandwidths with
simple if large layouts. The disadvantage is isolation; however this can be compensated
for by using quadrature combining around the devices themselves. Single stage, multiway
334
Figure 7.25 Parallel combining: (a) quadrature binary combination, output combiner losses
increases with number of parallel stages; (b) quadrature stages combined using multiway
combiner losses proportionally lower as the number of parallel stages increases.
combiners can be created [16] but these are nonplanar and thus more suitable for module
combining.
A disadvantage of using a balanced design is that the total output power is reduced by
the insertion loss of the combiner. For narrow bands this can be as low as 0.2 dB, while
for broader bandwidths the loss will increase. Some of the benefits such as spreading
thermal loads have already been mentioned, for quadrature combiners there is a key
335
additional benefit: match. In quadrature combiners (and dividers) there is a 90 phase

relationship between the combining ports. This means that any reflected signals get
dissipated in the load resistor, provided the phase and magnitude of the reflected signals
are the same. The benefit of a good match of the combined channels, whatever their
individual match (provided they are the same), is that deliberate mismatches can be
introduced to achieve gain flattening across the amplifier bandwidth. This may be to
ensure that the gain shape is flat, or prevent the device from being overdriven at one end
of the band. Device gain reduces with increasing frequency; hence more drive power is
required at higher frequencies for the same output power.
In order to simultaneously achieve improved match and flat gain over wide bandwidths
feedback can be employed. The theory has been well documented [17], for power
amplifier applications series feedback is rarely used. With FETs shunt feedback must,
by necessity, incorporate series capacitance as well as resistance to separate the gate and
drain DC voltages. Both the capacitor and resistor will have parasitic inductance. This can
actually be of benefit as by incorporating inductance in the feedback model, it can help
to increase the RF impedance and increase the gain at the upper end. Leaded resistors,
not normally used at microwave frequencies, can be specifically chosen to introduce
the required inductance. Using shunt feedback, bandwidths of multiple octaves can be
achieved. The feedback elements must be capable of handling the power levels of the
signals travelling through them, but as they get larger to handle higher powers their
parasitic components increase.
One of the problems with introducing feedback to MHPAs is that of incorporating the
feedback elements within the desired space. Not only are the gate and drains separated by
several mm, but there is also usually a large flange. Sometimes it is possible to construct
the feedback network in three dimensions, going over the top of the device rather than
remaining planar. This approach is labour intensive and not suitable for automation. It
also tends to be more susceptible to performance variations due to the lack of consistency
in component forming and placement. Heat sinking of the feedback elements in the air
or on top of the package is not easy. An alternative approach, suitable for narrower
band applications has been outlined [18]; originally this was intended for low-noise
applications to avoid the feedback introducing noise back to the input. However, it
has the advantage for power applications of separating the feedback components and
amplifying device. The circuit incorporates two /4 lines between the device and the
feedback resistor. Thus, on a low-dielectric material (2.2) at 5 GHz, the feedback
resistor can now be about 20 mm offset from the main track. The feedback arrangement
is shown in Figure 7.26a. The low-pass filter is arranged such that there is a 180 phase
shift at the operating frequency (or towards the top of the band in wider bandwidth
applications), such that the feedback has little effect on the performance. At lower
frequencies, the resistor is in band and adjusts the amount of feedback, thus reducing the
bottom end gain. The device with feedback is matched with a transformer on input and
output. The bias can be incorporated within the feedback loop Figure 7.26b. Although
this approach improves stability over parts of the band, care must be taken to carry out
a thorough stability analysis as at specific frequencies the feedback can actually cause
oscillation. This approach also reduces the impact of different devices. The circuit of
336
TLIN
ID=TL2
Z0=25 Ohm
EL=90 Deg
F0=FF GHz
TLIN
ID=TL1
Z0=100 Ohm
EL=90 Deg
F0=FF GHz
FF=6
TLIN
ID=TL3
Z0=25 Ohm
EL=90 Deg
F0=FF GHz
SRC
ID=RC1
R=RD Ohm
C=C8 pF
CAP
ID=C2
C=1000 pF
CAP
ID=C1
C=10 pF
TLIN
ID=TL4
Z0=100 Ohm
EL=90 Deg
F0=FF GHz
RF=800
C8=47
PORT
P=2
Z=50 Ohm
PORT
P=1
Z=50 Ohm
TLIN
ID=TL1
Z0=ZB Ohm
EL=LB Deg
F0=3.5 GHz
SRLC
ID=RC2
R=60 Ohm
L=2 nH
C=1000 pF
CAP
ID=C3
C=10 pF
RES
ID=R1
R=50 Ohm
SUBCKT
ID=62
NET=Feedback
TLIN
ID=TL2
Z0=ZB Ohm
EL=LB Deg
F0=3.5 GHz
(a)
PORT
P=1
Z=50 Ohm
TLIN
ID=TL4
Z0=Zip Ohm
EL=Lip Deg
F0=3.5 GHz
SUBCXT
ID=63
NET=mg0951p
TLIN
ID=TL3
Z0=Zop Ohm
EL=Lop Deg
F0=3.5 GHz
PORT
P=2
Z=50 Ohm
(b)
Device Data_S21 & Stability
Gain and Stability
30
20
20
1.5
10
10
10
10
0.5
0.5
0
2.5
4.5
Frequency (GHz)
DB(|S(2.1)|) (L)
FLC 107WG
DB(|S(2.1)|) (L)
MGF0951p
K( ) (R)
FLC 107WG
(c)
20
0.5
0
4.5
2.5
Frequency (GHz)
K( ) (R)
MGF0951p
DB(|S(2.1)|) (L)
FLC 107WFBG
K( ) (R)
FLC 107WGFB
K( ) (R)
MGF0951pFB
DB(|S(2.1)|) (L)
MGF0951pFB
(d)
Figure 7.26 Feedback amplifier: (a) feedback circuit; (b) device with feedback, bias feeds and
simple input matching; (c) comparison of |S21 | and stability factor k between two devices;
(d) comparison of gain and stability of the circuit with both devices.
Figure 7.26b was optimized for a Mitsubishi MGF0951 but also simulated with the
Eudyna FLC107, Figures 7.26c and d.
7.5.2
Matching and stability

Before starting to describe specific matching structures there are a number of common
relationships that need to be established. From an amplifier point of view match is often
described by return loss (RL), the ratio of incident to reflected signal in dB. When
matching, reflection coefficient () and the actual impedances are more useful. The
337
Table 7.12 , Return loss, transmission loss, and VSWR

0.1
0.18
0.2
0.25
0.35
0.4
0.5
0.71
0.8
RL (dB)
LT (dB)
VSWR
20
0.04
1.22
15
0.14
1.43
14
0.18
1.50
12
0.28
1.67
9
0.58
2.1
8
0.76
2.33
6
1.25
3.00
3
3.0
5.85
1.9
4.44
9.00
relationships between these terms are given below and a summary of real values is given
in Table 7.12.
z z0
=
(7.12)
z + z0
R L (dB) = 20 log ||
(7.13)
When a signal is reflected from a mismatch there is an associated loss in power

transferred to the output; this loss, LT , in dBs can be related to the reflection
coefficient:

L T = 10 log 1 ||2
(7.14)
It can be seen from the table that in order to maximize the power output we must minimize
the loss due to mismatch. Although this may seem trivial it is important to realize the
implications of a particular match specification. The better matched a transistor the less
power is required to meet a specification. Often an isolator will be added to the output
of an amplifier in order to meet an output return loss specification, but this will typically
have 0.5 dB of insertion loss and will do nothing in terms of translating the output
impedance of the device to 50 . While there may be good system considerations for
adopting an isolator (such as gain ripple on long cables), in MHPAs it loses hard won
power. A solution based upon the best power match that can be achieved would be more
efficient.
Any real impedance can be matched to the system impedance at a single frequency,
the difficulty is doing it over a bandwidth and all amplifier circuits need to have at least a
limited bandwidth to account for changes in behavior with temperature. There are many
combinations of matching elements able to move from an impedance on one part of the
Smith Chart to another [19]. However, because they are largely treated as pure lumped
elements their use in MHPAs is restricted to an understanding of the theory, in practice
the matching elements used are complex. The most common matching elements are
open and short-circuit stubs. Combined with a series transmission line these can match
an impedance over a defined area, this is best explained graphically as in Figure 7.27.
Microwave power device output impedances will typically lie within the shaded area,
and so often an open circuit stub is the first matching element.
When considering the effects of frequency one of the most useful considerations is
the quality factor, or Q of the load. There are many uses of the term Q within the RF
area and it is important not to get them confused. In this case, we refer to QT , the ratio
338
PORT
P=1
Z=50 Ohm
PORT
P=2
Z=Zr Ohm
PORT
P=1
Z=50 Ohm
PORT
P=2
Z=Zr Ohm
Figure 7.27 Stub matching approaches. Left-hand side: short-circuit can match any impedance
outside the shaded area; right-hand side: open-circuit can match any impedance within the
shaded area.
of the reactance to the resistance of a series impedance, (for parallel admittance it is the
ratio of the conductance to the susceptance). These can be plotted onto the Smith chart
as Q curves. The closer matching networks stay to the real axis on the Smith chart the
broader the bandwidth that can be obtained. The converse of this is that for any reactive
matching there is a finite limit to the achievable bandwidth. Work into this relationship
was conducted by Fano [20] who developed the theorem that where the source or load
includes a reactive element the match cannot be perfect over a wide bandwidth no matter
how many elements are used. For example, in the case of a parallel resistor-capacitor
load (typical of most power devices) the formula is:

1
ln d
(7.15)
||
RC
0
As decreases, the value of the integral increases. For a finite frequency range the
best achievable reflection coefficient, min that can be achieved for a given load can be
defined. This requires the use of another Q term, Ql defined as:
Ql =
F0
Fupper Flower
min = e
Q l
QT
(7.16)
(7.17)
Or, alternatively, the bandwidth we can achieve for a given is

1
Fupper Flower
=
=
F0
Ql
Q T ln min
(7.18)
20
4.435 GHz
15 dB
2.708 GHz
15 dB
339
7.292 GHz
15 dB
5.565 GHz
15 dB
Return Loss (dB)
20
40
60
4
Frequency (GHz)
DB(|S(1,1)|)
Single Section
DB(|S(1,1)|)
Three Section
Figure 7.28 Comparison of bandwidth achieved from one and three-section quarter-wave
transformers between the same resistive loads.
Due to increasing loss in the matching elements themselves, in MHPAs it is rarely

worth going beyond three matching sections. This is not the case in filters where very high
Q low-loss elements can be used and hence multi element structures are encountered.
As a rough guide a single quarter-wave matching structure between impedances of a
ratio of 6:1 can achieve a bandwidth of 22% (15 dB return loss). Using multiple
sections this can be increased, e.g., matching the same load with three quarter-wave
transformers, the bandwidth that can be achieved increases to 90%. Clearly, wider
bandwidths can be achieved by reducing the impedance ratio; hence the benefit of
using higher voltage and wide bandgap materials with higher output impedance and,
conversely, why with technologies such as LDMOS with its high output capacitance,
only narrower bandwidths can be achieved in the microwave region. Figure 7.28 shows
the improvement from one to three sections, using ideal transmission lines and purely
resistive loads. The impedance of the quarter wave matching line, ZT , is determined
from the formula:

(7.19)
Z T = (Z 0 R L )
For multiple sections one first needs to calculate the intermediate impedance between
the sections, Zi(n) , [21] from:
Z i(n) = Z i(n1) lim N2 ,
N1
RL
,
=
Z0
(7.20)
(7.21)
where N is the number of steps, and RL the load resistance. In the case of the first step
Zi(1)
Z i(1) = Z 0
(7.22)
340
Figure 7.29 Single transformer matching space.
Using impedance transformers any impedance within the areas defined in Figure 7.29
can be matched. This assumes an infinite range of transformer impedances is available
which, as has been explained earlier in microstrip, is typically limited to between 25
and 90 . Although the impedances can be determined mathematically [22], it is often
simpler to put approximate values in a simulator and allow the optimizer to produce the
best possible result within practical constraints.
A number of other topologies offer impedance matching, without the size penalty of
/4 structures. Similar performance to the /4 transformer can be achieved using two
lines of impedances the same as the terminations [21], as shown in Figure 7.30. In this
case the combined length of the two lines is less than that of a single /4 transformer with
little sacrifice to the bandwidth. A similar version to this involves using a capacitively
loaded /8 line. This is particularly useful if the load impedance that is being matched
to has a capacitive reactance as this can be absorbed into the matching capacitance.
Figure 7.31 shows the circuit for a /8 capacitively loaded transformer used to match
12.5 to 50 , where the capacitors and the line impedance were allowed to vary in the
optimizer. If this approach were to be used to match to a load of 12.5 j80.0 (a 0.4
pF shunt capacitor at 5 GHz) it would be possible to omit the shunt capacitor nearest
the load and reoptimize Figure 7.31b, varying only the line impedance and the port 1
capacitor. A further advance on this is to replace the output shunt capacitor with an o/c
stub, Figure 7.31b.
In summary, common broadband matching strategies are:
r compensated matching networks at the cost of input match;
r resistive matching networks at the cost of loss in gain;
341
TLIN
ID=TL2
Z0=Z2 Ohm
EL=A12 Deg
F0=5 GHz
TLIN
ID=TL1
Z0=Z1 Ohm
EL=A12 Deg
F0=5 GHz
PORT
P=1
Z=Z1 Ohm
LOAD
ID=Z1
Z=Z2 Ohm
Z1=50
Z2=8.3
A12=20.45
Shortened Double Transformer

0
Return Loss (dB)
10
20
30
40
DB(|S(1,1)|)
Double Transformer
50
60
3
Frequency (GHz)
Figure 7.30 Double short transformer matching.
r negative feedback used to flatten gain, improve match and stability, at the expense of
gain (and noise figure, although less important to MHPAs);
r balanced amplifiers can mismatch input of devices to flatten gain while still maintaining overall input match;
r distributed amplifiers a number of stages in cascade, reduced gain and hence poor
efficiency, large surface area.
Most amplifier textbooks describe the use of stability factor, k, and the use of stability
circles to define the unstable impedance areas, i.e., those areas where if presented to
the device there is the potential for oscillation. Although stability analysis should be
carried out up to the maximum operating frequency of the device, in practice the data
available will rarely go below 500 MHz and the likelihood of oscillation decreases
as the frequency increases due to increasing circuit losses. Therefore, it is necessary
342
PORT
P=1
Z=50 Ohm
TLIN
ID=TL1
Z0=59.8 Ohm
EL=22.5 Deg
F0=5 GHz
CAP
ID=C2
C=0.9994 pF
LOAD
ID=Z1
Z=12.5 Ohm
PORT
P=1
Z=50 Ohm
TLIN
ID=TL1
Z0=61.67 Ohm
EL=22.5 Deg
F0= 5 GHz
CAP
ID=C2
C=1.02 pF
CAP
ID=C1
C=0.2 pF
(a)
LOAD
ID=Z1
Z=12.5 Ohm
TLOC
ID=TL2
Z0=25 Ohm
EL=38.21 Deg
F0= 5 GHz
CAP
ID=C1
C=0.4 pF
(b)
TLIN
ID=TL1
Z0=61.86 Ohm
EL=22.5 Deg
F0= 5 GHz
PORT
P=1
Z=50 Ohm
LOAD
ID=Z1
Z=12.5 Ohm
CAP
ID=C1
C=0.4 pF
(c)
Capacitively Loaded Line

0
Return Loss (dB)
10
(d)
20
30
DB(|S(1,1)|)
Cap Load Eigth Wavelength
DB(|S(1,1)|)
Fixed Load Capacitance
40
DB(|S(1,1)|)
Open Circuit Stub
50
3
5
Frequency (GHz)
Figure 7.31 Capacitort-loaded transformer matching: (a) optimized elements; (b) fixed
capacitance; (c) open-circuit stub; (d) comparative performance of (a) to (c).
to design circuits which will inherently ensure stability at the low-frequency end and
provide stable impedance terminations in the range up to where the |S21 | > 3 dB. To
ensure low-frequency stability the main approach is to resistively terminate the bias
networks. This may involve using large inductors in parallel so that the DC can still pass.
It is important to remember that the AC coupling capacitors used between RF stages
tend to have values in the pF range and that these will effectively be open circuits in
the MHz region where transistors will have very high gain. Feedback can be applied
between the gate and drain bias feeds away from the active RF circuits [22]. Where large
inductors are used it is important to contain the RF fields as these can become a source
of oscillation through coupling. Ferrite beads can be particularly useful in this respect.
A low-value resistor in series with gate will raise the gate impedance at a cost of gain.
To compensate for this a capacitor can be inserted in parallel to bypass the resistor at
the operating frequency. Isolators have a DC path to 50 and hence are very effective
for improving low-frequency stability. However, care should be taken to ensure that at
343
8 to 10 GHz Isolator Match

0
10
10
20
DB(|S(1,1)|) (R)
X Band Isolator
15
20
30
DB(|S(2,1)|) (L)
X Band Isolator
12
15
40
18
Frequency (GHz)
Swp Max
18 GHz
Input Return Loss (dB)
Insertion Loss (dB)
8 to 10 GHz Isolator
0
S(1,1)
X Band Isolator
Swp Min
0.01 GHz
Figure 7.32 Typical isolator performance. Note that away from the passband there are points
where || is large.
higher frequencies the isolator does not present an unstable impedance, Figure 7.32
shows the impedance presented by an X-band isolator.
7.5.3
Internally matched device amplifiers

For specific frequency bands, where volumes are high enough, manufacturers have developed tailored devices. Within these device packages several transistors are combined
and some basic prematching incorporating the bond wires and shunt capacitors has been
implemented. These are typically more cost effective at the target frequencies than can
be produced using unmatched packaged devices as the matching is implemented within
the package before the package parasitics. This may be best understood by considering
the input impedance of the device. At the chip level this can be very simply approximated
by a series resistor Rg and capacitor Cgs to ground. If the device is packaged this input
circuit becomes much more complex because of the packaging parasitics. One suitable
matching circuit for the Rg Cgs load would be a series inductor and a shunt capacitor
(arranged moving away from the device). This fits in well with the assembly of the chip
into a package as the first element is the bond wire (series inductance) followed by the
bond pad (shunt capacitive). Thus, by appropriately choosing the dimensions of these
elements an improvement in the match can be obtained using parts already necessary to
connect to the chip. Some internal matching is only intended to ease the job of matching the device, they raise the input or output impedance just enough to assist practical
discrete matching. In other cases, particularly as frequency increases, the impedance is
taken close to 50 .
Another version of this solution is commonly known as Pallet Amplifiers. Here,
the transistors are packaged as normal, but the device manufacturer takes the extra
step of mounting them on a substrate (usually metal backed) with bias and matching
circuits included. These are especially popular for radar bands, and the advantage that
344
the manufacturers have is that they can select devices such that pairs have very similar
characteristics.
7.5.4
Combining
Different combining structures have been described earlier in the text. Besides the
obvious benefit of achieving higher power, combining:
r
r
r
r
spreads the thermal dissipation;

introduces redundancy;
improves match;
increases reverse (reflected) power handling.
A specific application of combining where it is used extensively is known as corporate combining [23]. In this case the corporate management pyramid structure is
turned on its side so that the number of devices in each rank increases as the output is
approached. In a specific version each device has identical performance and hence, there
is a high degree of repeatability in the manufacture and tuning, which should introduce
economies of scale. The number of devices in each rank is dependent on the gain of each
stage.
Combining can also be utilized to improve linearity. In the Doherty amplifier [22] one
device is the main amplifier, on all the time, while the second device is arranged such
that it only operates to handle the peaks in input signal.
7.5.5
Module size/system integration

It is sometimes impractical to achieve the desired output power from a single module.
This may be due to performance issues such as cooling or it might be due to the difficulties
of testing. When a large number of devices are used within a module it is often difficult
to establish the actual performance of an individual part. If the performance required is
close to the boundary of what is achievable then it is critical that each part can be setup
and proved to be working at its optimum. Offset against this is the additional losses
that occur through interfacing modules together. Fault finding is easier in a modularized
system. A module based approach can be a useful stage in system development, with
changes easier to implement than in a highly integrated unit.
For new product designs risk can be reduced by utilizing a building block approach.
This can be applied both to reusing existing module designs in a new application
or to developing new modules; different individuals can develop separate modules
independently, which can be proved in isolation, hence speeding up development. Taken
on a materials cost basis, the modular system is more expensive than a discrete design.
However, as the power required increases, the benefits of a modular approach become
greater.
7.6 Biasing and control
345
Table 7.13 Gate and drain bias circuit requirements

Gate biasing circuit
Drain biasing circuit
Maintain constant voltage, Vg

Supply required gate current, Ig
Maintain constant drain voltage, Vd .

Supply a drain current, Id , up to that level
required under maximum input drive.
Provide low-frequency terminations to reduce
the device gain in this range (improve
stability).
Isolate the supply rail from RF signals.
Protect the gate from damage by limiting Ig

when the device goes into breakdown or
forward bias.
Stabilize the device in the presence of a
negative input resistance.
Provide low-frequency terminations to reduce
the device gain (improve stability).
Isolate the gate from signals coming from the
drain bias circuit.
7.6
Biasing and control

Too often the issue of transistor biasing is not given the priority it deserves, and leaving
it towards the end of the chapter should not be confused with lack of importance. Correct
biasing is application specific, from the relatively simple to temperature compensating,
to envelope tracking. Classes of operation are dealt with in detail in Chapter 4, and it
should be clear that different applications require different behavior from the amplifier,
or put another way some characteristics are not always as critical. In radar applications,
for example, linearity (where the amplitude and phase of an output signal from the
amplifier is directly proportional to the input signal) is not a significant characteristic,
power is the key driver. So in this case the amplifier is typically biased in class C and
as a result there is a nonlinear relationship between input and output power. A limited
amount of power control may be required, which can be achieved by adjustment of the
supply rail. In another application where linearity is very important the supply rail may
be adjusted to compensate for changes in signal level, but this is then a dynamic change
as opposed to a set change.
Some requirements of bias networks are common; device protection and stability. The
main requirements of transistor bias circuits are summarized in Table 7.13.
All rules are made to be broken, e.g., gate or drain voltage may be adjusted with temperature to provide active compensation (gain is inversely proportional to temperature).
The isolation requirement between gate and drain also extends between transistors. Not
only should the devices be isolated in terms of interference but also a fault in one device
should ideally not affect the performance of others. Linear gain is relatively insensitive
to drain voltage, but output power and linearity are strongly related to drain voltage.
The basic bias configuration is shown in Figure 7.33a. The gate voltage, Vg is set by the
potential divider R1 and R2 ; the drain voltage, Vd is provided by a fixed voltage infinite
current source, the actual current drawn being determined by Vg . The Vd required will
normally be specified by the device manufacturer. It needs to be such that at maximum
output power under any load condition, the maximum breakdown voltage will not be
346
Vg
+Vd
+Vd
Rd
R1
R2
Rg
(a)
(b)
+Vd
+Vs
Fuse
Mute
Drain
Voltage
Control
Current
Sense
Zener
Vg
Voltage
Regulator
DCDC
Converter
Sequencing
Circuit
Gate
Voltage
Control
Noise
Reduction
(c)
Figure 7.33 Transistor biasing: (a) basic bias arrangement; (b) bias compensation arrangement;
(c) bells and whistles bias arrangement.
exceeded. Thus, it is possible to increase the recommended Vd if it can be guaranteed

that a good load match will always be maintained, (usually this will only be the case
when driving straight into an isolator). Alternatively, fold-back circuits are employed
such that the output drive level is reduced if the load match degrades. The circuit in
Figure 7.33a has a number of problems; first, there is no isolation of the drain from other
devices so if that transistor fails the whole supply rail will be affected. Second, the gate
of the transistor draws current, which varies with input drive level, and so the Vg will
vary, this in turn causes Id to change. At low-signal levels the Ig is very low, (A), and
consists of leakage current. The gate is a Schottky diode and so when forward biased or
when the reverse voltage breakdown is exceeded current will flow, thus the gate supply
347
must be able to both sink and source current. In the case of reverse voltage breakdown
the current increase would be dramatic if not protected by a resistor. Typically, the device
manufacturer will recommend a gate resistance value, e.g., Toshiba recommends 28
maximum for TIM374245SL, while Cree suggests 4.7 for CGH35060F.
It must be remembered that the recommended gate resistance includes the resistance
in the DC path, not just that in the bias network. Hence, if this potential divider network
is used with high-power FETs (40 W) with a typical value for Rg of 28 , and a
negative rail of 5 V is used and Vg = 1 V, then the total series resistance of the divider
chain will be of the order of 35 and draw about 150 mA of current. Often, the gate
current is forgotten in PA design and the resultant starving of gate current will lead to
reduced output power from the devices. The circuit in Figure 7.33 (b) has two advantages
over 7.33a. First, the op-amp is a low-impedance source which can supply the current
required and, second, it senses Id and adjusts Vg so that a constant Id is maintained.
An important feature of the bias supply to FET devices is the correct sequencing of
the rails. Vg must be established before the drain voltage is applied to prevent excess Id
from being drawn. During bias switch on, as Vd rises so the gain and match of the device
changes and the possibility of oscillation arises. In many text books, it is said that the
correct sequence for biasing up a device should be as follows:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Terminate the input and output in 50 .

Apply negative bias to the gate, increasing until the pinch-off voltage, Vp , is reached.
Increase Vd to the required level.
Increase Vg (make less negative) until the desired Id is reached.
Apply the RF signal.
The switch off routine is the reverse. While this is a sensible procedure for the lab and
devices under evaluation, in practice there is little control over when the RF is applied (if
this is critical for a device then the amplifier will need to interface with an input power
control loop). The complexity of a bias circuit that first takes the Vg to Vp and then to
the required Vg , is only necessary if there are problems with the power supply providing
the required Id instantaneously. Some power supplies have a short-circuit sense trip
circuit, in other cases too much inductance in the supply lines can induce voltage spikes
during switch on. This sequencing requirement is one reason why often amplifiers have
a single supply rail and for a voltage inverter circuit to be included. Bias circuits can be
very complex, Figure 7.33c shows in block formation the parts of a comprehensive bias
circuit, with a single primary voltage source Vs . The combination of a fuse and a Zener
diode protects against reverse and over voltage. The Zener rating is dependent upon
the fuse type. The fuse may be omitted if the primary power supply has a short-circuit
trip. Self-resetting fuses are available6 (nonlinear thermistors), although these can cause
confusion with some system monitoring circuits (appears as an intermittent fault). Fuses
may be specifically excluded due to maintenance issues; however it is advisable for some
form of input voltage protection to be included.
6
E.g., PolySwitch from Raychem, www.circuitprotection.com.
348
DCDC converter: required to produce the negative voltage rail. Available as single
chip devices only requiring an external resistor and capacitor, this is a switching circuit
and so it produces voltage ripple on the supply, which in turn modulates Vg and the hence
the RF signal. When observed in the frequency domain it can be seen as sidebands on
the RF signal. For filtering it is advisable that the switching frequency be as high as
possible.
Voltage regulator: it is important that the Vg is stable; if the DCDC converter stability
is not adequate a linear regulator can be incorporated. This can be configured to include
temperature compensation. The regulator will provide some filtering of the voltage
ripple.
Sequencing circuit: provides a control signal to the drain voltage control, including a
sufficient delay. It is important that this control signal is failsafe, i.e., in the event of a
loss of the negative supply the drain will be quickly shutdown.
Drain voltage control: in its simplest form this may consist of a pass transistor with
appropriate biasing for the control. However, there are also low-drop out (LDO) voltage
regulators with high current capability (7 A), adjustable voltage output, enable/control
pins, and even an error flag that signals the output voltage has dropped below the expected
value. One note of caution, these devices have a minimum load current and must be
correctly capacitively decoupled to prevent oscillation. The enable line can be coupled to
an external control to provide a mute function for the amplifier, but the switching time is
typically slow (of the order of hundreds of s) and thus not suitable for most modulation
schemes. Where modulation is required a solution is to modulate the gate between Vg
and Vp , however care must be taken not to introduce any spikes which exceed the gate
breakdown voltage.
Current sense: typically this will be a low-ohmic resistor, it is important that Vd is not
greatly affected by the changing Id .
Noise reduction: as discussed earlier the negative voltage generation creates spurious
signals which impose directly on the wanted signal. This can cause severe problems in
some circumstances. The noise can be reduced by filtering or in the extreme by active
cancellation.
Gate voltage control: the variation in transconductance and hence Id can be wide
between devices. It is recommended that for class A operation Id is set to 50% of Idss
(saturated Id measured with a reduced Vd and a zero Vg ), typically for power devices
this will be provided on the packaging. Vg is used to set the operating Id , so a method of
adjustment needs to be incorporated.
It is necessary to introduce the bias to the device without detrimentally affecting the
RF performance. In the case of the drain the DC resistance of the feed must be kept as
low as possible. For a high-power transistor this is especially important as the voltage
drop along the feed line will reduce the output power. In contrast the RF impedance
of the feed must be high. Therefore a good solution is to introduce the bias at a lowimpedance point as close to the device as possible. An alternative is to use short-circuit
matching stubs, but replace the link to ground with a decoupling capacitor and join the
inductor at this point. For lower microwave frequencies this can be done with several
turns of 0.5 mm wire on a 2.5 mm former (five turns tightly wound is 40 nH and
349
<0.01 ). Increasing the spacing between the turns decreases the inductance and the
capacitance between the turns. The inductor can be tested using an SMA gold-plated
flanged connector by soldering one end of the coil to the flange and the other to the
trimmed center pin. Observing the S11 response on a VNA will show any resonances in
the frequency band, altering the spacing of the coils can move these in frequency. The
impedance of such a coil varies from 250 at 1 GHz to over a thousand at 5 GHz
(ignoring any resonances). This method is suitable for broad bandwidths, however its
repeatability is poor and it is not suitable for automated assembly. Air wound coils can
be purchased from a number of suppliers, using standard compact footprints. As the
frequency increases the number of turns required to make a high-impedance inductor
decreases and at band, single loops of wire may be sufficient.
For narrow-band designs, a popular solution is to supply the bias through a 90 shortcircuit stub. This appears as an open circuit at the junction with the main line. In order to
introduce a bias voltage the short must be open circuited at DC, which can be achieved
by a number of methods e.g., 90 open circuit stub, radial stub or coupling capacitor, as
shown in Figure 7.34. The relative bandpass characteristics can be seen in the graphs
in Figures 7.34d and e. The bias voltage would be introduced at the points marked
with a star. More complicated versions using several sections can be created for broader
bandwidth characteristics. The impedance and length of the stubs may also be altered
to assist with the device matching. Where the /4 lines are not wide enough to handle
the DC current they can be selectively plated up or thicker wire soldered to the track to
increase the DC current capacity without impacting the RF performance significantly.
This wire can be looped off the board at the short-circuit point (star) to link to the
bias feed or go to extra low-frequency decoupling. Not shown is the in-line DC blocking
capacitor that is required to isolate the DC from the preceding and following stages.
Bias can be introduced at the isolated port in Branchline couplers. The isolation
resistor must be AC coupled and DC blocking in the output line must be able to handle
twice the RF power of the standard configuration. This is not normally done on the input
unless the devices are well matched as Vg is used to set Id .
Besides analyzing the behavior of the devices over the operating frequency range it is
important to consider what happens out of band, particularly at the low-frequency end.
The gain of transistors increases dramatically as frequency is reduced and so it is important that signals (and noise) are correctly terminated. As discussed earlier the capacitors
used for decoupling RF signals tend to be in the range of 1 to 20 pF for microwave frequencies, larger capacitors have significant parasitic inductance and multiple resonances.
Thus, where wide bandwidth decoupling is required multiple capacitors of different types
are used. In addition, the modulation bandwidth also needs to be considered.
The increase in modulation bandwidth has increased the complexity of the bias circuit
decoupling. In order to minimize the impact on the modulating signal it is necessary to
present a constant impedance to these low frequencies. However, it may also be necessary
to filter out specific frequencies (such as power supply switching) and to provide a high
impedance to the RF signal. For non class A operation the supply must be able to provide
the transistors with an alternating current as the devices are turned on and off by the
RF signal. This must be done without also modulating the supply voltage as change
350
Bias feed point
(a)
(b)
(c)
Bias Tees Broadband
0.5
Insertion Loss (dB)
Insertion Loss (dB)
5
10
DB(|S(2,1)|)
Bias Tee Capacitor
15
DB(|S(2,1)|)
Bias Tee OC stub
20
DB(|S(2,1)|)
Bias Tee Radial Stub
DB(|S(2,1)|)
Bias Network
25
30
Bias Tees Passband
6
8
Frequency (GHz)
(d)
5 GHz
0.04 dB
5 GHz
0.11 dB
1
1.5
DB(|S(2,1)|)
Bias Tee Capacitor
DB(|S(2,1)|)
Bias Tee OC stub
DB(|S(2,1)|)
Bias Tee Radial Stub
2.5
DB(|S(2,1)|)
Bias Network
10
12
5
Frequency (GHz)
(e)
Figure 7.34 Basic bias feed networks: (a) capacitor; (b) open-circuit stub; (c) radial stub;
(d) broadband performance of bias networks; (e) passband performance of bias networks.
here will alter the transfer characteristics of the device and cause distortion. Analysis of
bias decoupling has been well covered [22]. The design of the constant impedance bias
networks can be treated as a filter problem. Figure 7.35c shows how the low-frequency
impedance varies with frequency between a simple decoupling circuit and one designed
for constant impedance. The parasitics of the components can be absorbed into the extra
elements, for example the 0.5 nH parasitic inductance of the 10 nF capacitor shown in
Figure 7.35b can be included in the 4.1nH inductance in Figure 7.35a. The effect of the
low-frequency impedance can be seen in the sidebands of digitally modulated signals
such as W-CDMA. Memory effects are a phenomenon in the time domain due to thermal
transients and charge storage causing the bias conditions to change.
It is quite common to see an arrangement of, for example, 1 pF, 1 nF and 10 F
capacitors on the end of a bias line. Very large decoupling values may be used to reduce
spikes due to inductance in bias lines, especially when using test jigs. For below band
ID = L2
L = 14 nH
ID = L1
L = 1e4 nH
PORT
P=1
Z = 50 Ohm
IND
CAP
ID = L3
ID = C2
C = 8.2 nF L = 4.1 nH
RES
ID = R2
R = 1.2 Ohm
RES
ID = R1
R = 1 Ohm
(a)
CAP
ID = C1
C = 1e4 nF
IND
ID = L3
L = 0.5 nH
RES
ID = R3
R = 1.2 Ohm
CAP
ID = C3
C = 10 nF
PORT
P=1
Z = 50 Ohm
(b)
CAP
ID = C1
C = 1e4 nF
CAP
ID = C1
C = 1e4 nF
(c)
Impedance
10000
16.5 MHz
0.83 Ohm
Z(ohms)
100
.01
ZIN(1) (Ohm)
ConstantZbias
ZIN(1) (Ohm)
SimpleDecoupling
.0001
.0001
.01
25 MHz
0.0074 Ohm
1
Frequency (MHz)
71.1 MHz
0.0013 Ohm
100
Figure 7.35 Constant impedance bias circuit: (a) constant Z bias; (b) simple de-coupling;
(c) impedance variation with frequency.
351
352
signals it is often advisable to include a resistive termination. In the gate bias this can
be applied in series for smaller devices and incorporate the gate limiting resistor. In the
drain circuit this is not practical due to the high currents. Instead, the resistor is placed
in series with one of the high value capacitors.
Another factor to consider when operating devices in test fixtures run directly from
laboratory power supplies is the resistance between the PSU and the device, especially if
discrete bias tees are used. A total resistance (RPS ) of up to 1 would not be unusual
and this could reduce the saturated output power by up to 0.5 dB. The highest power
devices tend to be biased in higher efficiency classes than A, and as a result Id increases
with drive power, although the PSU output voltage remains constant the voltage on the
device will drop by Id RPS .
The changing bias voltages during switch-on may lead to oscillation. This can be seen
by touching the circuit and killing the oscillation after the bias has stabilized. It may
be possible to stop this oscillation by speeding up the rise time of Vd . If the oscillation
frequency is substantially below the band of operation, additional decoupling of the bias
lines may help. If the oscillation occurs above the operating band, a lossy stub may be
required on either the input or the output. The big problem arises when the oscillation
is within the operating region. This means that either the input or output matching
impedance is presenting a load that is in the unstable region of the transistors operation,
which is changing as the device Vd ramps. It is important to determine whether other
stages are contributing to the unstable conditions. If there are a number of stages in
series without any isolating elements then these will also present changing impedances
during power on. Once it has been established which stage is causing the problem, a
more complicated bias sequence may be required. Instead of Vg being set to the required
voltage for operation it is set to Vp until the drain voltage has had time to establish, Vg
is then adjusted to the value for the required Id . It is necessary to check for oscillations
during switch on over the operating temperature range of the device, particularly the
lower end where the gain is highest.
7.6.1
Control and interfacing

There are a number of system functions that can be handled within the amplifier and it
may make practical and economic sense to include them. Be aware though that the more
customized an amplifier becomes, then costs rise, reliability falls, and the harder it is
to find direct replacements. There is also a danger in adding features because we can
rather than driven by need. On the other hand there are a number of system components
that can be included within an amplifier saving size, weight and cabling.
It may be advantageous from a system point of view to be able to shut down an
amplifier. This can be done by removing Vd , or applying Vp to the gate, or by including
an RF switch in the input of the module. This latter solution is applicable where very fast
modulation of the amplifier is required, otherwise the other solutions can be provided
with little extra cost. A disadvantage of using a switch at the input is that the amplifier
remains on and hence is still amplifying noise. For this reason in some pulsed systems
Vd is removed between pulses, to quieten intrapulse noise.
7.7 Tuning techniques
353
It may be useful from a system perspective to monitor the power levels at the input
and output of the amplifier. Simple couplers can be incorporated within the amplifier,
Figure 7.22. In the past it was common to include a diode detector circuit and return a
voltage proportional to signal level. There are now single chip solutions up to 6 GHz.7 An
alternative way to measure output power is to observe the current being drawn by the RF
transistors. This has the advantage of not requiring any additional real estate in the RF
section, putting the additional components in the bias side which tends to be lower cost.
It is not as accurate and may change with time, however if the requirement is for a simple
indicator it may suffice. It can also double as a device health check. In some amplifier
systems the output coupler is used to monitor both the forward and reflected power. The
signal from the reflected power monitor can be used to shut down the amplifier or reduce
the output power if the amplifier is susceptible to damage from reflected signals. It may
just be used as a warning indicator, for example that an antenna has not been connected,
if the amplifier can withstand reflected power. If an isolator is fitted, then rather than
having a load which is capable of handling full power temperature sensor can be fitted
to the load, shutting down the amplifier in the event of excess heat (equivalent to excess
reflected power).
The purpose of the built in test (BITE) is to enable quick fault assessment and repair.
This test should enable repair to be made to the appropriate level of replacement, but no
further. There would be little point identifying to the repair technician which particular
transistor had failed if they can only replace the module. The information on which
transistor has failed may be required back at the factory, but in that case it is also
possible to lift the lid and see inside (which will need to be done to replace the transistor
anyway). Where individual transistor monitoring does pay off is in fault prediction.
Looking at module performance as a whole it may be difficult to see the changes in
one device. Monitoring the gate and drain currents (at known RF power levels) may
anticipate device failure. However, this requires a sophisticated system and is probably
only necessary where an extremely high level of availability is essential.
7.7
Tuning techniques
Differences exist in the transconductance and the parasitic capacitances, Cds and Cgs ,
across semiconductor wafers, and even larger variations occur between them. As a
result of this as well as other factors such as variations in mechanical placement, etching
tolerances, passive component spreads, etc., it is frequently necessary to tune an amplifier
to make it meet specification.
Mechanically variable high Q capacitors are available for use in the lower GHz region;
however, they are expensive and more sensitive to vibration. Some companies provide
chip capacitors stuck to nylon rods that can either be pressed down on assembled
capacitors to increase the effective capacitance or add capacitance to a circuit some
place. Obviously, if this has a negative effect it implies that the capacitance needs to
7
E.g., Analog Devices, AD8363.
354
Links
(b)
(a)
(c)
(e)
(d)
(f)
Figure 7.36 Common tuning methods: (a) and (b) short-circuit stub; (c) and (d) line extension;
(e) open-circuit stub; (f) tuning array.
References
355
be decreased. If provision is made in the layout then capacitor positions can be altered,
sliding them up and down a transmission line. Chip inductors are not easy to tune, but
air wound inductors can usually have their spacing increased or reduced.
Transmission lines have two parameters that can be altered, impedance and phase,
which correspond to width and length, respectively. These can be changed by either an
additive or subtractive process. Altering the width is usually the easiest change to make.
There are different approaches for hard and soft substrates. Traces on hard substrates
are difficult to remove without the use of special tooling, while a simple scalpel and
a soldering iron (the adhesion of the tracks to the substrates reduces with heat) are
all that is needed for soft substrates. Figure 7.36 shows some commonly used tuning
approaches. For hard substrates the links are wire bonds. It is often easiest to bond
all of the positions during initial build and then remove the links as necessary during
tuning. For soft substrates it is simpler to add the links by soldering. It may be necessary
to remove some tracks after links have been made, for example in Figure 7.36d). The
tuning array in Figure 7.36f may seem like a scatter gun approach but it is very useful,
especially in early prototypes. The tuning used can be accurately identified and then
incorporated in revisions to the design.
Tuning disks or squares can be either custom made in a variety of sizes or cut from
copper shim. A favourite of many engineers is to use the bits of device leads (cut off in
production) on cocktail sticks to move them about. In addition to solder and wire bonds,
conductive paint has been used to link to tuning pads, however, there does not appear
to be any data on the long term reliability of this approach. A final technique is to use
dielectric overlays. These are layers of dielectric placed over the tops of circuit elements,
particularly coupled lines.
References
1. J. Lange, Interdigital stripline quadrature hybrid, IEEE Trans. Microw. Theory Tech., vol.
17, pp. 11501151, Dec. 1969.
2. N. Sinnadurai, Plastic packaging is highly reliable, IEEE Trans. Rel., vol. 45, pp. 184193,
June 1996.
3. J. Schultz-Harder and A. Meyer, Hermetic packaging for power multichip modules, European Conference on Power Electronics and Applications, 2007, pp. 110.
4. E. F. Johnson, Technique engineers the cavity resonance in microstrip housing design,
Microw. Syst. News. Commun. Feb. 1987.
5. P. Aaen, J. Pla, and J. Wood, Modelling and Characterisation of RF and Microwave Power
FETs, Cambridge University Press, 2007.
6. B. Rosas, 50 GHz End Launch Connector Test Boards, Horizon House, Microw. J., Mar.
24, 2008.
7. S. B. Durgin, Understanding the basic thermal properties of SMT devices www.
ims-resistors.com/IMSthermalnote.pdf [Online] [cited: June 4, 2009.] www.ims-resistors.
com.
8. V. F. Perna, The RF Capacitor Handbook, ATC Corp. pp. 25-17.
9. C. Bowick, RF Circuit Design, Newnes, 2008.
356
10. F. Giannini, C. Paoloni, and M. Ruggieri, very broadband matched termination utilizing
nongrounded radial lines, 17th European Microwave Conference, 1987.
11. H. J. Louw and J. R. Nortier, Cascaded Lange couplers, Microw. J., Nov. 1989.
12. P. Wright, A. Sheikh, C. Roff, P.J. Tasker, and J. Benedikt, Highly efficient operation modes
in GaN power transistors delivering upwards of 81% efficiency and 12 W output power, IEEE
MTT-S Int. Symp. Dig., pp. 11471150, June 2008.
13. D. M. FitzPatrick, T. Williams, J. Lees, J. Benedikt, and P. J. Tasker, Large signal device
characterisation using active load-pull for improved MMIC design, IET Seminar on RF and
Microwave IC Design, pp. 17, 2008.
14. B. Battaglia, D. Rice, L. Phuong, B. Gogoi, G. Hoshizaki, M. Purchine, R. Davies, W.
Wright, D. Lutz, M. Gao, D. Moline, A. Elliot, S. Tran, and R. Neeley, A novel silicon high
voltage vertical MOSFET technology for a 100 W L-band radar application, 38th European
Microwave Conference, 2008.
15. D. FitzPatrick, 1 kW, L Band, CW Solid State Amplifier for Pulsed Radar Immunity
Testing, IMS 2005 MicroApps, 2005.
16. D. I. Stones A UHF 16-way power combiner designed by synthesis techniques, Microw. J.,
June 1989.
17. B. S. Virdee, A. S. Virdee, and B. Y. Banyamin, Broadband Microwave Amplifiers, Artech
House, 2004, pp. 133135.
18. J. J. Pan and M. J. Russell, MESFET amplifier with RF feedback gives high performance, low
noise, Microw. Syst. News, June 1983.
19. R. Rhea, The YinYang of matching: part 1 basic matching concepts, Summit Technical
Media, High Frequency Design, pp. Mar. 1625, 2006.
20. R. M. Fano Theoretical limitations on the broadband matching of arbitrary impedances,
J. Franklin Inst., Jan. 1950.
21. R. Rhea, The YinYang of matching: part 2 practical matching techniques, Summit
Technical Media, High Frequency Design, pp. 2840, April 2006.
22. S. C. Cripps, RF Power Amplifiers for Wireless Communications, 2nd Edn., Artech House,
2006.
23. E. D. Ostroff, M. Borkowski, and H. Thomas, Solid State Radar Transmitters, Artech House,
1985.

Inder Bahl
Cobham Sensor Systems
8.1
Overview of MMIC power amplifiers

Over the past 30 years, microwave power amplifier (PA) technology has gone through a
significant evolution to meet necessary requirements such as high-power, high-efficiency
and high-voltage operation for lower-cost solutions, circuit miniaturization, improved
reliability and high-volume applications. PA component size and weight are prime
factors in the design of electronic systems for satellite communications, phased-array
radar (PAR), electronic warfare, and other airborne applications, whereas high-volume
and low-cost drive the PAR and consumer electronics market. Monolithic microwave
integrated circuit (MMIC) power amplifiers are the key to meeting these requirements.
In MMICs all active and passive circuit elements are fabricated together on a semiinsulating GaAs substrate. MMIC amplifiers are integral parts of most commercial and
military systems.
For radio frequency integrated circuit (RFIC) wireless applications, several Si-based
device technologies including bipolar, CMOS, BiCMOS and SiGe HBT are being pursued to obtain an optimum solution in terms of performance and cost for low-power
applications. In the Si based processes, Si wafers are larger and cheaper than GaAs
wafers but the fabrication involves a relatively larger number of process steps. RFICs
are generally partially matched and require off-chip elements to complete the matching.
Both RFICs and MMICs have low Q passives, expensive nonrecurring engineering cost,
long development cycle time and in MMICs no post manufacture tuning or tweaking
to obtain the optimum performance. Power levels in an MMIC approach are much higher
than those that can be realized using an RFIC technique because of breakdown voltage
considerations. Therefore, Si based RFICs will not be included in this chapter.
8.1.1
Brief history of MMIC power amplifiers

Building upon the success of microwave integrated circuit (MIC) technology, a new
monolithic microwave GaAs semiconductor-based technology was introduced in the mid
1970s. It was in 1976 when Pengelly and Turner [1] applied the monolithic approach
to an X-band amplifier based on the GaAs metal semiconductor FET (MESFET). By
1980 many MMIC power amplifier results using MESFETs for various applications had
been reported. Since that time, tremendous progress has been made both in MMIC PA
358
developments and in system applications. Some of the early development milestones in

MMIC PAs are listed below:
r
r
r
r
r
r
X-band power GaAs MESFET amplifier in 1979;

Q-band GaAs MESFET power amplifier in 1986;
X-band GaAs HEMT power amplifier in 1989;
W-band HEMT power amplifier in 1992;
C-band GaAs MESFET very high-efficiency power amplifier in 1996;
X-band GaAs MESFET high-power amplifier in 2000.
The outstanding progress in MMIC technology is attributed to the following:

r rapid development of GaAs material technology, including semi-insulating wafers,
epitaxial growth, and ion implantation;
r advanced photo- or E-beam lithography technology developed for Si ICs and directly
applicable to GaAs ICs;
r excellent microwave properties of semi-insulating GaAs substrates (high dielectric
constant, r = 12.9, and low-loss tan = 0.0005), which permit easy isolation of
devices for high-level integration;
r the development of power transistors operating at up to 100 GHz have provided MMIC
designers with versatile active circuit components;
r high electron mobility transistors (HEMTs) and heterojunction bipolar transistors
(HBTs) which are, in addition to MESFETs, the other most common active devices
used in MMIC power amplifiers. Pseudo-morphic HEMT (pHEMT) MMICs provide
enhanced performance in terms of noise figure, power, PAE, bandwidth, and frequency
range;
r the development of accurate models for characterizing active devices and passive
components;
r the availability of commercial CAD tools for accurate linear and nonlinear simulations
and optimization of power amplifiers;
r the availability of on-wafer high-frequency test probes that permit both low-cost
MMIC screening based on small-signal and large-signal S-parameters, and the collection of a large amount of statistically significant data without the cost and variability
of packaging;
r government funding for technology development and maturation;
r expanding military and commercial applications.
8.1.2
Advantages of monolithic power amplifiers

Whereas most MMIC amplifiers currently in production operate in the 0.5 GHz to
40 GHz microwave range, applications covering the millimeter-wave (mmW) spectrum from 30 GHz to 300 GHz are increasing. Monolithic technology is particularly
suited for millimeter wave applications through the elimination of the parasitic effects
of bond wires which connect discrete components in conventional hybrid microwave
8.2 Monolithic IC technology
359
50- input
line
Air bridge
Inductor
Bonding
pad
G
D
FET
Via hole
Transmission- line
inductor
Thin-film
Capacitor resistor
Semi-insulating
GaAs substrate
Figure 8.1 Three-dimensional view of a MMIC amplifier. (After Bahl [23]. Reprinted with
permission of John Wiley.)
integrated circuits (HMICs). In MMIC-based mmW subsystems, the cost can be lowered by a factor of ten or more as compared to hybrid solutions. Advantages of MMIC
amplifiers include low-cost, small size, light weight, circuit design flexibility, broadband performance, elimination of circuit tweaking, high-volume manufacturing capability, package simplification, improved reproducibility, radiation hardness, and improved
reliability.
MMIC power amplifiers have the following potential advantages as compared to
commonly available internally matched power amplifiers:
r
r
r
r
r
r
8.2
multistage designs have higher gain (1525 dB);

higher overall PAE;
better unit to unit amplitude and phase tracking;
compact in size and lightweight;
lower parts count, higher reliability, and lower in cost;
no external biasing chokes required.
Monolithic IC technology
In fabricating MMICs, all active and passive circuit elements and interconnections are
formed together on the surface of a semi-insulating substrate (usually gallium arsenide).
Basic active devices used in MMICs are MESFETs, HEMTs and HBTs [256]. Typically,
MMICs use microstrip and metal-insulator-metal (MIM) capacitors for the matching networks, whereas at low microwave frequencies, lumped inductors and MIM capacitors are
commonly used. Metal-filled via holes from the bottom of the substrate (ground plane)
to the top surface of MMICs, provide low-loss and low-inductance ground connections.
Figure 8.1 shows a 3D view of an MMIC.
360
Figure 8.2 Flow chart for multifunction self-aligned gate (MSAG) MESFET MMIC process.
8.2.1
MMIC fabrication
Different methods are used to fabricate MMIC amplifiers. Most MMICs using MESFET, HBT, and HEMT are manufactured by a recessed-gate process. MESFETs are also
manufactured by employing a self-aligned gate (SAG) FET process which permits the
efficient fabrication of devices optimized for different functions (e.g., microwave small
signal, microwave power, and digital) on the same wafer at the same time. The selfaligned gate process has demonstrated superior performance uniformity in a manufacturing environment. One particular embodiment of such a process is its state-of-the-art
power amplifier performance.
It is important for designers to have an appreciation for the complexity of MMIC
manufacturing. A GaAs MMIC power amplifier process has over 250 individual process steps. As an example, a simplified flowchart for the GaAs SAG MMIC process
showing major steps is depicted in Figure 8.2. The process includes the fabrication of
active devices, resistors, capacitors, inductors, distributed matching networks, airbridges,
and via holes for ground connections through the substrate. The process for recessedgate MMICs has many similarities. Basic process steps are similar for any MMIC
technology.
In general, GaAs MMIC processing is less complex than silicon RFIC. Because silicon
has inherently lower frequency capability and poorer isolation properties for integration
purposes, more exotic processing is required to compete in the frequency region of
overlap with GaAs applicability. For example, a silicon bipolar complementary metal
oxide semiconductor (BiCMOS) process for such IC applications may require 23 times
as many mask layers, adding significantly to the cost.
361
Table 8.1 Comparison of transistor/monolithic integrated-circuit substrates1

Property
Silicon
SiC
GaAs
InP
GaN
Semi-insulating
Resistivity (-cm)
Dielectric constant
Electron mobility (cm2 /V s)
Saturation electrical velocity (cm/s)
Radiation hardness
Density (g/cm3 )
Thermal conductivity (W/cm- C)
Operating temperature ( C)
Energy gap (eV)
Breakdown field (kV/cm)
No
103 105
11.7
1450
9 106
Poor
2.3
1.45
250
1.12
300
Yes
>1010
9.7
500
2 107
Excellent
3.1
3.5
>500
2.86
2000
Yes
107 109
12.9
8500
1.3 107
Very good
5.3
0.46
350
1.42
400
Yes
107
14
4000
1.9 107
Good
4.8
0.68
300
1.34
500
Yes
>1010
8.9
800
2.3 107
Excellent
6.1
1.3
>500
3.39
5000
Pure materials at room temperature.
One can find comprehensive information on the design, fabrication, and performance
of monolithic microwave and millimeter-wave integrated circuits as well as their applications in IEEE Microwave and Millimeter-Wave Monolithic Circuits Symposium Digests
published from 1982 to 1996, IEEE RFIC Symposium Digests published since 1997,
and IEEE GaAs IC Symposium Digests published since 1980. Several other books listed
[223] deal with this subject either partially or exclusively.
8.2.2
MMIC substrates
Various substrate materials used for MMICs are bulk silicon, silicon carbide, GaAs,
InP, and GaN. Their electrical and physical properties are compared in Table 8.1. The
semi-insulating and high-thermal conductivity property of the substrate material is crucial to providing higher device isolation and lower dielectric loss, and a good heat
dissipation path for power MMICs. Silicon dominates the marketplace and GaAs is
used widely at RF, microwave, and mmW frequencies. For high-voltage, high-power
and high-temperature applications, wide-bandgap materials with relatively high thermal
conductivity, such as SiC and GaN, play a significant role as a substrate material. The
recent development of high-voltage active devices with very high-power densities on a
SiC substrate was only possible due to its high thermal conductivity, which is a prime
requirement for any semiconductor material to be used as a substrate for high-voltage
and high-power density devices and MMICs.
8.2.3
MMIC active devices

The MESFET (0.251.0 m gate lengths) has been the workhorse for analog integrated
circuits (ICs) since 1976. MESFET based power MMICs demonstrate excellent performance at microwave frequencies. However, HEMT and HBT devices offer potential
advantages in microwave and millimeter-wave IC applications, arising from the use
362
2b
W
(a)
W = 2a
h
(b)
Figure 8.3 Transmission lines for MMICs: (a) microstrip, (b) coplanar waveguide.
of heterojunctions to improve charge transport properties (as in HEMTs) or pn junction injection characteristics (as in HBTs). HEMTs appear to have an advantage in
ultralow-noise and mmW applications. The MMICs produced using novel structures
such as pseudo-morphic, lattice-matched HEMTs, also known as pHEMTs, have significantly improved the power performance and high-frequency (up to 280 GHz) operation.
AlGaN/GaN HEMT devices have demonstrated power densities greater than five times
higher than that of conventional GaAs-based transistors [24, 25]. HBTs are vertically
oriented heterostructure devices and are popular as power devices. GaAs HBTs are
extensively used as power devices for high-volume wireless applications because of
their high-gain, good efficiency, and single power supply low-voltage operation. They
also offer better linearity and lower phase noise than do FETs and HEMTs. For power circuits, where one needs much higher current, either a large number of cells are employed
or larger gate periphery devices are used.
The performance of microwave transistors in MMIC technologies is improving every
year. The upper frequency limit of MMICs is generally dictated by the active device
technology used. The performance of these devices (FETs, HEMTs, and HBTs) depends
on the substrate material, process type, and channel physical dimensions. A commonly
used figure of merit for devices is known as the maximum frequency of oscillation and
denoted by fmax . Generally, for amplifiers the maximum frequency of operation is about
half of fmax [26]. As reported in the literature, the fmax values for a 0.1 m gate-length
pHEMT on an InP substrate is about 600 GHz, and for a 1 m emitter HBT it is about
170 GHz. A three-stage amplifier fabricated using a 0.1 m pHEMT on an InP substrate
has exhibited about 12 dB gain at 153155 GHz [27]. MESFETs, HEMTs, and HBTs
have been described in detail in Chapter 2.
8.2.4
MMIC matching elements

In addition to active devices, MMICs require high Q passive circuit elements. Like
hybrid ICs, monolithic circuits use distributed as well as lumped matching elements.
The microstrip line and coplanar waveguide (CPW) are the two most commonly used
transmission media in MMICs. Microstrip is more popular because of its quasi-TEM
nature and excellent layout flexibility. Microstrip line is exclusively used in MMIC
amplifiers due to high current handling capability. Cross-sectional views of these
lines with physical parameters are shown in Figure 8.3. Sections of microstrip lines
and coplanar waveguide constitute the basic passive component building blocks of
363
Table 8.2 Microstrip data summary on GaAs substrate: h = 100 m, t = 5 m, tan = 0.0005,
f = 10 GHz and r = 12.9
W (m)
W/h
Z0
re
(dB/cm)
Line capacitance
(pF/100 m)
Line inductance
(nH/100 m)
10
20
30
40
50
75
100
125
150
200
250
300
400
500
0.10
0.20
0.30
0.40
0.50
0.75
1.00
1.25
1.50
2.00
2.50
3.00
4.00
5.00
87.8
75.1
67.2
61.4
56.8
48.4
42.5
38.1
34.5
29.2
25.4
22.5
18.3
15.5
6.89
7.23
7.45
7.62
7.76
8.06
8.31
8.52
8.71
9.03
9.30
9.52
9.89
10.18
0.716
0.541
0.468
0.422
0.390
0.342
0.315
0.301
0.293
0.282
0.276
0.271
0.265
0.262
0.010
0.012
0.014
0.015
0.016
0.020
0.023
0.026
0.028
0.034
0.040
0.046
0.057
0.069
0.077
0.067
0.061
0.056
0.053
0.046
0.041
0.037
0.034
0.029
0.026
0.023
0.019
0.016
monolithic microwave integrated circuits. When the size of the microstrip section is
reduced to dimensions much smaller than the wavelength, the section can be treated as a
lumped element. Examples of lumped microstrip elements are spiral inductors, thin-film
resistors, and interdigital capacitors. Microstrip sections in lumped and distributed forms
are commonly used in passive and active monolithic microwave integrated circuits. To
realize compact circuits, lumped element matching networks, or lumped-distributed circuit elements are utilized to transform device impedance to 50 . An overview of these
circuit elements is given below [28].
Microstrip
Several methods used to determine microstrip parameters are summarized in reference
[28]. The microstrip propagation properties, such as the characteristic impedance (Z0 ),
effective dielectric constant (re ) and attenuation constant () are controlled by conductor
width W and substrate height h for a given dielectric constant value (r = 12.9 for GaAs).
Table 8.2 summarizes Z0 , re , , line capacitance and line inductance data calculated
for various line dimensions and for a GaAs substrate. As an example, for a 50 line
on a GaAs substrate, the value of width-to-height ratio W/h is about 0.7. As shown in
Figure 8.4, the characteristic impedance Z0 decreases and the effective dielectric constant
re increases when the strip W/h of the line is increased. The measured attenuation
constant of microstrip as a function of line width on 100 m thick GaAs at 1, 10, 20,
and 30 GHz is shown in Figure 8.5. The attenuation in the line decreases with increasing
line width. Wavelength in microstrip is related to re by
= 0 / r e
where 0 is the free space wavelength.
(8.1)
120
12
100
10
re
80
Z0()
60
8
6 re
Z0
40
20
0
0.01 0.02 0.05
0.1
0.2
0.5
0
10
W/h
Figure 8.4 Variation of characteristic impedance and effective dielectric constant of microstrip
versus W/h on 100 m thick GaAs.
1.6
1.2
(dB/cm)
364
0.8
f (GHz)
30
20
10
0.4
0
10
20
40
100
20
400
Line Width (m)

Figure 8.5 Measured attenuation constant of microstrip versus line width on 100 m thick GaAs
at 1, 10, 20, and 30 GHz.
The maximum frequency of operation of a microstrip transmission line is limited as

a result of several factors including excitation of spurious modes, higher losses, pronounced discontinuity effects, low Q caused by radiation from discontinuities, effect
of dispersion on pulse distortion, tight fabrication tolerances, handling fragility and, of
course, technological processes. The maximum frequency of operation of a microstrip
transmission line, the frequency at which significant coupling occurs between the dominant quasi-TEM mode and the lowest-order surface wave spurious mode, is given
by [28],

150
fT =
h
2
tan1 r
r 1
(8.2)
365
where fT is in gigahertz, h is in millimeters and the inverse of tangent is expressed

in radians. The excitation of higher-order modes in a microstrip can be avoided by
operating it below the cut-off frequency of the first higher-order mode, which is given
approximately by
fc =
300
r (2W + 0.8h)
(8.3)
where fc is in GHz, and W and h are in mm. This limitation is mostly applicable for
low-impedance lines that have wide microstrip conductors. The calculated value for the
maximum thickness of the GaAs substrate for microstrip circuits designed at 100 GHz
is less than 0.3 mm.
Since it is impossible to do tuning on GaAs MMICs, an accurate and comprehensive
modeling of microstrip discontinuities is required to save expensive and time-consuming
iteration of mask and wafer fabrication and evaluation. As the yield of MMICs depends
on the size (the smaller the chip, the higher the yield), and the circuits acceptable
electrical performance, discontinuities play an important part in the development of
MMICs. The effect of discontinuities becomes more critical at higher frequencies. The
discontinuities should be either taken into account or compensated for at the final stage
of design. In most cases discontinuities are basically undesirable circuit reactances, and
in a good circuit design, efforts are made to reduce or compensate for these reactances as
discussed in reference [28]. In most high-frequency applications, the compact matching
circuits are electromagnetic (EM) simulated.
CPW
Several methods used to determine CPW parameters are summarized in reference [28].
CPW properties are controlled by the center conductor width W and the spacing between
the strip and the ground-plane conductor denoted by S in Figure 8.3b. In CPW, the
substrate thickness generally used is large so that if the substrate has a conductor
backing to improve the mechanical strength, its effect is insignificant on the electrical
characteristics of the CPW. Figure 8.6 shows the variation of Z0 and re as function
of the conductor width to gap separation ratio. The characteristic impedance of the
line decreases with increasing a/b ratio. The measured attenuation versus characteristic
impedance Z0 for CPW is shown in Figure 8.7. The attenuation in the line at 60 GHz
has a minima when the characteristic impedance of the line is about 60 .
For thick substrates the coupling of power from the dominant mode to higher-order
modes takes place. The coupling to surface waves and radiation from unwanted (parasitic) modes contributes additional loss to the total loss of the CPW. The parasitic mode
in a coplanar waveguide is the odd-mode with antiphase voltages in the two slots. This
mode can be excited at discontinuities, and radiation may occur. Radiation from this
mode can be minimized by maintaining symmetry of the circuits and thus avoiding its
excitation or by using air bridges connecting the ground planes at regular intervals to
short circuit it out. In a conductor-backed coplanar waveguide, the parallel-plate waveguide modes are other parasitic modes. Surface waves or the substrate modes are the TM
and TE modes supported by the substrate. Excitation of these modes can be avoided if
160
7.5
h/b
h/b
0.5
1.0
140
7.0
120
6.5
1.0
6.0
100
re
Z0()
0.5
80
5.5
60
5.0
40
4.5
20
0.01 0.02 0.05 0.1 0.2 0.5
a /b
4.0
0.01 0.02 0.05 0.1 0.2 0.5
a /b
Figure 8.6 Variation of characteristic impedance and effective dielectric constant of CPW versus
slot dimensions on GaAs.
10
b (mm) = 0.10
0.15
0.20
5
(dB/cm)
366
1
0.5
0.1
10
50
90
130
170
Z0 ()
Figure 8.7 Measured attenuation constant of CPW versus slot characteristic impedance on 100
m thick GaAs at 60 GHz.
a thin substrate is used such that the cutoff frequency of the surface modes is pushed
above the operating frequency. This is achieved if the substrate thickness h is chosen
such that
h 0.120 / r
(8.4)
where 0 is the free space wavelength.

Like microstrip discontinuities, CPW discontinuity effects must also be taken into
consideration. CPW MMICs, compared with microstrip-based MMICs, can have lower
loss at millimeter-wave frequencies with proper design of the matching networks, require
367
Figure 8.8 Microstrip lumped elements:(a) inductors and (b) capacitor.
Di
Do
(a)
(b)
Figure 8.9 Coil inductor configurations:(a) circular and (b) rectangular.
no via-hole technology for RF ground connections, and are more suitable for flip-chip
mounting.
Lumped elements
A lumped element in radio frequency and microwave circuits is defined as a passive component whose size across any dimension is much smaller than the operating wavelength
so that there is no appreciable phase shift between its input and output terminals. Generally, keeping the maximum dimension less than /20 is a good approximation. Lumped
elements for use at RF and microwave frequencies are designed on the basis of this consideration, and the three basic lumped element building blocks are inductors, capacitors,
and resistors. Figure 8.8 shows basic microstrip line inductors and a capacitor. Their simple forms are realized using microstrip sections. Among various inductor shapes, circular
and rectangular spiral inductors, shown in Figure 8.9, and metal-insulator-metal (MIM)
and interdigital capacitors, shown in Figure 8.10, are commonly used. A microstrip section realized employing a lossy conductor is used as a resistor. At RF, lumped inductors
and MIM capacitors are widely used in MMIC matching networks.
Lumped-element based power amplifier circuits have the advantage of smaller size,
lower cost, and wider bandwidth characteristics. These are especially suitable for MMICs
368
Table 8.3 Coefficients for general inductance expression

Inductor geometry
c1
c2
c3
c4
Square
Hexagonal
Octagonal
Circle
1.27
1.09
1.07
1.00
2.07
2.23
2.29
2.46
0.18
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.13
0.17
0.19
0.20
Bottom
conductor
Top conductor
W

rd
(a)
(b)
Figure 8.10 (a) MIM capacitor, (b) interdigital capacitor and (c) equivalent circuit.
where real-estate requirements are of prime importance and applications where broadband is required. Currently, MMIC technologies have reached a mature stage; lumped
elements working even up to 60 GHz are more suitable for low-cost circuit solutions. At
frequencies below S band, MMICs using lumped inductors and capacitors are an order
of magnitude smaller than ICs using distributed elements. At RF and the low end of the
microwave band, the use of lumped elements makes the chip size significantly smaller
without affecting the RF performance, increasing the number of PA chips per wafer,
and giving improved visual and RF yields. All these factors can reduce the chip cost
drastically. One can buy 12 W power amplifiers for as low as $5.
Lumped element models can be developed using analytical, physics and EM, and
measurement-based methods. A more general expression for inductance of arbitrary
shape has been reported in the literature and reproduced as follows [20]

0 n 2 Dav c1
(8.5)
n (c2 / ) + c3 + c4 2
2
where coefficients ci for various geometries are given in Table 8.3, is the fill ratio and
Dav is the average diameter of the inductor, and their expressions are given below
L=
Do Di
Do + Di
(8.6)
1
(Do + Di )
(8.7)
2
MMIC capacitors are classified into three categories: microstrip (Figure 8.8b), MIM, and
interdigital as shown in Figure 8.10. A small length of an open circuited low-impedance
microstrip section can be used as a lumped capacitor with a low capacitance value
(<0.2 pF) per unit area due to thick substrates. MIM capacitors are fabricated using a
Dav =
369
multilevel process and provide the largest capacitance value (0.150 pF for monolithic
on GaAs) per unit area because of a very thin dielectric layer sandwiched between
two electrodes. The interdigital geometry has applications where one needs moderate
capacitance (0.10.5 pF) and high Q values.
The MIM capacitor structure might have two or more conductors. The capacitance, C (in farad), of a capacitor structure consisting of two conductors as shown in
Figure 8.10a is expressed as:
C = 0 rd
A
W
= 0 rd
d
d
(8.8)
where W and are the width and length of one of the plates, rd is the dielectric constant
of the capacitor dielectric film and 0 is the free space permittivity. The above equation
does not include the effect of fringing field. Equation (8.8) can be expressed in commonly
used units as follows:
W
d
W

C = 8.85 106 rd
d
C = 8.85 103 rd
(pF), W , , and d in mm
(8.9a)
(pF), W , , and d in m
(8.9b)
A detailed treatment of these components can be found in reference [20].
Electromigration requirements
In MMICs the conductors are much thinner than in MICs. Therefore a special attention
to current handling of such conductors in PAs becomes important. The current handling
capability of a conductor is limited by the onset of [20] is the transport of material
caused by the gradual movement of the ions in a conductor due to high current densities
flowing through it. When the current density in the conductors is on the order of 106
A/cm2 or higher, has a continuous impact on the metal grain causing the metal to pile
up in the direction of current flow. In thin conductors, electromigration-induced damage
usually occurs in the form of voids and hillocks in the metal due to the depletion
and accumulation of metal grains due to heavy flow of electrons. This also occurs
in transistor gates, drain and source pads as well as in ohmic contacts. Voids mostly
result in higher ohmic contact resistance. The effect of electromigration becomes more
pronounced at elevated temperatures. The voids and hillocks due to electromigration
grow over extended periods resulting in open circuits in conductors and short circuits
between closely spaced conductors. In FETs, open circuits in gates give rise to limited
control on drain-source current and higher drain-source current values. Growing hillock
formations short circuit the fingers.
The conductivity, thickness, and line width determine the current carrying capacity
of the conductor. A safe value of maximum current density for gold conductors on a
GaAs flat surface is 2.22 105 A/cm2 . Thus, for carrying DC current the electromigration requirements dictate the microstrip and inductor line widths. A current density
of 2.22 105 A/cm2 translates to a maximum allowed current per unit line width of
370
Figure 8.11 Example of an MMIC design system.
10 mA/m for 4.5 m thick gold conductors and 20 mA/m for 9 m thick gold conductors. This dictates much wider conductors for bias lines in HPAs. For example, to
carry 5A DC current, the microstrip (4.5 m thick) width required is 500 m.
8.3
MMIC design methodology

The design of MMIC PAs requires state-of-the-art computer aided design (CAD) tools.
The need for increased design sophistication arises from the fact that the post fabrication tuning flexibility available in conventional hybrid microwave circuits is no longer
present in monolithically fabricated circuits. Consequently, a new design methodology
is required. This includes development of accurately characterized standard library cells
as well as subcircuits, accurate linear and nonlinear models for active devices, accurate
passive component models, use of circuit topology and circuit elements that are more
tolerant to process variations, tolerance centering of designs, proximity effect models,
comprehensive simulation of complete circuits, and automatic RF testing of ICs on
wafer. The latter is needed in order to characterize ICs before any design tweaking is
performed.
8.3.1
CAD tools
Numerous in-house and commercial CAD tools are being used to design MMIC power
amplifiers. Figure 8.11 shows [29] an example of a comprehensive CAD tool consisting
of device, circuit, and system simulators, accurate component models (including physicsbased and EM), and statistical design features. Commercial microwave CAD tools
available to designers include Agilents ADS, Ansofts Designer, and Applied Wave
Researchs Microwave Office, and Cadence. A comprehensive MMIC CAD tool provides
efficient coupling between the circuit simulation, the schematic captive/text editor, and
the layout generator, greatly improving overall accuracy and reducing design cycle time.
With such a system, first-pass-design success for MMIC PAs is achievable.
8.3 MMIC design methodology
371
Figure 8.12 Typical flowchart for an MMIC power amplifier design.
8.3.2
Design procedure
Typical MMIC power amplifier design generally follows the flow diagram shown in
Figure 8.12. The design starts with the circuit specifications including frequency range,
gain, input and output VSWR, output power, PAE, linearity, stability, thermal management and cost, which derive from the system requirements. The electrical and thermal
requirements also dictate the circuit topology along with the types of passive element and
active device to be used (e.g., distributed or lumped passive elements, power transistor
sizes, substrate thickness). Comprehensive passive element and active device models
developed by a foundry or by users are employed to simulate circuit functions. The final
design is completed by taking into account layout discontinuities, interaction between
the components, stability analysis of amplifiers, and circuit yield analysis by considering process variations. In the case of PA design, an accurate nonlinear model [3037]
for each device used is essential in order to design the circuit accurately. The thermal
design of MMIC amplifiers is also a critical aspect for their success. Thus, MMIC power
372
amplifier design becomes an art, to meet several often conflicting requirements, and an
experienced designer will outperform beginners. An overview of MMICs is given in
references [16, 38].
8.3.3
EM simulators
Electromagnetic [EM] simulators have become an integral part of MMIC CAD tools.
They are mainly responsible for accurate modeling of passive circuit elements and components. These simulators, also known as field solvers, are commonly used to model circuit elements such as microstrip and coplanar waveguide structures, discontinuities, and
coupling between transmission-line sections and discontinuities, structures using multilayer dielectric and plating, inductors, capacitors, resistors, via holes, and crossovers.
Passive components, such as filters, couplers, resonators, power dividers/combiners,
baluns, matching impedance transformers, and several types of interconnect and package are accurately simulated using EM simulators. Accurate characterization of active
device-parasitic reactance also requires EM simulation. Another key and important role
of EM simulators in successful MMIC PA design is the capability to analyze the junction effects involving wide conductors and parasitic coupling effects between various
parts of the circuit layout. Accurate evaluation of radiation and surface waves can be
performed using EM simulators only. These effects become increasingly important as
MMIC designs become more compact, and are not easily incorporated using conventional network theory-based CAD tools. However, due to the very large computation
time, only a small portion of a circuit is analyzed using EM simulators, and the numerical
results are combined with conventional CAD tools to obtain the response of the complete
circuit. Most EM simulators work in an integrated simulation environment (i.e., they
can be interfaced with microwave computer-aided design and engineering tools). In the
past decade, outstanding progress made on personal computers has lead to user-friendly
and versatile commercial EM simulators. An overview of commercially available EM
simulators is given in Table 8.4. More comprehensive information on these tools can be
found in publications [3944].
8.4
MMIC PA summary and examples

MMIC power amplifiers are widely used in commercial and military applications. In
recent years outstanding progress has been made in power amplifiers including narrowband with high power and high PAE, broadband, and high-voltage versions. These
components are integral parts of most RF and microwave transmitters. Table 8.5 provides
an overview of some narrowband and high PAE power amplifier examples. The output
power and PAE values are typical. Monolithic technology is particularly beneficial to
broadband amplifiers due to the elimination of the parasitic effects of bond wires and
discrete components used in hybrid MICs. Progress in broadband MMIC power amplifiers is summarized in Table 8.6. Wide band-gap (WBG) semiconductors, such as SiC or
373
8.4 MMIC PA summary and examples
Table 8.4 An overview of some EM simulators being used for MMICs
Company
Software name
Type of structure
3-dimensional
Method of
analysis
Domain of
analysis
Agilent-EEsof
Momentum
HFSS
EM
Unisim
SFMIC
Planar
Arbitrary
Planar
Planar
Planar
Frequency
Frequency
Frequency
Frequency
Frequency
Planar
Arbitrary
FEM
FEM
MoM
Spectral
domain
MoM
MoM
FEM
Frequency
Frequency
Planar
MoM
Frequency
Arbitrary
FEM
Frequency
IE3D
Micro-Stripes
Arbitrary
Arbitrary
MoM
TLM
Frequency
Time
XFDTD
Arbitrary
FDTD
Time
Sonnet Software
Jansen Microwave
Ansoft Corporation
AWR
MacNeal-Schwendler
Corp.
Zeland Software
Kimberly Communications
Consultants
Remco
R
Maxwell
2D
R
SI
Maxwell
Eminence 3D
MWO: EM
Simulator
MSC/EMAS
Table 8.5 Some typical narrow-band high-efficiency power amplifier performance parameters [23]
Frequency
(GHz)
No. of
stages
Gain
(dB)
Power
(W)
PAE
(%)
Device
Technology
2.12.2
4.55.4
810
810
1215
13.515
2931
4246
95
2
1
3
3
3
3
3
2
2
21
10
24
24
18
22
20
17
15
50
14
12
20
8
8
4
2.8
0.43
50
55
40
35
25
22
25
24
19
pHEMT
MESFET
MESFET
MESFET
MESFET
pHEMT
pHEMT
pHEMT
pHEMT
GaAs Monolithic
GaAs Monolithic
GaAs Monolithic
GaAs Monolithic
GaAs Monolithic
GaAs Monolithic
GaAs Monolithic
GaAs Monolithic
InP Monolithic
GaN, have basic material properties that are more favorable to very high-power amplifier
realization than is possible in GaAs, by using high-voltage (HV) operation (typically
2448 V). Considerable research effort is being invested in HV HPA development and
has resulted in impressive progress as illustrated in Table 8.7.
In this section we describe various types of MMIC power amplifier designed for
narrow band, broadband, high-power and high-efficiency applications. Salient features
of each design are discussed briefly.
374
Table 8.6 Summary of broadband MMIC power amplifiers. Performance listed is minimum over the
frequency band. MMICs with greater than 1 W were selected for this comparison [23]
Freq. range
(GHz)
No. of
stages
Gain
(dB)
PO
(W)
PAE
(%)
Device technology
28
2.55.5
4.59
4.710
618
0.72.7
1.352.8
2.06.0
2.08.0
1
2
2
1
3
2
2
2
2
9
17
17
7
22
20
23
15
13.5
1.4
2
2
5
2.3
12
12
10
8
18
30
25
8
20
22
28
26
16
GaAs HBT
GaAs MESFET
GaAs MESFET
GaN on Sapphire
GaAs pHEMT
GaAs MESFET
GaAs MESFET
GaAs MESFET
GaAs MESFET
Table 8.7 HV MMIC HPA examples [23]
8.4.1
Frequency
(GHz)
Supply
voltage
(V)
Output
power
(W)
Power
density
(W/mm)
PAE
(%)
Technology
Year
0.9
2.0
3.3
3.5
10.0
10.0
16.0
31.0
33.0
35.0
28
12
24
55
20
40
31
20
13
24
25
50
50
36.3
8.0
20.0
24.2
11
2.2
4.0
1
3
5
3.3
2.3
3.3
60
45
40
20.6
36.7
25
22.2
18.6
23
HBT, GaAs
pHEMT, GaAs
FP FET, GaAS
MESFET, SiC
GaN HEMT, SiC
GaN HEMT, SiC
GaN HEMT, SiC
GaN HEMT, SiC
GaN HEMT, SiC
GaN HEMT, SiC
2004
2004
2002
2004
2006
2002
2007
2004
2006
Narrowband power amplifier

7 W Ku-Band PA
A 7 W Ku-band MMIC power amplifier based on MSAG MESFET was developed using
the loadline method. The HPA is a three-stage design using two 1.8 mm gate periphery
FETs at the input driving four 1.8 mm FETs that drive eight 1.8 mm FETs at the output
[45]. The FET aspect ratio of 2:1 was used for maximum output power and PAE under
saturation. Thermal analysis of these FETs is also given. The matching circuit microstrip
lines are on 10 m polyimide [46] in order to reduce the resistive loss of the output
match. Figure 8.13 shows the photograph of the 7W MMIC HPA. The HPA include bias
circuitry on-chip and requires bias supply from both sides. The Q-point was selected
for Class AB operation (30% IDSS ). Typical measured CW Pout and PAE for the 7 W
MMIC power amplifier at Vds = 8 V and Pin = 23 dBm are depicted in Figure 8.14. The
First stg.
FETs
Second stg.
FETs
375
Third stg.
FETs
In
Out
Figure 8.13 Photograph of the three-stage 7 W Ku-band HPA. Chip size is 4.2 mm 4.4 mm.
(After Bahl [23]. Reprinted with permission of John Wiley.)
Output Power and PAE
50
Po (dBm)
40
PAE (%)
30
20
10
12.5
13.0
13.5
14.0
14.5
Frequency (GHz)
Figure 8.14 Typical measured output power and PAE versus frequency at Vds = 8 V and Pin =
23 dBm.
amplifier has a large-signal gain of about 16 dB, greater than 38.5 dBm output power and
better than 27% PAE over the 12.514.5 GHz frequency range. The measured second
and third harmonic power levels were below 40 dBc and 75 dBc, respectively. During
the test no additional matching circuitry or circuit tweaking was used.
376
First stage FETs
Second stage FETs
In
Out
Figure 8.15 Photograph of the two-stage 2 W broadband MMIC power amplifier. Chip size is
3 mm 3 mm.
8.4.2
Broadband power amplifiers

2 W C-band PA
Next, a 2 W C-band MMIC power amplifier for broadband applications is described.
Based on the output matching networks dissipative and mismatch loss and 0.8 W/mm
power output at Vds = 10 V for the FETs, a total of 5 mm gate periphery for the output
stage FETs to deliver 2 W was used. The first stage uses two 0.625 mm gate periphery
FETs, resulting in a FET ratio of 4:1. In the IC design a binary matching scheme
employing low-pass networks was used. Both lumped and distributed circuit elements
for impedance matching networks were used. The low-pass matching sections consist of
series high-impedance lines/inductors and shunt MIM capacitors. The design technique
of the two-stage broadband amplifier is the same as that described in reference [47],
i.e., using small signal and nonlinear FET models, and load-pull data obtained at the
operating bias point.
The Q-point was selected for Class AB operation (25% IDSS ) of the device in order
to obtain the best compromise of power output, gain, PAE, linearity and variable power
supply operation over the C band. Figure 8.15 shows a photograph of the broadband
MMIC power amplifier. Typical CW measured output power, PAE and small signal gain
for MMIC packaged chips at Vds = 10 V and IDQ = 360 mA are shown in Figure 8.16 as
a function of frequency. The power and PAE numbers are at Pin = 19 dBm. The amplifier
has better than 30% PAE with greater than 34 dBm output power and 18 dB gain over
the 4.5 to 8.5 GHz frequency range. The input VSWR was better than 2:1.
377
Po, Gain and PAE
50
PAE (%)
40
Po (dBm)
30
Gain (dB)
20
10
4.5
5.5
6.5
7.5
Frequency (GHz)
8.5
Figure 8.16 Typical measured output power, efficiency, and small-signal gain versus frequency.
10 W X-band PA
A 10 W X-band 3-stage high-efficiency MMIC power amplifier based on MSAG MESFET was developed [48]. The design used a FET periphery of two 0.94 mm devices
(ten fingers each) in the input stage, four 1.5 mm devices (14 fingers each) in the interstage, and eight 2.5 mm FETs (24 fingers each) in the output stage. The design of the
MMIC power amplifier was based on small signal and large signal FET models, and
load-pull data obtained at the operating bias point. Here a reactive binary matching
topology, employing low-pass and high-pass networks, was used which provided high
power output and PAE. Both lumped elements and distributed circuit elements were
used for impedance matching networks. In the first iteration design optimization using
the load-line technique, four sets of S-parameter data, corresponding to low-gain, high
gain, low current and high current, were used. These data files represent the possible
fabrication changes and allowed the realization of a more process-tolerant design. Once
again, the Q-point was selected for Class AB operation (25% IDSS ) of the device in
order to obtain the best compromise of power output, gain and PAE over the X band.
The GaAs substrate thickness was 75 m. Figure 8.17 shows a photograph of the
10 W HPA.
In the second iteration the circuit was further optimized using the Taguchi technique
to improve the bandwidth and output power as described in Chapter 9 of reference [23].
Typical measured CW output power, PAE and gain versus frequency for a packaged
die are shown in Figure 8.18. Power added efficiency of 3443% and output power of
10 W were measured across the 8.511 GHz frequency band. The output power was
12 W with over 40% PAE across 9.510.5 GHz.
8.4.3
Ultra broadband power amplifiers

Over the past two decades most of the MMIC power amplifier products have been developed for a bandwidth of less than 50%. Several applications such as broadband communications and electronic warfare require multioctave high-power amplifiers (HPAs).
However, to date, limited work on multioctave MMIC HPAs has been reported in the
published literature. Some of these examples are discussed next.
First stg.
FETs
Second stg.
FETs
Third stg.
FETs
Out
In
Figure 8.17 Photograph of the three-stage 10 W X-band MMIC HPA. Chip size is 4.6 mm
4.6 mm. (After Bahl [23]. Reprinted with permission of John Wiley.)
50
Po, Gain and PAE
378
Po (dBm)
40
PAE (%)
30
Gain (dB)
20
10
10
11
Frequency (GHz)
Figure 8.18 Typical measured CW output power, PAE and gain of a 10 W HPA. Vds = 10 V and
Pin = 19 dBm. Baseplate temperature was 60 C.
15 W L- to S-band HPA
A low-cost solution to broadband MMIC HPAs has been reported recently [49]. The
design example was a 12 W two-stage amplifier operating over 0.7 to 2.7 GHz. The
design methodology and test results for this HPA have also been described in reference
[49]. Another high-power amplifier working over 1.2 to 2.4 GHz with a target output
First stg.
FETs
Second stg.
FETs
In
379
Drain bias
busline
Out
Figure 8.19 Photograph of the two-stage 15 W L/S-band MMIC power amplifier. Chip size is
5.0 m 8.0 mm. (After Bahl [23]. Reprinted with permission of John Wiley.)
power of 15 W was designed using a reactive/resistive matching technique and a 0.4 m

MSAG FET. The two-stage HPA consists of four 2.0 mm FETs at the input driving 16
2.0 mm FETs at the output. The HPA design was based on loadline data and a low-loss
matching technique. The HPA includes bias circuitry on-chip and requires bias supply
from both sides. The amplifier was operated at a nominal power supply voltage of
10 V. The Q-point was selected for Class AB operation (2025% IDSS ). Figure 8.19
shows a photograph of the 15 W broadband HPA.
Figure 8.20 shows the average measured CW output power and PAE of the broadband
MMIC power amplifier. PAE was better than 29% with greater than 15 W saturated
power output over 1.2 to 2.8 GHz. The small-signal gain was better than 20 dB and
input and output VSWR were less than 2:1. This outstanding power performance was
only possible because of high across-wafer uniformity of saturated drain-source current
(IDSS ) and cut-off frequency ( fT ) for the MSAG process [49].
8 W 28 GHz HPA
A two-octave bandwidth MMIC HPA developed using MSAG MESFET technology
was reported in reference [50]. The ultra broadband MMIC HPA used two stages; eight
0.94 mm FETs in the input stage drive sixteen 0.94 mm FETs in the output stage. The
output stage matching network used a 16-way binary reactive combining topology to
380
Figure 8.20 Typical measured CW output power and PAE at Vds = 10 V.
obtain two-octave bandwidth. A low-loss matching design technique, as discussed in

Chapter 9 of reference [23], was used in the design of the two-stage power amplifier.
The matching networks were realized using a multilevel plating MMIC process. Figure
8.21 shows a photograph of the 8 W broadband MMIC HPA.
Typical measured CW output power and PAE for the MMIC power amplifier are
shown in Figure 8.22. Over the 28.5 GHz frequency range Pout was greater than
37.6 dBm and PAE better than 16%. The dips in power and PAE at 4.5 and 7.5 GHz are
due to higher mismatch loss as discussed in reference [50]. Over most of the frequency
band, the output power and PAE were close to 8 W and 2030%, respectively. The
measured second and third harmonic power levels were below 13 dBc and 13.5 dBc,
respectively.
218 GHz Distributed PA

Next, an ultra-broadband 0.5 W 218 GHz two-stage distributed amplifier (DA) based
on MSAG MESFET is described. Each stage is matched to 50 and uses five cells. In
the first stage each FET has a gatewidth of 300 m. In the second stage the device size
is tapered to obtain the largest power bandwidth and PAE, and the FET sizes used are
630, 630, 470, 470, and 300 m. By using small-signal S-parameters each stage was
optimized for maximum gain, and good input and output VSWR. Figure 8.23 shows the
physical layout of the broadband DA. The measured gain and saturated output power are
shown in Figure 8.24. The measured saturated power and PAE in the 218 GHz band
were 0.50.8 W and 1015%, respectively.
Drain 1 bias
bus line
381
Gate 2 bias bus line

Drain 2
bias bus
line
Tr. line
balun
In
Out
Figure 8.21 Photograph of the 2-stage 8 W S/C/X-band MMIC HPA. Chip size is 5.0 mm
6.3 mm. (After Bahl [50]. Reprinted with permission of IEEE.)
50
Po (dBm)
40
PAE (%)
30
20
10
Frequency (GHz)
Figure 8.22 Typical measured output power and PAE versus frequency of the 8 W ultra broadband
MMIC HPA.
8.4.4
High-power amplifiers
Although there are fundamental limitations to the power that can be generated from a
single transistor, the achievable power levels can be significantly increased by combining
a number of devices operating coherently or by accumulating the power from a number
of discrete devices. Monolithic high-power amplifier design involves power combining
as many devices as is practical in order to achieve increased power levels. A single
382
Stage 2
Out
In
Stage 1
Figure 8.23 Layout of the 0.5 W 218 GHz MMIC PA. Chip size is 3 3 mm. (After Bahl [23].
Reprinted with permission of John Wiley.)
Figure 8.24 Typical measured gain and output power versus frequency of the 218 GHz MMIC
power amplifier.
large device is impractical on a MMIC because of the difficulty of matching the very
low device input impedance. The cluster matching technique [23] has emerged as the
optimum means of integrating the matching network into the splitting and combining
manifolds. The MMIC chip width and the insertion loss of this output manifold impose
a practical limit on the number of devices that can be combined both for economical
reasons (wasteful use of expensive chip space) and because the efficiency drops quickly
383
Figure 8.25 A 50 W 2.12.2 GHz MMIC power amplifier. Chip size is 10 mm 10 mm. (After
Akkul et al. [51]. Reprinted with permission of IEEE.)
as the combining loss increases. Much higher power levels are obtained by combining
MMIC HPAs off-chip using matched combiners.
50 W S-Band HPA
An example of a 50 W MMIC amplifier [51] is shown in Figure 8.25. The output match
depicts the cluster matching technique. The two-stage 2 GHz design is based on 0.5 m
gate GaAs pHEMT devices and used sixteen 8 mm cell (128 mm total gate periphery)
at the output stage. The measured CW power and efficiency, at a nominal 12 V supply
voltage, were 50 W and 45% over a 10% bandwidth, respectively.
X-Band 20-W HPA

Next, an example of power combining using two MMIC HPAs on-chip is described.
The 20 W X-band HPA consists of two 10W power amplifiers fully matched to 50
and combined using a Wilkinson-type power splitter/combiner. The 10 W high-power
amplifier design consists of three stages [52]. Binary corporate feed combining was
used consisting of two 0.625 mm FETs driving four 1.1 mm FETs which finally drive
eight 2.0 mm FETs. Each FET had 20 m gate-to-gate pitch. The chip was designed
to operate at a nominal supply voltage of 10 V. Figure 8.26 shows a photograph of the
20 W HPA.
Typical measured CW output power and PAE data for a packaged die, taken at Pin =
18 dBm, are shown in Figure 8.27. The HPA was tested at 25 C base plate temperature.
The measured PAE was better than 33% and greater than 43 dBm output power, over the
8 to 10 GHz frequency range was achieved. The largesignal gain was 25 dB.
Figure 8.26 Photograph of the 20 W X-band HPA. Chip size is 5 8 mm. (After Bahl [23].
50
384
Po (dBm)
20 W
40
PAE (%)
30
20
10
10
11
Frequency (GHz)
Figure 8.27 Typical measured PAE and output power versus frequency at Vds = 10 V and Pin =
18 dBm.
14 W HPA with 60% PAE

The current and voltage waveform clipping are the fundamental sources of compression in a power amplifier. Waveform clipping and other device nonlinearities result in
harmonic generation at the input and output of the amplifier. Converting fundamental
frequency signal into harmonic signals degrades the output power and PAE. If these
harmonic signals are reactively terminated properly, i.e., superimposed on fundamental
385
Out
Second
Harm.
Term.
In
Figure 8.28 Layout of the 15 W C-band HPA. Chip size is 3.7 6.4 mm. (After Bahl [23].
43
65
60
Po (dBm)
41
50
40
39
4.4
55
4.6
4.8 5.0 5.2 5.4

Frequency (GHz)
PAE (%)
Output Power (dBm)
PAE
42
45
5.6
Figure 8.29 Typical measured PAE and output power versus frequency at Vds = 10 V and Pin =
32 dBm.
voltage and current waveforms with the desired phase at the input and output, the PAE of
the amplifier can be enhanced by shaping the sinusoidal input signal into approximately
a square wave signal. As discussed in Chapter 8 of reference [23], the most desirable
termination conditions are: second harmonic short circuited and the third harmonic open
circuited at the internal port of the device. Next, a narrowband single-stage MMIC HPA
with state-of-the-art PAE obtained by harmonic tuning is discussed.
The high-efficiency 15 W C-band MMIC power amplifier based on MESFET technology used 28 mm gate periphery and was matched to 25 input and output system
impedance The circuit was optimized using the Taguchi technique and described in
references [23, 53]. The chip was designed to operate at a nominal supply voltage of
10 V. The layout of the single-stage HPA is shown in Figure 8.28. Quarter-wave 25
50 impedance transformers were used to test the HPA chip. Figure 8.29 shows typical
measured CW output power and PAE over 4.4 to 5.6 GHz. The packaged HPA was
386
characterized at 25 C base plate temperature. The measured PAE was better than 55%
with greater than 14 W output power over the 4.7 to 5.5 GHz frequency range. Greater
than 60% PAE was obtained over a narrower band.
8.4.5
Millimeter wave 2.4 W PA

Excellent progress has been made in millimeter wave MMIC PAs based on pHEMT
technologies. A monolithic high-power and high-PAE two-stage amplifier operating
from 27.5 to 29.5 GHz was reported for local multipoint distribution service. The
amplifier was designed in a balanced configuration using Lange couplers. Each singleended HPA chip was designed with 50 input and output. The design was based on
0.15 m gate-length pHEMTs operating at a power supply of 5 V [54]. The measured
values for small-signal gain, output power and PAE were 16 dB, 1.6 W, and 35%,
respectively. A peak output power of 2.4 W with PAE of 37% was reported.
8.4.6
Wireless 3 W power amplifier

Next, an example of a GSM MMIC power amplifier based on GaAs HBT technology is
described. Typical performance specifications are given below:
Frequency range
Power gain
Output power
PAE
Input VSWR
Supply voltage
Control Current
880915 MHz
30 dB
3W
50%
2:1
3.5 V
5 mA @ 2.7 V
The amplifier design was based on a 3 m emitter width GaAs HBT monolithic
technology [23]. HBT technology has gained acceptance as a cost effective alternative
to MESFET power amplifiers and has several advantages over MESFET technology.
An HBT power amplifier operates from a single positive DC power supply resulting
in reduced overall amplifier design complexity. HBT power amplifiers are capable
of very high power densities, which reduces the overall chip size and cost compared
to MESFET/pHEMT power amplifiers. However, the thermal design of HBT power
amplifiers is much more critical than with MESFET amplifiers. Great care must be
taken to prevent thermal runaway in HBT power amplifier designs.
To meet the target gain specification, the power amplifier requires three stages. The
output stage is sized at 11,880 m2 , which requires six parallel arms with 11 cells per
arm as shown in Figure 8.30. Each cell consists of two fingers having a total area of
2 3 30 = 180 m2 . The device size ratio of the last two stages is 6.6:1 and the device
size ratio of the first two stages is 5:1.
Figure 8.31 shows typical measured CW performance of this HBT PA design. PAE
is 54% with output power of 35.5 dBm. Measured large-signal gain was greater than
30 dB. The input return loss was better than 10 dB.
387
Po, PAE, Gain and Return Loss
Figure 8.30 Layout of GSM MMIC power amplifier. (After Bahl [23]. Reprinted with permission
of John Wiley.)
60
PAE (%)
50
40
Po (dBm)
Gain (dB)
30
20
10
-20
Input RL
(dB)
-15
-10
-5
0
Input Power (dBm)
10
Figure 8.31 Typical measured power, PAE, gain and input return loss versus input power of GSM
power amplifier design.
8.4.7
High-voltage monolithic PAs

At a nominal 10 V supply there is a limit on how many transistors one can combine in
parallel in a single package to produce a high-power amplifier. At the low end of S band
for discrete transistors this limit is 150200 W, while for a single MMIC at 10 GHz, this
388
Figure 8.32 Photograph of the 10 W 3-stage HVMSAG MMIC. The chip size is 3 mm2 . (After
Bahl [23]. Reprinted with permission of John Wiley.)
limit is about 20 W. This limit is caused by transverse resonance along the width and
not being able to match the very low device impedance. With HV transistors this limit
is extended by a factor of 510.
HV operation for a given output power simplifies the MMIC chip and system current
routing. Higher voltage operation will increase the load impedance, making it easier to
achieve the necessary matching for output power and PAE over the operating frequency
band. At RF and low microwave frequencies harmonic terminations and class-E operation are important design parameters in an HVHPA next to low-loss output matching
network in order to obtain high PAE. MMIC power amplifiers using high-voltage devices
have been developed working in S through Ka bands. Below 4 GHz, several devices
including field plate (FP) MESFETs, HBTs, pHEMTs and GaN HEMTs have been used
to develop MMICs, whereas above 4 GHz, MMICs are primarily based on GaN HEMTs
[23]. Next, examples of MMIC HPAs based on HV devices are presented.
10 W GaAs HV FET MMIC amplifier

A three-stage 10 W MMIC amplifier was reported based on HV MSAG FET [55]. The
HV MSAG process is designed to operate at 24 V. The HPA used a 9.6 mm FET periphery
at the output stage to achieve 10 W of output power. Figure 8.32 shows a photograph
of the MMIC. Typical measured CW output power and PAE of the packaged chip at
P1 dB are shown in Figure 8.33. PAE was greater than 30% with 10 W output power over
33.8 GHz band. The associated gain was 27 dB.
GaN HEMT MMIC on SiC amplifiers

Since the early 2000s steady progress has been made in GaN HEMT-based MMIC power
amplifiers. A 24 W MMIC power amplifier was reported using 0.4 m gate GaN HEMT
on SiC at 16 GHz and biased at 31 V. The two-stage amplifier was matched to 50 at the
input and 25 at the output. The input stage used 3 mm driving 6 mm transistors at the
output. A quarter-wave 2550 impedance transformer was used to test the HPA chip.
The measured output power and PAE at 16 GHz were 24.2 W and 22%, respectively [24].
8.5 Packaging of MMIC PAs
389
50
10 W
40
Po (dBm)
PAE (%)
30
20
10
2.7
2.9
3.1
3.3
3.5
3.7
Frequency (GHz)
3.9
Figure 8.33 Typical measured output Power and PAE of the 10 W HVMSAG MMIC.
The associated gain was 12.8 dB. Thus, a power density of 4 W/mm was demonstrated
at Ku band.
A 4 W power amplifier MMIC was developed using 0.18 m gate length Al/GaN/GaN
HEMT on SiC at Ka band. The two-stage design used two 0.6 mm gate periphery
transistors at the output. The device aspect ratio in the two-stage design was 2:1 [56].
The chip was designed to operate at a nominal supply voltage of 24 V. The measured
saturated output power and PAE at 35 GHz were 4 W and 23%, respectively. The
associated gain was 12 dB.
8.5
Packaging of MMIC PAs

The application of amplifiers in modern commercial and military systems requires
cost-effective packaging solutions. For high-volume commercial applications, power
amplifiers are generally housed in low-cost plastic packages whereas military and highpower amplifier applications often use semicustom/custom ceramic packages designed
for performance, reliability, and low to medium volume manufacturing. RF packaging
technologies are advancing rapidly in terms of modeling, frequency, bandwidth and
cost. Some of these packages are usable up to 40 GHz. The topic of RF and microwave
packaging has been treated in several books [5762], book and handbook chapters [63
70], and many other publications [7175]. A brief history of RF and microwave packages
is provided in reference [70].
The selection of a suitable package and assembly technique play an important role in
the performance, cost, and reliability of MMIC power amplifiers. When amplifier circuits
are packaged, the effect of package assembly techniques and package environment
must be kept to a minimum. Minimizing package complexity is important for reducing
package cost. Minimizing the number of dielectric layers and the overall size assists
dramatically in the improvement of production yields and lowering costs. However, a
tradeoff exists between simplicity and functional features of these packages.
The packaging requirements depend upon the application at hand. For example, in
wireless communications applications below 18 GHz, GaAs MMIC power amplifiers are
390
Figure 8.34 Examples of MMIC ceramic packages. (After Bahl [23]. Reprinted with permission
of John Wiley.)
being mounted into surface mount plastic packages in order to achieve low-cost goals.
For applications with a relatively low-power operation, they are thermally acceptable.
For high-frequency, high-performance, and high-power (including HV) applications,
metal-base ceramic packages are often required as they have low thermal resistance,
good hermetic properties, high-power capability, and good reliability.
8.5.1
Ceramic packages
Numerous types of ceramic package were developed during the late 1970s and 1980s for
transistors and MMICs. There are many types of ceramic package offered by manufacturers either in off-the-shelf or custom outlines. The most popular ceramic packages are
for power transistors as well as for internally matched power amplifiers. Packages were
developed both with and without leads. A ceramic package uses a ceramic material as
the base material between the leads for high isolation and low loss. In ceramic packages,
the amplifier die is usually mounted in an air cavity with a metal or ceramic lid on top.
Also, the power amplifier die is soldered to a metal base for best heat transfer from
the package. In power packages, the metal base or flange is then directly attached to a
heatsink. Ceramic packages can be manufactured in such a way that the product will be
either hermetic or nonhermetic depending on the environmental requirements. Hermetic
seal can be one of the key advantages of the ceramic-based package, especially for challenging environmental requirements. Hermetic seal adds considerable cost though to
the amplifier product. Several MMIC ceramic package styles are shown in Figure 8.34.
(a)
391
(b)
Figure 8.35 (a) Photograph of a ceramic package for MMIC medium power amplifiers. (After
Bahl [23]. Reprinted with permission of John Wiley.) (b) Photograph of an MMIC HPA in a
large cavity ceramic package.
High performance, medium power (less than 5 W) ceramic packages in large quantity
are available in the $23 range.
Today, the most popular ceramic package is with leads and was developed for medium
power MMIC amplifier applications having moderate volumes such as VSAT and pointto-point radio applications. A photograph of this type of package with a lid is shown in
Figure 8.35a. A MMIC HPA mounted in a large cavity version of the aforementioned
ceramic package is shown in Figure 8.35b.
Materials for ceramic packages

Ceramic package substrate materials can be composed of alumina (Al2 O3 ), glass (SiO),
glass alumina (LTCC and HTCC), aluminum nitride (AlN), boron nitride (BN), beryllium oxide (BeO), or silicon carbide (SiC). Among these, alumina is the most popular.
Ceramic materials have very high melting points and chemical stability because of their
strong bonds. Ceramic materials have an excellent combination of electrical, mechanical,
thermal and dimensional properties.
Kovar is the most popular lead frame or pin material for leaded ceramic packages.
Kovar is an alloy with a composition of 53% Fe-17% Co-20% Ni. It has a good thermal
expansion match with alumina, Si, GaAs and sealing glass but poor thermal conductivity.
Due to its poor thermal conductivity the use of kovar is limited to package leads and,
for low-power applications, as a package base or flange. The base or flange material for
high-power applications is generally a composite metal such as CuW or CuMoCu.
Ceramic package design

Packaging considerations for MMICs are similar to those for hybrid MICs. The package
must pass electrical requirements as well as rigorous tests of hermetic properties, thermal
and mechanical shock, moisture resistance, resistance to salt atmosphere, vibration
and acceleration, and solderability. In order to minimize the effect of the package on
MMIC performance, electrical, mechanical and thermal modeling of packages must be
performed and included in the MMIC design.
392
Cavity
Bonding pad
Feedthrough
Metal base
Metal layers
Ceramic layers
Figure 8.36 A ceramic package configuration with feed through.
For RF and microwave packages, the important electrical characteristics are low
insertion loss, high return loss and isolation, and no cavity or feed through resonance
over the operating frequency range. When a chip or chip set is placed in the cavity of
a package, there should be minimum degradation in the chips performance. Generally,
this cannot be accomplished without accurate electrical and EM modeling of the critical
package elements. Microwave design must be applied to three parts of the package: RF
feed through, cavity and DC bias lines. Of the three, the design of the RF feed through is
the most critical in determining the performance of packaged MMIC chips. Figure 8.36
shows a ceramic package with feed through. Salient features of MMIC package design
are discussed next.
The selection of the substrate material and thickness for ceramic packages depends
on the electrical performance requirements, cost, and frequency range of interest. The
substrate thickness is selected to match its height with MMIC thickness; otherwise, a
pedestal for mounting MMIC chips is required because these chips are typically about
24 mil thick. Microwave packages generally use 10 to 20 mil thick alumina substrates,
whereas millimeter-wave packages use 4 to 5 mil thick quartz. A low dielectric constant
is generally preferred because it makes the package interconnects electrically insensitive
and tolerant to microstrip dimensions, and it offers broadband frequency ranges, and it
results in a high yield. The microstrip width and thickness determines the characteristic
impedance and the DC resistance, whereas the spacing between the two conductors on
the same plane controls the crosstalk because of coupling. Generally, sufficient space
between the MMIC, the package walls, and the lid is provided in order to minimize
any interactions. The effect of the package lid on the MMIC characteristics is kept to a
minimum by keeping the lid above the MMIC surface by about five times the package
substrate thickness. In the ceramic package design, the affect of the type of lid becomes
critical in terms of amplifier stability. In high gain applications the use of a ceramic or
plastic lid is preferred because the use of metal lid might need some absorber material
to minimize the feedback between the output and input leads. Figure 8.37 shows several
types of multilead ceramic package. An air-cavity surface-mount low-profile leadless
393
Figure 8.37 Examples of leaded low-cost ceramic packages: (a) 6-lead, (b) 10-lead and (c) MMIC
package.
Cavity view
Lid view
Base view
Figure 8.38 Air cavity ceramic packages showing open, lid, and backside package views.
ceramic package is shown in Figure 8.38. The ceramic packages are surface mounted
on to a PCB or are soldered into modules.
Many styles of ceramic (alumina, beryllium-oxide, and aluminum nitride) packages
with metal bases (copper, copper-tungsten, or copper molybdenum) are available for
MMIC power amplifiers. Their cost depends upon the package size, frequency of operation, metal used, and volume. Some of these packages can be used up to 40 GHz.
Packages working up to 20 GHz can be obtained for less than $3 in large volume. In
small quantities, they cost between $20 and $50 not including nonrecurring engineering (NRE) tooling cost. Typically, the measured dissipative loss per RF feed is less
then 0.3 dB at 20 GHz. These packages provide much higher frequency of operation,
low lead-frame inductance, very low ground connection inductance, and much lower
thermal resistance than the plastic packages. Ceramic-type packages are well suited for
high-frequency and medium-power MMIC amplifiers.
Manufacturing ceramic packages

There are several methods being used for manufacturing ceramic packages. These methods are similar to hybrid circuit fabrication techniques including thin film, thick film,
394
Green tape
forming
Cutting and
punching
Screen
printing
Laminating
Ni/Au plating
Lead frame
brazing
Nickel
plating
Co-firing
Figure 8.39 Typical flow process for manufacturing of ceramic packages.
SOIC
PQFN
Figure 8.40 Examples of plastic IC packages including SOIC and PQFN.
LTCC, and HTCC. Figure 8.39 shows a typical flow process for the manufacture of
ceramic packages. Major suppliers of ceramic packages include Kyocera and NTK.
Ceramic packages are shipped in plastic waffle trays.
8.5.2
Plastic packages
The work on plastic packaging continues to make them more versatile, extend their
frequency range to higher frequencies, to handle more power, and lower the cost. These
developments have lead to surface mount plastic packages such as small outline integrated circuit (SOIC) packages. Low-cost and low-inductance requirements in the semiconductor industry were the driving force behind the enormous development of the
high-performance leadless molded plastic packages. These packages are surface mount
leadless packages (SMLP), also known as power quad flat no lead (PQFN) or simply
QFN. These packages typically have leads on all four sides but newer very small outlines
are two sided. PQFN packages come in a variety of sizes and lead frame configurations.
Pitch, the distance between the leads, varies from 0.3 mm to 1 mm. The bonding pad
size is 12 by 12 mm. Figure 8.40 shows examples of plastic IC packages including SOIC
and PQFN. Plastic packaging, which includes both package and assembly, often costs
less than $0.25 per package.
In contrast to a ceramic package, the MMIC power amplifier die in a plastic package
is encapsulated with a plastic molding compound so that no air-cavity or lid is involved.
The molding compound can affect the amplifier frequency response, especially for
frequencies above 3 GHz. High frequency designs should be simulated with the loading
of the plastic compound on the matching networks. Leads in plastic packages have
lower isolation (40 dB versus 60 dB) because of the material properties of the plastic.
395
In addition, plastic packages are nonhermetic and are sensitive to moisture. However,
they are substantially cheaper for high-volume applications. Innovations in package and
molding compound design have allowed plastic packages to be used for high-gain and
high-frequency amplifier products.
In the plastic package, the lead frame (LF) is the central supporting structure to which
the die is attached. The lead frame is stamped from a thin sheet of metal. The metal
sheet is usually of Kovar for low-power application and copper/copper alloy for power
packages. The LF carries the die throughout the assembly process. Plastic packages are
mostly modified versions of standard lead frame designs including the molding material.
Diced wafers are supplied to the plastic packaging manufacturer and they perform all
the steps including pick-and-place, epoxy dispense, wire bonding, molding, marking
and sawing packages. For power amplifier products, thermally as well as electrically
conductive epoxy is required. Plastic packages are shipped in plastic tubes, in cans, and
in tape and reel. Major suppliers of plastic packaging include Amkor, Carsem, Unisem,
Asat, and Azimuth. The plastic packages are usually surface mounted on a PCB in their
final configuration.
Plastic package design

Plastic package design basically consists of two parts: LF and plastic polymer. The
lead frame is the backbone of a plastic package. Generally both LF and polymer are
available as standard items from plastic packaging manufacturers. The lead frame can
be modified by paying an additional tooling cost to the manufacturer. The design of a
lead frame comprises its material, package thickness, cavity size, total number of leads,
and lead-to-lead pitch. The dielectric constant and loss tangent values of the organic
molding compound are about 3.7 and 0.01, respectively.
Several different types of lead frame material including nickel-iron and copper-based
alloys are being used. Their selection for a particular application depends on factors such
as cost, performance, and ease of fabrication. The desirable features for the LF materials
are good strength, good thermal expansion match with Si and GaAs materials, and high
thermal conductivity. The lead frame material may be grouped into three categories:
nickel-iron, copper-clad strip, and copper-based alloys. Kovar and Alloy 42 (42% Ni58%Fe) are the most widely used LF materials for low-power applications but have poor
thermal conductivity. Copper-based LF materials have very high thermal conductivity
and are used for power amplifiers. Copper-clad LF materials were developed to match the
mechanical properties of Alloy 42 while retaining coppers high thermal conductivity.
Cladded material is fabricated by rolling copper foil onto stainless steel. Copper alloys
are obtained by mixing other metals into copper to obtain alloy properties suitable for
plastic packages. The frames are either chemically etched or mechanically stamped from
metal sheets. Typical sheet thickness is from 8 to10 mil. The portion of the lead frame
which is to be wire bonded is silver plated.
Plastic packages
For a given package size the only package design variable is the number of leads. For
example, the 4 mm package is available in both 20 and 24 leads. There are several
396
Table 8.8 Examples of PQFN packages

with maximum MMIC die size
Package style
Max die size

(mm2 )
4 mm PQFN-20LD
4 mm PQFN-24LD
5 mm PQFN-20LD
5 mm PQFN-28LD
6 mm PQFN-28LD
2.15 2.15
2.45 2.45
3.15 3.15
3.15 3.15
4.45 4.45
4 4 mm2
5 5 mm2
6 6 mm2
Figure 8.41 Top-side view of high-performance PQFN plastic packages.
versions of high-performance PQFN package which are available. Some of them are
shown inFigure 8.41 and listed in Table 8.8 with preferred GaAs or Si die size for
each package. The cavity size is slightly larger than the die size. Large cavity size is
usually used for multistage medium power amplifiers. Plastic packages such as 4 mm
PQFN-16LD can be used up to 18 GHz. and the measured loss in a PQFN package is
on the order of 0.2 dB at 18 GHz.
8.5.3
Package assembly
Die attach and wire bonding are two important steps in package assembly. In a MMIC
power amplifier assembly the first step is to attach chip components onto carriers,
pedestals/shims, package cavities and substrates or substrates onto carriers, etc. The
chip attachment technique is called the die attach process. The important considerations
for die attach are to have low thermal resistance and a strong mechanical bond. In the case
of hybrid assemblies both die and surface mount packaged die including semiconductor
chips, capacitors, inductors and resistors are used. The die form minimizes size, weight,
the effect of parasitic reactance and die-to-die propagation delays. It is preferred to
mount high-power chips first on to pedestals/shims and then solder them into packages.
Die attach
Two methods are used for die attachment: epoxy die attach and eutectic die attach. Epoxy
die attach process is commonly used for mounting passive components, and low and
397
medium power devices. The epoxies are cured at relatively low temperatures, are easy to
work with, are applied using automatic dispensers, and are military and space qualified.
Epoxy is available in two types: silver (Ag) epoxy and gold (Au) epoxy. Ag epoxy is
commonly used as it is less expensive than Au epoxy.
Eutectic die attach is performed using a heated stage, and a commonly used solder
material is gold tin (AuSn) with a ratio 80:20 with chips that have backside gold
metallization. The metallization of 1 m thick gold is good enough for eutectic soldering.
For higher temperature operation, a gold-germanium (AuGe) eutectic solder can also
be used. Eutectic solder material is available in the form of a preform and usually its
size is slightly smaller than the chip size. The work stage or chuck is preheated. The
temperature of the heating stage should be set such that the bonding area quickly rises
to within 5075 C of the melting point of the solder preform. A 1 mil thick preform
is generally used. At the final solder step, a jet flow of heated forming gas or nitrogen
which has the gas temperature of about 100 C above the solder melting point is used.
The solder should melt in a few seconds after applying the air jet. A preform is placed
where the die is to be soldered and it promptly melts. The die is placed on the melted
preform with care and scrubbed back and forth. The carrier is removed from the heated
stage and allowed to cool. The solder time is generally less than 5 minutes. If the chuck
temperature or solder time or both are substantially increased, the die attach process
might degrade the semiconductor chip performance.
The thermal conductivity of commonly used gold-tin solder is 57 W/m C, whereas
the thermal conductivity of silver epoxy materials Kidd AG-03HTL, Std Ablebond 84
1LMISR4 (Ablebond 8360) and Ablebond RP-3161 are 300, 2.8 and 10 W/m C,
respectively. Among these materials Kidd AG-03HTL appears to be the best for packaging MMIC PA chips.
Die wire bonding

After die attach process, discrete lumped elements and semiconductor devices (transistors or MMICs or both) are interconnected with each other or connected to package
substrate pads or to leads using wire bonds. In wire bonding, two similar metals are
bonded together under the influence of pressure and temperature at well below their
melting point. Both the wire and pad are gold. If the wire is made from gold, the
pad to be attached has to be of gold. This technique is also known as thermal compression bonding. Two methods for thermal compression wire bonding are used: ball
bonding and wedge bonding. Wedge bonding is also performed by using ultrasonic
techniques.
The electrical model for single and multiple wires has been described in Chapter 4 of
reference [20]. As a first-order approximation the lead frame parasitic capacitance can be
combined with the wire bond inductance to realize a transmission line of characteristic
impedance of 50 . When a wire bond is modeled as an inductor from the measured
S-parameter data, it might result in a lower value than the actual value if one is not
careful. This can be explained by using Figure 8.42. A simple model of a short wire
bond is shown in Figure 8.42a. The series inductance may be split into two parts as
398
L1
Cs
(a)
Z0
L1
L2
Cs
(b)
(c)
Figure 8.42 Simplified bond wire models.
shown in Figure 8.42b. A part of the series inductance L2 with shunt capacitance Cs is
equivalent to 50 line, i.e.

(8.10)
Z 0 = L 2 /Cs = 50
This is shown in Figure 8.42c. Thus, during de-embedding, a part of the inductance is
absorbed in the de-embedding impedance, which lowers the series inductance value. In
order to obtain an accurate model, one must carefully compare both the magnitude and
phase of the modeled response with the measured S-parameter data. Also, by measuring
the SRF, one can de-embed the shunt capacitance Cs . The SRF is given by
f res =
2 LCs
(8.11)
For example, two 30 mm long wires have L

= 0.4 nH, Cs = 0.06 pF and SRF =
32.49 GHz.
Assembly of ceramic packages

A ceramic package flow diagram example is depicted in Figure 8.43 [70]. The first step
is to apply silver epoxy (low-power devices) or place a solder preform in the cavity of
the package (power devices). In the latter case the package is placed on a hot plate.
The next step is to place the semiconductor die to be packaged. In moderate and highvolume applications this step is usually done using an automatic pick and place machine.
After this 100200 pF RF bypass chip capacitors are attached with silver epoxy. This
is followed by wire bonding and then the lid is attached to the package wall. The lid
is made from ceramic, glass or metal. The lid is coated with solder material along its
border and then thermally attached. Lids are also attached using brazing, glass sealing
and welding. In the final step the product is marked using a laser scribing technique and
the lead-frame trimmed if necessary.
Assembly of plastic packages

Figure 8.44 illustrates an MMIC plastic packaging flow diagram [70]. The ICs are
packaged using pick and place techniques. The first step is to apply silver epoxy. The
next step is to place the semiconductor die to be packaged. This is followed by wire
bonding and molding. Steps such as pick-and-place, epoxy dispensing, wire bonding and
molding are performed by using automatic machines and robots for high reproducibility
of performance and low cost. Then the product is marked and finally the lead-frame is
399
Figure 8.43 Assembly flow for MMIC housed in a ceramic package. (After Bahl [23]. Reprinted
with permission of John Wiley.)
Wafer Processing
Encapsulation
Pick and Place
Wire Bonding
Epoxy Dispense
Die Attach
Figure 8.44 Assembly flow for MMIC housed in a plastic package. (After Bahl [23]. Reprinted
400
Figure 8.45 Illustration of a GaAs medium power amplifier die bonded to the lead frame of a
plastic package. (After Bahl [23]. Reprinted with permission of John Wiley.)
sawn or punched to separate each plastic package. Figure 8.45 shows a medium power
GaAs MMIC amplifier attached to a lead frame. The output power level is about 2 W.
Hermetic sealing and encapsulation

Generally military, and sometimes commercial applications, require an MMIC package
to be hermetically sealed. A ceramic package and a metal housing are hermetically
sealed to protect from moisture and environment hazards. In this technique after mounting the die and wire bonding, a lid is attached to the top of the package housing. Only
ceramic/glass packages and metal housings are considered hermetic. In some applications the package encapsulation comprises glob-top, molding and cavity fill techniques.
In this method, the die and wires are covered with a polymer material. Package encapsulation is less complex and provides limited protection from environment hazards.
Due to improved chemical purity of encapsulation materials, the reliability of plastic
encapsulated circuits has been enhanced over the last decade [62].
Thermal considerations
Thermal modeling of packages becomes very important when the packages are used
with high-power ICs. Since thermal effects are frequency independent, thermal modeling
techniques used for low-frequency packages can also be used for microwave packages.
In HPAs and high-voltage HPAs (HVHPAs) where heat removal is of prime importance
8.6 MMIC power amplifier characterization
401
in packages and assemblies, thermal management becomes the predominant issue. The
current heat spreaders comprise BeO, AlN, CuW, CuMo, CuMoCu, and SiC and their
thermal conductivity values range between 150 to 350 W/mK. In GaAs and Si based
transistor amplifiers the heat flux is in the range 100300 W/cm2 . However, in HVHPAs
the heat flux is much higher than 300 W/cm2 . These heat flux values are an order of
magnitude higher than a high-power microprocessors heat flux level. To handle very
high heat flux values one needs diamond-like materials or composite materials as heat
spreaders with thermal conductivity values over 500 W/m K.
The basics of thermal design of amplifiers are treated in Chapter 16 of reference [23]
and Chapter 9 of this book.
The power dissipation in MMIC HPAs is much higher than in low-power ICs. Therefore the thermal design of HPAs and their assemblies (the layer stack from amplifier die
to heatsink) becomes the most critical aspect of their success. By properly designing
the boundaries between the GaAs chip and the heat sink for a good thermal path, heat
generated in the active devices can be efficiently removed. A thin GaAs substrate, a
void free and reliable die attach, use of a high thermal conductivity base plate, and a
good coefficient of thermal expansion match between GaAs and alumina is the basis for
good thermal design. High power ICs generate large heat fluxes and in such cases high
thermal conductivity flanges are designed to handle the dissipated heat.
MMIC power amplifiers produced in large volume are housed in air-cavity ceramic
or over-molded plastic packages. Achieving a uniform die attachment, at least under
the active area of the device, is very critical for thermal management of dissipated
power. Since voids in the die attach area have very low thermal conductivity, they either
significantly degrade or damage transistors. The quality of die attach can be examined
using scanning acoustic microscopy, also known as a sonoscan. In this method ultrasonic
energy is applied at the back of the flange. Since the ultrasound signal will not pass
through voids, they are detected using acoustic imaging.
8.6
MMIC power amplifier characterization

The evaluation of a MMIC power amplifier is a lengthy multistep process that examines
the performance of the device over frequency, temperature, input power, drain voltage,
and bias point. Parameters collected include output power, drain current, gate current,
harmonics, gain, noise figure, VSWR, TOI, IMD3, IMD5, and identification of spurious
signals. MMIC power amplifiers may be characterized using one of the four methods
outlined in the flow chart shown in Figure 8.46.
The characterization of a MMIC power amplifier begins with the measurement of onwafer small-signal CW or pulsed (depending on the output power level of the amplifier)
S-parameters tested by using RF probes over a very wide frequency range, typically
10 MHz to 20 GHz. The RF probes are normally calibrated using short-open-load-thru
(SOLT) standards available on commercial sapphire substrates. To check the validity of
measurements, gold standards or bench-mark circuits are generally used. A photograph
402
Initial on-wafer
screen
Shim mounted
Plastic/ceramic
package
Carrier
mounted
RF probe test
PC board
Fixure
Package/
Housing
Test
Test
Housing
Test
Test
Figure 8.46 MMIC power amplifier characterization flow.
Figure 8.47 Typical on-wafer HPA pulsed power measurement setup. (After Bahl [23]. Reprinted
of an on-wafer test setup is shown in Figure 8.47. On-wafer ultra-broadband testing often
reveals stability issues that are not present or cannot be observed in the band of operation.
These initial S-parameters are used to develop specifications for the input power level
required for on-wafer pulsed power measurements before a detailed characterization of
the part can begin in connectorized test fixtures or a housing. Pulsed power measurements
using RF probes are performed to test power amplifiers on-wafer for screening before
mounting on carriers or into packages. The large-signal S-parameter data is also used
403
Figure 8.48 Connectorized Fixture used to characterize the power and IMD performance of
MMIC HPAs under CW conditions. (After Bahl [23]. Reprinted with permission of John
Wiley.)
for phase-matched binning of the power amplifier chips for off-chip efficient power
combining using a hybrid approach.
After on-wafer pulsed power screening, several MMIC amplifier chips are generally
assembled on gold-plated Elkonite (Cu-W alloy) carriers for RF characterization. The
power amplifier products are either tested by mounting them on shims/pedestals or
inserting them into plastic/ceramic packages or a housing. The Elkonite material is
chosen for its good thermal conductivity and good thermal expansion match to GaAs
and alumina. The ICs are die attached using gold-tin (80/20 AuSn) at 300 C on a
pedestal in order to keep minimum bond wire lengths between the chip and the input
and output microstrip feed lines which are typically printed on 15 mm thick alumina
substrate. To the same carrier, 100200 pF border chip capacitors are mounted for
good RF bypass. The test fixtures are fitted with high-performance microstrip-to-coaxial
connectors having return loss greater than 20 dB up to 18 GHz. All chips are tested
under CW conditions and the base plate temperature is kept at 25 C.
The primary test vehicle for performing the power and IMD characterization is the
connectorized fixture as shown in Figure 8.48. This fixture provides for improved grounding, excellent thermal management, and an opportunity to adequately bias the part. The
carrier is generally bolted into a brass/copper fixture that includes RF SMA connector
blocks, 0.010.1 F capacitors to eliminate bias line instability, and DC connection
points for bias application. During test, the fixture block is directly attached to a cold/hot
404
Power
meter 1
Power
meter 2
Source
LPF
Power
amplifier
Directional
coupler 1
DUT
LPF
Directional
coupler 2
Spectrum
analyzer
Power
meter 3
Figure 8.49 Schematic of typical Pout versus Pin measurement setup.
Figure 8.50 Photograph of Pout versus Pin measurement test station. (After Bahl [23]. Reprinted
plate to maintain the required test temperature. Figure 8.49 shows a typical schematic
of a Pout versus Pin measurement setup and a photograph of the test station is depicted
in Figure 8.50.
Power characterization is the first CW examination of the MMIC power amplifier
product. This testing is performed over drain voltage, usually 4 to 10 V; bias point 10,
25, and 40% of IDSS ; input power -20 dB to + 5 dB of design P1 dB ; and temperature. In
this case, the output power at the fundamental and harmonic frequencies is measured as
a function of input power. The fundamental output power is usually measured using a
power meter (CW or pulsed) while the harmonics are measured by employing a spectrum
analyzer (SA). Also, the SA is used to monitor for oscillations during power testing.
If no issues are found with the design, the results of this characterization are used in
releasing the preliminary datasheet and for determining the on-wafer production test
405
Figure 8.51 PCB used for testing MMICs in PQFN packages. (After Bahl [23]. Reprinted with
permission of John Wiley.)
plan. This test plan defines the test conditions of frequency, bias, and input power and
lists the measurements to be performed, e.g., small-signal gain, large-signal power, and
gate and drain currents. The remaining undiced wafers are screened using the newly
developed production test plan. Datasheets are transitioned from preliminary to final
status when a statistically significant population of test data has been collected on a
particular part. For die products, this data comes from on-wafer screening of a number
of lots. Final data sheets establish min/max limits for parameters that are measured on
100% of the die product. Following the power characterization, TOI and IM3 testing
is performed under the same set of conditions as that of the power characterization.
Shim mounted die are used to measure the noise figure and CW S-parameters over
temperature.
Plastic packaged devices are also tested in tubes using automatic handlers. Plastic
packaged power amplifiers are generally tested by mounting them on a printed circuit
board (PCB). Figure 8.51 shows a PCB used for testing of PQFN packages. Ceramic
packaged power amplifiers are characterized using fixtures. Figure 8.52 shows the test
board for a commonly employed ceramic package used for driver power amplifiers.
The MMIC power amplifiers RF parameters are defined at the input and output
as reference planes, DC bias conditions are at the suggested DC terminal points, and
thermal interface is at the back of the chip or package. Other factors such as various
support circuits including packages, couplers, filters, circulators, antennas, bias lines,
406
Figure 8.52 Test fixture for testing ceramic packaged driver amplifiers. Bypass capacitors are 0.1
F ceramic chip. (After Bahl [23]. Reprinted with permission of John Wiley.)
fixtures, and connectors will affect its performance. Any resistive loss or mismatch loss
at the output, and the thermal setting can reduce the output power and PAE significantly.
Under such conditions the final product amplifier performance must be re-evaluated and
sufficient margins in the MMIC design must be considered.
References
1. R. S. Pengelly and J. S. Turner, Monolithic broadband GaAs FET amplifiers, Electron. Lett.,
vol. 12, pp. 251252, May 13, 1976.
2. J. V. Dilorenzo, D. D. Khandelwal (Eds.), GaAs FET Principles and Technology, Artech
House, Norwood, MA, 1982.
3. R. S. Pengelly, Microwave Field-Effect Transistors Theory, Design and Applications, Wiley,
Hoboken, NJ, 1982.
4. R. Soares, J. Graffeuil, and J. Obregon (Eds.), Applications of GaAs MESFETs, Artech House,
Norwood, MA, 1983.
5. R. E. Williams, Gallium Arsenide Processing Techniques, Artech House, Norwood, MA,
1984.
6. R. A. Pucel (Ed.), Monolithic Microwave Integrated Circuits, IEEE Press, Piscataway, NJ,
1985.
7. D. K. Ferry (Ed.), Gallium Arsenide Technology, Howard Sams, Indianapolis, IN, 1985.
8. N. G. Einspruch, W. R. Wisseman, GaAs Microelectronics, Academic Press, New York,
1985.
References
407
9. I. J. Bahl and P. Bhartia, Microwave Solid State Circuit Design, 2nd Edn., Wiley, Hoboken,
NJ, 2003, ch. 15.
10. R. Soares (Ed.), GaAs MESFET Circuit Design, Artech House, Norwood, MA, 1989.
11. J. Mun (Ed.), GaAs Integrated Circuits: Design and Technology, New York: Macmillan,
1988.
12. P. H. Ladbrooke, MMIC Design: GaAs FETs and HEMTs, Artech House, Norwood, MA,
1989.
13. R. Goyal (Ed.), Monolithic Microwave Integrated Circuits: Technology and Design, Artech
14. F. Ali, I. Bahl, and A. Gupta (eds.), Microwave and Millimeter-wave Heterostructure Transistors and Their Applications, Artech House, Norwood, MA, 1989.
15. F. Ali, A. Gupta (eds.), HEMTs and HBts: Devices, Fabrication and Circuits, Artech House,
Norwood, MA, 1991.
16. D. Fisher, I. Bahl, Gallium Arsenide IC Applications Handbook, Academic Press, San Diego,
1995.
17. R. Goyal (Ed.), High Frequency Analog Integrated Circuit Design, Wiley, Hoboken, NJ,
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Mali Mahalingam
Freescale Semiconductor Inc.
9.1
Why thermal design deserves careful attention?

A very large fraction of the energy consumed by the radio base station (RBS) of wireless infrastructure equipment ends up as waste heat. Power amplifiers consume the
largest share of the energy used by the radio base station. From a system perspective,
the efficiency of energy conversion (from drawn DC power to launched RF output
power) in an RBS is very low, of the order of 1.2% [1]. Similar concerns prevail for
radio/TV broadcast equipment and radar equipment. Thus, improving the efficiency of
power conversion (DC to RF) and low-loss launching of the RF power are major drives
in the industry. Even with such an on-going drive, efficient removal and disposal of
the waste heat are vitally important to keep the temperature of the power amplifiers
in control. Removal and disposal of this waste heat adds to the capital and operating expenditures for wireless infrastructure equipment makers and network providers
who operate such equipment. In this chapter we will examine how thermal design and
temperature control influence the cost, device electrical performance and reliability
of RFPAs.
Thermal management adds substantial cost to the reliable operation of an RBS. From
the construction of an RFPA component, to managing various thermal interfaces, to
the added heatsinks to reduce the heat flux, and to the ultimate disposal of the waste
heat with the help of cooling equipment, many special materials, special manufacturing
processes, and physical hardware are utilized, adding substantial cost to an RBS. Later
sections will address in more detail such specialty materials, manufacturing and assembly
processes and cooling hardware. Given the fact that waste heat removal and its disposal
are a necessity, good thermal management practices in the construction and operation
of an RFPA can potentially help reduce both the initial equipment cost and subsequent
operational cost.
Abundant literature establishes the close link between the increased temperature and
the adverse electrical performance effects on the behavior of semiconductor devices
in general. A few specific examples are initially cited here. For example, the reverse
saturation current in a pn junction increases with increasing temperature [2] making
a reverse biased pn junction electrically more leaky, thus reducing the electrical isolation in an integrated circuit (IC) at higher operating temperatures. This in turn could
translate into poor electrical isolation between devices and unwanted, and thus wasted,
power consumption in the semiconductor device. The switching speed of a metal-oxide
Bathtub Curve on Reliability
FIT
412
Infant Mortality
Region
Random / constant Failure

Rate Region
End of Life / Wearout

Region
Time
Figure 9.1 Reliability of a semiconductor device is typically described by the bathtub behavior.
Failures in time is shown versus time.
semiconductor (MOS) device decreases with increasing temperature [3], thus lowering
high-speed performance of such devices in digital switching applications. Beyond these
known generalities, specifically in the case of an RFPA, elevated temperature adversely
affects RF performance parameters such as gain, RF output power, and linearity [4]. As
the device temperature of an RFPA increases then, typically, gain decreases, output RF
power (for a given input drive) drops, and linearity degrades. Linearized power efficiency
is very nearly the most critical metric in the choice of an RFPA for an RBS. Thus, a
parameter such as temperature adversely affecting the output power and linearity of an
RFPA needs to be well understood and managed.
The dissipated heat in any electronic device results in a rise in its temperature.
Abundant literature supports the close link between the increased temperature in an
electronic component and the lowering of its reliability [5]. An approximate 10 C
increase in temperature reduces the mean time between failure (MTBF) by a factor of
two [6]. Various failure modes and the rates associated with them govern the reliability
of an electronic component. Such failure rates are typically described by the bath-tub
curve shown in Figure 9.1 which describes the failure rate with time. Reliability is
discussed in depth in Chapter 10 but a brief summary is given here.
There are three distinct regions identified in such a curve: (a) early, infant mortality
region, (b) the middle useful life region, and (c) the final wear-out region. The
infant mortality region is due to poor quality in the manufacturing processes and
is usually weeded out by quality control and in some instances by a burn-in process. The final wear-out region, as the name implies, occurs after the useful life; the
increased failure rate in this final region is driven by various wear-out mechanisms in
the materials and in the interfaces between these materials. The useful life region is
9.2 RFPA thermal design basics
413
of most interest here. The survival rate in this region can be described by the governing
equation;
R(t) = e MTBF
t
(9.1)
where R(t) is the survival rate at time t and MTBF = mean time between failure.
Failures in this region are governed by various failure mechanisms such as electromigration induced failures in interconnects, electro-chemical corrosion-induced failures
in interconnects, gate threshold voltage drift due to hot-electron injection in the gate
oxide, interface failures due to diffusion of materials in the interfaces, metallurgical
grain growth, and changed fatigue behavior. These failures occur randomly and are
driven by various stressors such as temperature, humidity (water moisture), and electric
field. Among these recognized stressors accelerating the failures, component operating
temperature is the leading stressor. Substantial empirical and theoretical literature supports this statement [7, 8]. Thus, good thermal control is of paramount importance for
reliable operation of any electronic equipment. RBS are deployed in remote locations
and servicing them can be expensive. An expectation of 15 years MTBF is very typical
for an RBS.
As a summary, good thermal design and thermal management practices for RFPAs
help reduce capital and operating costs for an RBS, improve RF performance, and
enhance reliability.
9.2
RFPA thermal design basics

In this section we will describe at a high level the thermal design basics as they relate to
RFPAs. Though our focus in this book is on high-power RFPAs as they relate to wireless
infrastructure equipment, we will first take up RFPAs as they relate to portable products
such as a mobile cell phone and briefly address thermal management issues pertaining
to them.
9.2.1
RFPA thermal design in a typical portable product

A typical handheld product, such as a cell phone, is shown in Figure 9.2 with a few of its
major functional electronic blocks identified. The power amplifier as part of the Radio
Frontend is one of the critical components enabling connectivity between the handset
and the base station. The power amplifier in a handset is the most power consuming
component. However, prevailing trends such as longer talk time with the battery, smaller
size, and lighter weight in a handset have been putting continuing pressure on the handset
PA to be more energy efficient. In cellular mode such as in GSM, the transmitter PA
typically produces 29 dBm to 35 dBm (1 W 3 W) RF power [9]. Figure 9.3 shows an
exploded view of the cell phone with two such RFPA modules, one for GSM application
and the other for WCDMA application. A typical RFPA module is packaged in a land
grid array (LGA)-type package. The semiconductor die technology used for the handset
PA is typically GaAs HBT or GaAs pHEMT or GaAs MESFET [10]. The package
414
Signal
Power
Mgmt
Display
Figure 9.2 Generic mobile phone. RFPA is part of the radio frontend.
WCDMA PA
Module
GSM PA Module
Thermal Vias
Courtesy:
Binghamton University
Figure 9.3 RFPA modulesubstrate with thermal vias.
module substrate is typically a two- to four-layer organic material. The RFPA device is
typically bonded to the organic substrate with silver-filled epoxy for die attach.
Typically, these handheld/portable products are sealed enclosures and rely solely on
free convection for cooling. In general, the heat flow path in these types of product from
the RFPA device to the external ambient is through a series of conduction, convection
and radiation paths. Heat generated in the RFPA device is typically conducted to the
substrate of the package with the help of thermal vias built into the substrate [11]. Such
thermal vias are shown in Figure 9.3; the thermal vias are typically Cu plated thru-holes
in the substrate; typically the vias are filled with epoxies to prevent the draining of the
solder material through the vias during solder reflow operation; such filling also helps
improve conduction heat transfer from the device to the substrate.
From the RFPA module substrate, the heat is conducted into the printed circuit board
(PCB), then to the outer enclosure walls of the portable phone. Heat transfer from
415
Figure 9.4 CFD simulated air flow pattern inside and outside of a mobile phone, including air flow
around the RFPA module. Courtesy: IEEE, Proceedings of the 44th Electronic Components
and Technology Conference, pp. 411420, 1994. The external flow approaches air velocities
< 0.2 m/s (primarily free convection), the internal flows are nearly negligible.
the PCB to the outer case wall may occur by conduction, convection and/or radiation
depending on the specifics of the enclosure. The heat is finally removed from the outer
enclosure to the environment by free convection. Based on extensive work conducted
by the author [12] using CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) thermal simulations
and supported by experimental test results, the following summary describes the typical
thermal behavior of a cell phone:
1. The external air flow approaches air velocities < 0.2 m/s, i.e., primarily free
convection air flow pattern governs the cooling of the cell phone.
2. The air flow internal to the enclosure is nearly negligible; free convection fails to
develop inside the confined space of a cell phone enclosure; thus the main mode of
heat transfer inside a cell phone occurs by conduction.
3. Typically, the highest temperature in the phone enclosure occurs in the RFPA module.
These air flow fields are shown in Figure 9.4. The temperature field pattern inside such
a cell phone, including around the RFPA module, is shown in Figure 9.5.
416
28.3
24.1
32.4
36.5
40.6
86.1
81.9
86.1
98.5
77.8
RFPA Module
69.6
61.3
Temperature contours are

in deg. C
53.0
48.9
44.8
Figure 9.5 Temperature pattern inside and outside of a mobile phone, including that of its RFPA
module. Temperature contours are in C. Courtesy: IEEE, Proceedings of the 44th Electronic
Components and Technology Conference, pp. 411420, 1994.
9.2.2
RFPA thermal design in a typical radio base station

In contrast to RFPA devices of about 1 W RF output power capability used in a handheld
mobile phone, the RFPA devices used in wireless RBS typically deliver RF output power
in the range of 37 dBm54 dBm (5 W250 W) [13]. Typically, these RFPAs are operated
in a highly backed-off condition from their P1 dB compression point in order to meet the
linearity requirements. In such a mode of operation of an RFPA, the RF efficiency is
substantially reduced. Thus, depending on the operating mode, these high-power RFPA
devices have an RF efficiency in the range of 10% to 65%, hence they output a large
amount of waste heat, ranging from a few watts to in excess of 200 W from a single
RFPA component. One faces many challenges in creating thermal solutions for such
RFPA devices. In this section, we will briefly give an overview of thermal design and
thermal control of such high-power RFPAs in an RBS.
Examples of equipment used in various RBS are displayed in Figure 9.6. We will focus
on the most common type, the macro RBS. A typical macro RBS antenna tower is shown
with its three sector antennas. At the foot of such a tower, there is typically a building of
417
Towertop Amplifier
Tower Antenna
Macro Radio Base Station
Macro Radio Base Station
Controller
Pico Basestation
Figure 9.6 Radio Base Stations. Courtesy: Freescale Semiconductor Inc., Radio Frequency
Division.
RBS
Controller
Forced Air Cooled RFPA Rack
Figure 9.7 Radio Base Station Controller and a typical rack mounted RFPA pallet. Courtesy:
Freescale Semiconductor Inc., Radio Frequency Division.
about 5 3 3 m (15 10 10 ) in size which shelters various electronic equipment
including the base station controller. Waste heat from the electronic equipment housed
in such a building is typically removed by forced air cooling/conditioning.
A typical Base Station Controller along with one of its forced air-cooled RFPA racks
is shown in Figure 9.7. Cooling fans force air flow in the range of 1 m/s to 3 m/s
(200 lfm to 500 lfm) over the cooling fins of a heatsink that are physically attached to
the RFPA pallet. An end view of a typical pallet with the attached aluminum fin heatsink
is shown in Figure 9.8.
A simplified description of the thermal stack-up in an RFPA pallet is shown in
Figure 9.9a and 9.9b. A high-power RFPA component is soldered or physically bolted to
a metal insert, typically a Cu coin, in the RFPA pallet. The pallet consists of an RFPA pcb
with all the supporting components with the Cu inserts. The thermal interface between
the RFPA component and the Cu insert is solder or thermal grease or a mechanically
compliant high thermal conductivity pad. The pallet is physically bolted to an Aluminum
finned heatsink, again using thermal grease or a thermal pad at the interface. The Al
418
RFPA component
RFPA pallet
Al finned heatsink
Figure 9.8 A closer view of an RFPA pallet with its attached Al finned heatsink. Courtesy:
Freescale Semiconductor Inc., Radio Frequency Division.
RFPA Die
Thermal Grease or
Compliant Thermal Pad
RFPA Package
Flange
PCB
Cu coin /
Heat spreader
Aluminum Chassis / Heatsink

(a)
Tj
Rjc
Tc
Ta
Rinterface
Rheatsink-to-air
(b)
Figure 9.9 (a) RFPA pallet thermal stack-up pictorial view; (b) stack-up thermal resistance,
Rja = Rjc + Rinterface + Rheatsink .
finned heatsink, in turn, is cooled by air flow driven by a fan. Heat flow from the device
to the ambient is schematically described as through resistors marked as Rjc , Rinterface ,
and Rheatsink-air . Each of these thermal resistors will be discussed in greater detail in later
sections.
A typical RFPA component and its simplified physical construction are shown in
Figure 9.10a and 9.10b. This component would be classified as an air-cavity metalceramic RFPA transistor. An alumina ceramic window-frame is brazed to a metal flange
using a high-temperature brazing material such as CuAg, creating the air-cavity. Metal
flanges are typically of WCu or Cu laminates having a thermal conductivity k ranging
419
(a)
Ceramic window frame
Ceramic Lid
Air cavity on die and wires
Multiple die.
(b)
Plated leads
Metal flange
Figure 9.10 (a) RFPA component device: air-cavity metal-ceramic package; (b) RFPA component
device: a simplified cross-sectional view.
from 180 W/m K to 250 W/m K. Multiple active RF transistors and passive matching
components are bonded to the metal flange inside the air-cavity using metallurgical die
attach materials such as AuSi eutectic or AuSn eutectic. These die bond materials have
high k typically ranging from 100 W/m K to 50 W/m K. Wirebond interconnects and lid
seal complete the package.
From a heat flow viewpoint, dissipated heat from the active regions of the device
flows through the thickness of the device, through the die attach interface, through
the metal flange of the transistor, through interfaces such as solder or a conformable
conducting material and finally into an external heatsink to which such high-power
devices are typically attached, either by reflow solder or by being bolted down. Heat flow
is by conduction, the flow is through a series of very low thermal resistance paths, thus
assuring a very low overall thermal resistance.
9.2.3
Basic heat transfer processes and their role in an RFPA thermal performance
In this section we will briefly review the basic physics related to thermal energy transfer in
a material body or among material bodies. Four modes of heat transfer will be discussed:
420
conduction, convection, radiation, and phase change. Along the way we will point out
what role each heat transfer mode plays in the thermal performance of an RFPA.
Conduction
The flow of thermal energy in an RFPA from the device junction through the rest of
the device and subsequently into the component packaging structure and, finally, to the
attached heatsink structures is mostly governed by the conduction heat transfer process.
An excellent analysis of conduction heat transfer can be found in many text books.
[14, 15]. As we briefly review conduction heat transfer, we will introduce material
properties such as thermal conductivity and thermal diffusivity. Conduction heat transfer
in a material body occurs when there is a temperature difference between two points in
the body; it also occurs between two material bodies at different temperatures in contact
with each other. Temperature difference is the driving force for the flow of thermal energy
from a higher temperature region to a lower temperature region. At a microscopic level,
conduction heat transfer is due to the flow of phonons (quantized lattice vibrations in
the material body) and the flow of electrical carriers such as electrons. Conduction heat
transfer can be in the steady state or in the transient mode in relation to time. In the case
of steady state thermal conduction, the temperature distribution in the material body has
reached a fixed value that does not change with time and thermal energy flows from a
region of higher temperature to a region of lower temperature. In the case of transient
thermal conduction, the temperature at any point in the heat flow path varies with time.
In its simplest form, steady-state heat conduction along one dimension can be mathematically described as

dT
(9.2)
Q = k A
dX
where Q is the heat transfer rate, (dT/dX) is the temperature gradient along the heat flow
path, and A is the cross-sectional area for heat flow. k, the proportionality constant, is
a macro property of the material called thermal conductivity. It is measured in units of
W/m K. Materials with higher values for thermal conductivity support a larger flow of
thermal energy through them for a given temperature gradient compared to materials with
lower values. Metals have generally higher values for thermal conductivity compared to
dielectrics. For real materials, thermal conductivity values range more than five orders
of magnitude with diamond at the high end of the spectrum through to air at the lower
end.
Equation (9.2) can be generalized for heat flow in three dimensions in a material body
where the temperature is changing with time and the material body includes heat sources
and heat sinks

d kdT
d kdT
d kdT
dT
dX
dY
dZ
+
+
+ q = c
(9.3)
dX
dY
dZ
dt
where q is the heat energy generated per unit volume, is the mass density of the
material and c is specific heat of the material. For materials with homogeneous thermal
421
conductivity (i.e., thermal conductivity is the same along the X, Y, and Z directions in
the material), then the equation simplifies to
d2T
d2T
d2T
q
c dT
+
+
+ =
.
d X2
dY 2
d Z2
k
k dt
(9.4)
The material property k/c is called the thermal diffusivity. Thermal diffusivity is a
macro material property in the description of transient heat flow by conduction in a
material body. The larger this value is for a material, the faster will heat flow through
that material. This property is measured in units of m2 /s. In a later section these properties
will be discussed in some detail for those materials used in the creation of an RFPA.
Convection
The flow of thermal energy from a finned heatsink attached to an RFPA pallet to the
free air or the air flowing over or through it is by convection. Convection is the key
heat transfer process in cooling the equipment in an RBS. Substantial expenditure is
incurred in the hardware construction (finned heatsinks, air-moving fans, air-filters, and
air cooling equipment) and its operation (fans, pumps, and refrigeration of air mass) to
remove and dispose of the waste heat from an RBS.
Detailed discussions on convective heat transfer are treated in various books [16, 17,
18]. As we briefly review convection, we will introduce the concept of convective heat
transfer coefficient, a phenomenological parameter, measuring the efficiency of heat
transfer. Heat transfer from a solid body to a fluid such as air or water at a different
temperature is generally governed by convection. If the fluid in contact with the solid is
stationary, then the heat transfer is still by conduction but if the fluid is in motion relative
to the solid, then the temperature field in the boundary layer, that is the fluid layers in
contact with the solid body, is affected by the fluid flow. In the simplest representation
for the energy flow from the solid to a flowing fluid, Newtons law of cooling can be
used and is presented in an analogous manner to that of conduction:
Q = h conv A(Twall Tfluid )
(9.5)
where Q is the heat transfer rate, Twall is the surface temperature of the solid, Tfluid is the
free stream temperature of the flowing fluid and A is the cross-sectional area for heat
flow. hconv , the proportionality constant, is called the convective heat transfer coefficient.
It is measured in units of W/(m2 C). It depends on many parameters including the fluid
properties such as viscosity, thermal conductivity, specific heat and density. If the fluid
flow adjacent to the solid wall is due to the density gradients in the fluid near the solid
wall, the process is called natural convection or free convection. If the movement of
the fluid is caused by external forces such as fans, pumps, the process is called forced
convection. Typical values of convective heat transfer coefficient are summarized in the
Table 9.1. Heat transfer efficiency for forced air cooling can be an order of magnitude
superior to that from free air alone. The range shown for forced air is mainly due to
the amount of air mass moved over the surface and the degree of turbulence (mixing)
in the air created by the moving air. The heat transfer coefficient for liquid water can
422
Table 9.1 Typical values of convective heat transfer

coefficients
Mode
hconv [ W/(m2 C)]
Free convection in air

Forced convection in air
Forced convection in water
10
10100
1001000
be an order of magnitude higher than that due to forced air. This improved heat transfer
efficiency for water is primarily due to its very high heat capacity, c, compared to air.
The flow of thermal energy from a heatsink attached to an RFPA to the external
ambient, be it free air or by forced cooled air, is by convective heat transfer.
Radiation
In the thermal control of electronic equipment in terrestrial applications, radiative heat
transfer plays a relatively minor role; however, it is the dominant heat transfer mode in
the disposal of waste heat in space applications.
Detailed discussions on radiative heat transfer are treated in various text books [19, 20].
As we briefly review radiation, we will introduce the material property of emissivity
and the concept of radiative heat transfer coefficient, a phenomenological parameter
measuring the efficiency of radiative heat transfer. Unlike in the cases of conduction and
convection where thermal energy transfer occurs through material mediums, radiative
heat transfer can occur through vacuum. Thermal energy transfer by radiation is part
of a general process known as electromagnetic (EM) radiation. In the large spectrum
governing EM radiation from the long wave (wavelength meters) radio waves to very
short wave length gamma rays (wavelength nano-meters), thermal radiation falls in
the range of 0.1 to 100 micro-meters.
Radiative energy emitted by a body can be described by the equation
E = AT 4
(9.6)
where E is the energy radiated per unit time and per unit area, A is the surface area of
the radiating body, T is its absolute temperature, is the StefanBoltzmann constant,
and is a material property of the radiating body called its emissivity. The emissivity
property ranges from 0 to 1; it is 0 for a perfectly reflecting body and 1 for a perfect
black body. Most real radiating surfaces fall in between and generally are referred to as
grey bodies. It is worth mentioning that the value of the emissivity is not based on a
visual observation of how black or grey the radiating surface looks visually; it is how
black or grey the body is at the wave length of 0.1 to 100 m corresponding to thermal
radiation.
As in the case of convective heat transfer, it is a convenient practice to describe
radiative heat transfer by:
Q = h rad A1 (T1 T2 )
(9.7)
9.3 Thermo-physical properties of materials in an RFPA
423
where A1 is the area of radiating body 1, T1 and T2 are the temperatures of the two bodies
exchanging heat by thermal radiation, and hrad is the radiative heat transfer coefficient.
Using this representation, it is easier to combine radiative heat transfer with convective
heat transfer calculations. However, in this form the parameter hrad is a strong function
of the temperature of the radiating body. As mentioned earlier, in terrestrial applications
of an RFPA, hrad is very small in comparison to hconv and thus can be ignored without
much error.
Phase change cooling

The most commonly known example for phase change cooling is boiling of a liquid
from a hot surface and the associated vaporization of the liquid. The evaporating liquid
extracts thermal energy from the solid surface it is in contact with and undergoes a
phase change from liquid to vapour. Boiling in the liquid occurs when the liquid is
maintained at a temperature above its saturation vapour pressure temperature and driven
by the temperature difference between the hot surface and the liquids saturation vapour
pressure temperature. Boiling is a very complex phenomenon, with many stages starting
as nucleate boiling, transitioning into unstable film boiling and finally reaching stable
film boiling. Even now a full understanding has not been established in the unstable
transition region of nucleate to film boiling and intensive research is on-going. Readers
are referred to good discussions on boiling heat transfer in the references [21, 22].
Similar to convection and radiation, a simplified heat transfer coefficient hboiling can be
assigned to boiling heat transfer as described in the following equation:
Q = h boiling A (Twall Tsat )
(9.8)
where Q is the heat flow rate, Twall is the surface temperature of the solid, Tsat is the
temperature at which the liquid reaches its saturation vapour pressure and A is the surface
area for heat flow. Boiling heat transfer rate (Q/A) can be in the range of 10 W/cm2 to
100 W/cm2 for water, one of the highest compared to other heat transfer modes. However,
boiling heat transfer is not often used in RFPA cooling applications due to numerous
challenges such as instability associated with nucleate boiling, material compatibility,
hardware complexities, and long term reliability.
9.3
Thermo-physical properties of materials in an RFPA

We have already introduced the definitions of the material properties thermal conductivity k and thermal diffusivity k/c in the context of explaining conduction heat transfer.
Here, we will discuss in more detail these material properties as well as the thermomechanical property of coefficient of thermal expansion, CTE, for certain materials of
interest in the construction and operation of an RFPA since they have a large impact on
its thermal performance.
Table 9.2 summarizes typical values for k of device materials (Si, GaAs, GaN and
SiC), package substrate/flange materials (CuW, Cu Laminates, Cu, AlN, and BeO),
die attach materials (AuSi, AuSn, PbSnAg, Ag-filled epoxy), thermal interface control
424
Table 9.2 Thermo-physical properties of various materials used in the RFPA hardware construction
Material
Thermal
conductivity
(W/m K)
Silicon
GaAs
GaN
148
50
170
2.33
5.3
6.2
0.71
0.3
0.5
SiC (6H crystal)
460
3.2
0.7
AuSi (4% Si)

AuSn (80/20)
PbSnAg (high lead >90%)
Ag epoxy
WCu (80/20)
Cu laminates (Cu-CuMo-Cu)
Cu
AlN
Al2O3 (96%)
BeO
Diamond
Thermal grease
Thermal pad (graphite pad)
95
50
35
10
180200
220250
390
60190
2030
210230
5002000
3
In plane: 240
Thickness
Direction: 5
167
1.57
0.15
Al alloy (6061)
Density
(g/cm3 )
Specific
heat
(J/g K)
15.6
8.95
3.5
3.8
2.12.5
3.5
2.7
0.385
0.9
CTE (ppm/K)
2.6
5.7
3.2 (orthogonal)
5.6 (parallel)
4.3 (orthogonal)
4.7 (parallel)
7.6
89
16.5
4.5
6.5
68.5
1.5
In Plane: 1
Thickness
Direction: 30
24
Note: All properties are at 300 K. All values provided here should be considered as guidance;
for rigorous design/research work, consult original literature.
materials (thermal grease, compliant thermal pad) and heat sink materials (Cu, Al alloy);
in addition, it also has entries for a few other thermo-physical properties (such as density,
specific heat and coefficient of thermal expansion). General references are cited [23, 24]
to literature to look up the thermo-physical properties for many of these materials of
interest.
Some general discussions on the behavior of k are in order. Composition and purity
of the material generally affect its k. Typically, the purer the material is, the higher its
k. Typically, alloys and intermetallics have lower k compared to the pure elements that
make up the alloy. A good example would be pure Cu versus alloys of Cu such as Cu-151
and Cu-194; all three Cu materials are typically used in RFPA packaging applications.
Compared to pure Cu (k = 385 W/m K), these alloys have lower values of thermal
conductivity e.g., Cu-151 has k = 350 W/m K while Cu-194 has k = 240 W/m K, 60%
lower than pure copper. Added elements in the pure material to create the alloys typically
create new grain structures; the grain boundaries cause more scattering centers for the
phonons and electrons which are the carriers of thermal energy in the material body,
leading to a reduced k value for the alloys. Increased temperature typically adversely
Thermal Conductivity (W/m/K)
9.3 Thermo-physical properties of materials in an RFPA
425
1.00E+03
8.00E+02
6.00E+02
4.00E+02
2.00E+02
0.00E+00
0.00E+00 1.00E+02 2.00E+02 3.00E+02 4.00E+02 5.00E+02 6.00E+02 7.00E+02
Temperature (K)
Figure 9.11 k of Si as a function of temperature.
affects k for certain classes of material. For example, k of Si drops from about 148 W/m
K to about 100 W/m K as the operating temperature of Si rises from about 25 C to
150 C. As a consequence, the thermal resistance of the Si device will be higher at a higher
operating temperature. This needs to be taken into account in the thermal design of a
high-power RFPA using Si transistors dissipating substantial heat. In contrast, the thermal
conductivity of some types of material do not show much dependency with temperature.
Good examples are metals (Cu), metal alloys (Cu-194, Cu-151), metal composites
(CuW, CuMo, and Cu-CuMo-Cu laminates), and intermetallics (AuSi, AuSn). For these
classes of material, thermal energy is predominantly carried by the charge carriers such
as electrons and scattering is dominated by the fixed grain boundaries in the material
and not by the electron-phonon scattering, thus there is a weak to no dependency on
temperature.
Comparing the thermal conductivity of RFPA device materials (Si, GaAs, GaN, and
SiC) at room temperature of 20 C, SiC has the highest value, about three times higher
than Si, while GaAs has the lowest value, about 2.5 times lower than Si, and GaN is
similar in value to Si. Thus, in a steady-state thermal flow situation with a similar device
layout, the thermal resistance of a GaAs device will be the highest, the SiC device the
lowest, and a GaN device will be comparable to a Si device. The detailed behavior of k
versus temperature of Si is shown in Figure 9.11. In the thermal design of a high-power
RFPA using Si transistors then such detailed knowledge must be taken account of.
In an effort to reduce the thermal resistance in a high-power RFPA, the device package
flanges use materials of increasingly higher k values. CuW with a k value of about
180 W/m K had been the work-horse for many years. This has been replaced in many
applications [25, 26] by Cu laminates (Cu-CuMo-Cu and Cu-Mo-Cu) with a k value of
about 250 W/m K. In certain cases, Cu with an even higher k value of 385 W/m K is
used for RFPA package flanges.
In the construction of an RFPA transistor package, materials of differing strength
and coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) are joined together at various temperatures.
Typical examples are the joining of an alumina ceramic window frame to a metallic flange
material such as CuW or Cu-CuMo-Cu using a high-temperature brazing material, e.g.,
CuAg, to create an air-cavity transistor package. Such a manufacturing process creates
426
a very large stress due to the mismatch in the CTE values between alumina and the
Cu-laminate flange and the high-temperature brazing. This can affect the robustness of
the transistor package and can manifest itself in a dramatic manner such as ceramic
window-frame cracking or severe de-lamination. It can also have a more subtle impact
such as warping of the flatness of the flange, which can potentially result in higher
interfacial thermal resistance between the RFPA component package and the next level
assembly. Thus, the choice of package flange material is usually a compromise between
the desire to get the highest k value for the flange material versus the need to closely
match its CTE to the ceramic window-frame. Substantial technical and trade literature
exists [27] on the topics of tailoring the compositions of CuW and CuMo, and of tailoring
the relative thicknesses of the laminates such as Cu/CuMo/Cu, and of controlling the
amount of cross-rolling various layers in creating the transistor flange material for an
RFPA package header.
In the making of very high-power RFPA devices, there are three very commonly
used metallurgical material systems for joining the semiconductor device to the flange
(commonly called die attach materials): AuSi eutectic hard solder, AuSn eutectic hard
solder, and PbSnAg soft solder. Achieving a high-quality die attach joint is critical in
realizing low thermal resistance for the device as well as for creating a robust product
under power and temperature cycling stresses of the RFPA that it will be subjected to
during its operational life. The thermal resistance of such joints and contacts will be
discussed later in further detail. Since such joints are very thin, of the order of 5 m for
AuSi eutectic, 25 m for AuSn preform- based attach, and 40 m for PbSnAg solders,
k alone does not play the main role in determining the joints thermal resistance; the
quality of the joint (as determined by any voids at the interface and in the bulk of the
die bond) plays an equally important role in determining the joints thermal resistance.
As in the joining of a ceramic window frame to the metal substrate, the joining of
the semiconductor device to the package flange material requires careful attention
to minimizing the thermo-mechanically induced stresses in the device material and
achieving the required flatness for the header. k values for the three joining materials are
compared in the Table 9.2; AuSi has the highest k value (about 100 W/m K) and enables
the lowest thermal resistance for the joint between the Si RFPA device and the package
header; however, it is also one of the most demanding in manufacturing discipline to
achieve a high-quality joint. AuSi, being a hard solder, is not forgiving in absorbing
CTE mismatch induced stresses; thus extreme care must be taken in managing the
CTE mismatch between the Si device and the package flnge material. This explains the
development of various material systems such as CuW, CuMo, Cu-CuMo-Cu laminates
where both CTE and k values are optimized to provide the best thermal solution for the
package flange. PbSnAg soft solder, although having the lowest k value (35 W/m K)
among the three metallurgical diebond materials mentioned, reduces the thermomechanical stress in the joint under low duty-cycle thermal fatigue stress conditions,
thus enabling the joining of a thermo-mechanically mis-matched structure such as a Si
device to Cu flange in a high-power RFPA device. Due to its desirable low duty-cycle
fatigue behavior, PbSnAg-based soft solder die attach is extensively used in high-power
Si RFPA device packaging. AuSn reform-based die attach is less commonly practiced for
9.4 Tools to characterize and predict the thermal performance of RFPAs
427
Si power devices; however, it is very commonly used in bonding GaAs and GaN RFPA
devices to metal flanges. Typically, AuSn die attach thermal performance falls between
that of AuSi eutectic die attach and PbSnAg solder die attach. Finally, there is another
class of die attach material, outside the class of metallurgical die attaches, that is used
in RFPA device construction; this is Ag-filled epoxy adhesives. They have relatively
low k values (in the range of 5 W/m K to 10 W/m K) but these epoxies typically
handle the mis-match induced thermo-mechanical stresses well. However, their bond
strength typically degrades with moisture and increased temperature. Typical bond line
thickness falls in the range of 25 m to 50 m. For these reasons, these Ag-filled epoxies
are typically used for die attach in low-power RFPAs such as those used in portable
products, general purpose amplifiers, and in predrivers in a high-power RFPA lineup.
We described earlier that in typical use the high-power RFPA component is physically
secured to a Cu pallet/heatsink to enable removal of the waste heat (Figure 9.9). If the
RFPA component is not soldered to the Cu pallet, then it is mechanically fastened. In such
a scenario, to reduce the thermal interface resistance between the RFPA component and
the Cu pallet, thermal grease or a mechanically compliant thermal pad is used. Thermal
grease is typically silicone fluid filled with metal oxide powders with an effective k value
of 3 W/m K [28]. They fill the interstitial space between the two mating metal surfaces.
The thermal interface consists of two parallel paths for heat flow, one through multiples
of metal-metal point contacts and the other through multiples of interstitial space filled
with thermal grease. The silicone fluid can be lost or the joint can become dry, thus
their long-term effectiveness is a concern. The other class of material is a physically
compliant thermal pad. Though there are numerous types, the most effective ones are
pyrolytic graphite such as TgonTM [29]. Such thermal pads are polymeric material with
embedded pyrolytic graphite fibers. They are available in various thicknesses, 0.125 mm
to 0.5 mm. They have k values 200 W/m K in the planar dimension and 5 W/m K
in the thickness dimension of the pad. In RFPA applications, metal foils (such as Indium
or Cu or Solder) are also used.
9.4
Tools to characterize and predict the thermal performance of RFPAs

A key metric in assessing the thermal performance of a component such as an RFPA
is Rjc (or jc ), the junction-to-case thermal resistance. Rjc is pictorially explained in
Figure 9.9b. This metric is analogous to the electrical resistance, R. The dissipated
power in the device, P (analogous to the current I in an electrical circuit), flows from the
device junction to the heatsink under the driving force of the temperature differential
Tj Tc (analogous to voltage difference in the electrical circuit), overcoming the thermal
resistance Rjc (analogous to electrical resistance, R). For a quantitative determination of
Rjc , one needs to determine the parameters Tj , Tc , and P. In this section we will address
this area, with a focus on measuring and predicting Tj , the device junction temperature.
Experimental thermal characterization and computer aided thermal modeling are two
approaches to characterize and optimize the thermal performance of electronic devices
and systems. Experimental thermal characterization usually can provide a direct and
428
accurate measurement of device or package temperatures; however, assembling the

experimental hardware, the effort to prepare samples, and the number of experiments
needed all take up considerable time and expense. Also, any measurement has associated errors arising from calibration, methodology, operator, and sample distribution. On
the other hand, advancements in modeling and simulation software as well as computing speed make thermal simulation effective in analyzing and predicting the thermal
performance and thus offers an attractive alternative. However, the simplifications and
assumptions made in constructing the computer model of the physical reality, and the
uncertainties in our knowledge of material properties and boundary conditions, all
impact the accuracy of the simulated thermal results. A careful use of both experimental
characterization and computer-aided simulation can make up the deficiencies in each
and provide realistic and accurate results. In this section we will review both approaches
and their applications towards thermal characterization of high-power RFPAs.
Measurement: methods, tools, current status

During experimental thermal characterization of an RFPA device, we typically measure
the temperatures of the active device junction, the mounting chassis, and the ambient.
In addition, we measure any relevant boundary condition such as air flow conditions.
We will first address the measurement of surface temperatures of a component package
or module or heatsink using a thermocouple thermometer. A thermocouple thermometer
is a temperature sensing junction created by joining two dissimilar metals together.
When such a thermocouple junction is heated or cooled, a voltage is produced that
can be measured and correlated to temperature. Thermocouples are available as wires
with different combinations of metals or calibrations. The four most common types
of thermocouple are J, K, T, and E. As an example, Type J thermocouple is made of
the dissimilar metals iron and constantan, and can be used in the temperature range of
40 C to +750 C and has a temperature sensitivity of 55 V/ C. Excellent product
information is available on thermocouples [30]. However, a number of precautions need
to be taken in applying a thermocouple to measure surface temperatures accurately. The
diameter of the thermocouple wire should be small such that heat loss along the wire
does not cause an erroneous reading [31] of the surface being measured; gauge 36 or
gauge 40 wire is preferred. The thermocouple bead should make good physical, and thus
thermal contact, to the surface being measured.
When we refer to device temperature, typically it is the device junction (also called
channel) temperature; for many RFPA devices, the device junction is typically located
close to the surface of the die (for an LDMOS device, it is about 10 m below the
surface), thus the surface temperature measured on the die is nearly the same as the
junction temperature. Techniques to measure the operating temperature of a semiconductor device can be broadly grouped into two categories, direct and indirect methods.
Direct methods include infrared (IR) thermometry [32, 33], liquid crystals [34], and
thermographic phosphors [35] which allow direct mapping of the surface temperature of
the device. Among these direct techniques, IR thermometry is the only technique capable
of quantitative temperature measurement; the other two techniques are qualitative. The
429
indirect techniques use a temperature sensitive electrical parameter of the semiconductor

device (such as Vf for a diode, or Veb for a bipolar transistor, or Vds for a FET) to measure
the device temperature [36]. However, this technique typically provides only an average
temperature for the chip and is prone to many errors and difficulties when applied to
RFPA devices. Thus, Infrared Thermometry is the most commonly used technique to
provide direct, quantitative thermal mapping of an RFPA device. Before we address
Infrared Thermometry in detail, we will briefly review other measurement techniques
that are commonly used in characterizing the thermal performance of electronic devices,
packages and modules in general.
In the context of selecting or developing a suitable package to house a semiconductor
device, one may use a thermal test chip or an active device to thermally characterize
the package or module. In such an approach a calibrated (with respect to temperature)
electrical parameter such as the forward-biased diode voltage (Vf ), or forward biased
device junction voltage (such as Vds for a FET or Veb for a bipolar transistor) is used as
temperature sensitive parameter to measure the device temperature. Abundant literature
exists on this approach of using active devices [36, 37] and thermal test chips [38] to
perform such a task. If one were to use a thermal test die to characterize a package or a
module, the typical thermal test die will consist of a separate heating source (typically,
a thin-film resistor deposited on the die) and temperature sensors e.g., diode, transistor
or metal-film resistor, all integrated into the test die. Typically, such sensing diodes are
calibrated for Vf versus T prior to use. They typically have a temperature sensitivity in
the range of 2 to 3 mV/ C. To improve the accuracy in measuring the voltage drop across
the temperature sensing diode, four-wire Kelvin contacts should be used (i.e., separate
forcing and sensing lines are used to contact each sensing diode).
In the absence of the availability of thermal test chips, active devices (transistors, ICs)
can be used to provide both heating and temperature sensing functions. In such a situation,
an electronic switching circuit is used to switch the device from a powering function to a
sensing function. With the use of electronic switching, the time delay between powering
and sensing can be made very short (of the order of a few tens of micro-seconds). Shorter
delay times are preferred, but one needs to allow the electrical transients due to switching
in the measurement region of the active device to die down so that one captures the true
electrical signal representing the temperature effect. Nevertheless, the junction region
will cool rapidly during this delay time. One needs to balance these two considerations in
selecting a suitable delay time. There are known techniques to calculate and correct for
the cooling that occurs in the sensing region before the temperature sensing is performed.
Abundant literature exists on this methodology [3941].
Getting back to IR thermometry, excellent IR measurement equipment is commercially available to perform accurate quantitative temperature measurements [42].
Figure 9.12 displays a state-of the-art IR microscope that is typically used in characterizing RFPA devices.
Objects in the temperature range 0 C200 C emit infrared radiation in the EM
spectrum of wavelength 2 m10 m. The emitted radiation is governed by:
q = AT 4
(9.9)
430
Figure 9.12 An IR microscope with an RF test bench.
where q is the radiant flux/unit area/unit solid angle in W/cm2 -ster, is the Stephan
Boltzmann constant (5.673 1012 W/cm2 K4 ), the emissivity and T is the temperature
in K. An IR transmitting (or reflecting) lens system collects the heat radiation from the
device under test (DUT) and focuses it onto a liquid nitrogen cooled InSb detector. Stateof-the-art equipment uses focal plane array (FPA) detectors, thus a thermal image of the
DUTs entire surface is brought into focus. The signal from the detector is processed by
suitable electronics and displayed as a color intensity map. The color intensity map is
converted to a quantitative temperature map by a calibration procedure using a blackbody radiator. Various lens choices enable spatial resolution at the DUT level of the
order of 2 m and a temperature resolution of the order of 0.1 C for a DUT at about
80 C.
Since the radiant energy from the DUT is a function of both the temperature and the
emissivity of the surface, the emissivity needs to be known to arrive at the temperature
from the image. Current day IR microscopes have special algorithms to determine the
emissivity of a DUT pixel-by-pixel through measurement of radiant images at known
temperatures. However, the emissivity determining procedures that are typically available
as part of the measurement equipment can introduce errors for materials like Si that
are IR translucent. To overcome this difficulty, typically the surface of a Si DUT is
uniformly coated with an IR-opaque high emissivity paint. This procedure assures fixed
emissivity for the surface of the DUT, thus simplifying the temperature determination
and increasing the accuracy. The challenges in selecting a coating material and applying
431
Si LDMOS RFPA at 20W output RF power
Max die temperature (Tj max) = 129.7C
Case temperature (Tc) = 73C

Calculated Pdiss = 72.93W
Rjc = (129.7 73)C / 72.93 W = 0.78C/W
0.0
43.2
86.5
Temperatrure (C)
129.7
Figure 9.13 Temperature profile of an RFPA device captured by an IR microscope.
it to an RFPA device surface such that it has low to no impact on the RF performance of
the device are addressed in the literature [43]. A typical infrared thermal profile for a Si
LDMOS RFPA device is shown in Figure 9.13. An RFPA device may exhibit temperature
nonuniformities; however, the highest measured device temperature (Tjmax ) is used in
characterizing the thermal performance metric Rjc .
Modeling and simulation: methods, tools, current status

The mathematical simulation of fluid flow and heat transfer involves solving simultaneously the conservation of mass (continuity equation), conservation of momentum, and
conservation of energy equations. This involves seeking a solution for a set of coupled,
nonlinear second-order, partial differential equations, involving variables such as u, v,
and w for the velocity of the flowing fluid, P for the pressure, and T for the temperature. Needless to say, this is a very complex undertaking. However, state-of-the-art
software tools exist today to handle this class of problem very well. There are two main
approaches, one based on finite volume/difference methods (FVM) and the second based
on finite element methods (FEM). FVM is used in many CFD tools.
For electronic cooling applications, many CFD tools have been tailored to focus on
fluid flow and heat transfer only. In the use of a CFD tool, the spatial domain is discretized
into small cells to form a volume mesh; the conservation equations for these discretized
volumetric spaces are expressed in algebraic form, then suitable algorithms solve the
equations of continuity, momentum and energy simultaneously. The CFD tool not only
determines the fluid field, but it also solves any solid conduction within the computational
domain (conjugate solution). In CFD analysis, there is no need to assume convective
heat transfer correlations at the solid-fluid boundaries; exact fluid fields external to the
solid surfaces are predicted during conjugate analysis. Thus, CFD tools have greater
appeal for system level thermal simulations.
In the FEM approach, the conservation equations are solved by approximating continuous quantities at discrete points spaced into a grid or mesh. Generally, FEM can
432
handle more complex geometrical shapes coupled with large differences in the thermomechanical properties. At the component level analysis where conduction is the dominant
heat flow process and where reliable boundary conditions can be used, FEM has greater
appeal since it can handle very complex shapes with large differences in levels of detail,
from the die active area layout to a completely assembled component device, all in one
model. Thus, at component level analysis, typically FEM tools are used; empirical convective and radiative heat transfer correlations are applied to all the boundary surfaces of
the package/PCB. Thus, a-priori engineering knowledge/judgment is needed to achieve
good results. Furthermore, temperature profiles obtained from such an FEM analysis
can be directly used in subsequent thermo-mechanical analyses to assess the various
structural stresses in the component.
ANSYS [44], Abaqus FEA [45], MSC Sinda [46], COSMOS [47] are some of the
R
[48], ANSYS
leading FEM simulation tools commercially available. FloTHERM
Icepak [44], ANSYS FLUENT [44] are some of the leading CFD simulation tools. To
execute efficiently on any of these simulation tools mentioned here, it is imperative to
have good models that truthfully represent the physical reality. Key steps and tools in
building good models are:
R
r producing a CAD geometry for the structure using a program such as AutoCAD
[49]

R

R
or Pro-E [50] and/or using ECAD programs such as Cadence Allegro Package
R
Designer [51] or Mentor Graphics
[52];
r assigning material properties (thermal conductivity, mass density, specific heat, viscosity) to the various physical regions of the model;
r assigning proper boundary conditions such as a fixed temperature (e.g., ambient) to
a reference location, and convective and radiative heat transfer coefficients at the
heatsink surface in an FEM approach;
r creating the mesh/grid with the appropriate level of detail (balancing the desired level
of physical details versus model size and simulation time);
r post-processing to display and extract the information (temperature, heat flux, fluidflow profile, contour plots of temperatures and air flow, numerical tables, etc.). Many
of these supportive tools have become smart and user friendly. Thus, model building
and simulation have become an integral part of RFPA thermal management.
9.5
RFPA thermal design and management advanced

In this section we will discuss in greater detail the thermal design and thermal management of high-power RFPA components. Though much of the discussion will generally
be applicable to various RFPA device technologies, we will focus on Si laterally diffused metal oxide semiconductor (LDMOS) devices. The Si LDMOS device technology
has many advantages such as high RF power gain, good efficiency, excellent linearity, and ruggedness, requiring only a single supply voltage, inherently good thermal
structure, and all at low cost. Figure 9.14 compares two Si technologies, bipolar versus
LDMOS. Bipolar transistors require complex packages as the underneath side of the
433
9.5 RFPA thermal design and management advanced
Gate
LDMOS
Drain
Bipolar
Source
n+
n+
Base
p
p+
sinker
p epi
backside
metal
collector
V = ~26V
p+ substrate
n+ substrate
Pkg Metal
Flange
Source at Ground Potential

Vertical current flow
Emitter
n+
Dielectric
(Beo or AIN)
Pkg Metal
Flange
Figure 9.14 Cross-sectional view of Si LDMOS and Si Bipolar RFPA devices.
die is the collector and hence it requires an electrical isolator such as BeO or AlN to
be inserted between the die and the flange. Also, as the emitter is on the top of the die,
a bond wire is required to connect it to the flange which adds inductance and lowers
the RF gain. In contrast, LDMOS transistors can be bonded directly to the metal flange
as the underneath side of the die is the source. This results in lower source inductance and hence higher gain, lower thermal resistance, and simpler packages which are
lower cost.
Si LDMOS device technology has almost totally replaced Si bipolar technology
for RFPA devices in wireless infrastructure base-station applications, and increasingly
also in other high-power RF applications such as wireless broadcasting, industrial and
avionics. LDMOS device technology has continuously evolved since the first generation
in 1993 to the current eighth generation device structures [53], improving upon many
RF performance metrics, notably efficiency, power density (W/mm of gate periphery),
linearity, and ruggedness.
To achieve the lowest junction-to-heatsink thermal resistance for an LDMOS RFPA,
an integrated and comprehensive approach from Si device layout, die thinning, package
material selection, assembly manufacturing processes, to device mounting in the end
application is required. We will address each of these areas.
The basic LDMOS device structure has three electrodes drain, source, and gate.
Current flow between the drain and the source is controlled by the gate. Heat dissipation
occurs in the current flow path in the high-resistance region, creating increased temperatures. A simplified view of this heat source description is shown in Figure 9.15,
highlighting the heat dissipating structure, marked as a heat source finger.
In creating an RFPA transistor, multiple device fingers are laid out, as shown in
Figure 9.16.
Thermal resistance due to the heat source layout can generally be understood using
the spreading thermal resistance concept. Spreading thermal resistance is inversely
proportional to the geometrical size of the heat source and the effective thermal
434
Heat Source Finger

Gate
Metal
Gate
Drain
4mil
Thick Silicon
Source
Metal
drain-source pitch
one finger
0
Figure 9.15 Cross-section of an LDMOS device structure, describing the heat source.
Transistor
fingers
(channel)
Cross
section
plane
Periodicity
Figure 9.16 Representation of an LDMOS RFPA device, showing multiple heat source fingers laid
out in parallel array.
conductivity of the semiconductor material and flange combination on which the heat
source is laid out. It can be written as
a
(9.10)
Rspreading =
kdth
where a is a constant, k is the effective thermal conductivity of the semiconductor material
and flange combination, and dth is the equivalent thermal diameter representing the heat
source. dth is proportional to the square root of the area of the heat source. Thus, to
reduce the spreading thermal resistance arising from device layout, we need to increase
the active area. Furthermore, for a given heat source area, maximizing the bounding
perimeter of the area reduces the spreading thermal resistance. Thus, in laying out highpower devices, it is common practice to divide the total active area into multiple small
segments (such as multiple parallel fingers) and utilize various meandering patterns
(such as interdigitated rectangles). In the previous section under design tools, it was
mentioned that the field of thermal model building and thermal simulation have become
435
Line Trace
Temperature (C)
124.00
110.00
100.00
90.00
80.00
70.00
60.00
50.00
0
Distance (um)
50
27576
100
150
200
Pixel #
250
300
350 382
Save Line Trace to Text File
Figure 9.17 IR thermal image and the temperature line profile of an RFPA device. Temperature
nonuniformities among the three active Si transistor chips as well within each chip are shown.
Peak die temperature = 124 C at Tcase = 70 C.
very robust and thus it is common practice to simulate and optimize device layouts
for improved thermal performance using such computer-based thermal models. In a
typical LDMOS device layout, a single heat dissipating finger is a few micrometers
(2 m) wide, a few hundred micrometers (300 to 1000 m) long, and located
a few micrometers (10 m) below the Si surface. Multiples of such finger-like line
structures are laid out with typical pitch between the fingers in the range of 20 to
100 m. The author has carried out a systematic study of many such lay-outs, leading
to some general guidelines:
r finer pitch between heat source fingers results in a higher temperature for an array of
fingers; coarser pitch results in lower array temperature;
r for a given array finger design (i.e., width, pitch), temperature profiles along the fingers
are similar for central and outer fingers; for any finger, temperature peaks near the
center of the finger and falls to a lower value towards the end of the finger;
r arrays with longer fingers result in a higher temperature uniformity along the finger.
Thus, to maximize the uniformity of temperature across and along an array of fingers,
the layout should use a large number of long fingers. To minimize the thermal resistance
due to layout, coarser pitch should be used within any other constraints such as realizing
adequate active area for the intended RF power in a given size Si chip. Even with careful
attention to the layout of the active area to minimize temperature nonuniformities, such
nonuniformities do exist in an RFPA device. Figure 9.17 is an IR image of an RFPA
with three active Si chips, showing some level of temperature nonuniformity between
the three chips as well as within each chip.
436
Observed temperature nonuniformities could be due to: (a) nonuniform RF excitation

of a multifinger device caused by small differences in the amplitude and phase of the
input RF signal feeding the device; this causes an associated nonuniform Pdiss in such
a multifinger device array, (b) even with uniform Pdiss in a multidie/multifinger layout,
due to the geometrical effects associated with heat diffusion, temperatures in the interior
die/structure tend to be higher compared to temperatures in the die/structure near the
outer boundaries, (c) manufacturing defects such as a die bond void could create local
hot spots, thus causing temperature nonuniformities in the device, (d) thermal spreading
effect of the underlying substrate also contributes to the temperature nonuniformities
seen in the active devices.
Another contributor to the overall device thermal resistance is that from the finite
thickness of the Si chip itself. This thermal resistance is directly proportional to die
thickness. Typical Si thickness in high-power RFPA LDMOS devices is about 100 m
whereas in the main-stream semiconductor devices, the typical die thickness is about
300 m. There are many manufacturing challenges to overcome in thinning large diameter (200 mm) wafers [54] to 100 m thickness and subsequently handling the wafers
through backside metallization, transport and sawing. However, new product requirements such as stacked memory in consumer products (e.g., mobile phone with camera)
have made a favorable impact in the development of wafer thinning technologies in the
semiconductor industry. Backgrinding is the most common method to thin wafers. Backgrind usually leaves grind damage such as micro-cracks on the wafer surface; back-grind
also leaves sharp wafer edges which become the weakest part of the wafer. Additional
stress relief processing such as polishing, dry etch, or wet etch is usually necessary following back-grind. Such a follow-up process typically reduces the grind damage, reduces
wafer stress and thus warping and bow in the wafer, and improves wafer and die strength
[55]. Producing strong Si die from the wafer thinning process is essential to realize a
high-assembly yield and a reliable product as the Si chip is die bonded to CTE mismatched metal flanges. In earlier discussions on thermal conductivity, we had mentioned
that GaAs has lower thermal conductivity by about 2.5 times compared to Si. Hence,
high-power GaAs RFPA devices are thinned to 25 m to 50 m thickness to reduce
the thermal resistance due to the GaAs substrate. Thus, considerable manufacturing
investment is needed to enable leading edge performance in high-power RFPA devices.
Next, we will consider thermal resistance in the die bond, the interface joint between
the RFPA die and the underlying metal flange. We described in an earlier section the
general properties of and the relative merits of four different die attach materials used
in the RFPA industry: AuSi, AuSn, PbSnAg, and Ag filled epoxy. To lower the thermal
resistance in the die bond, we seek a high k for the die bond material as well as a
void-free and thin bond line. AuSi eutectic die attach can fulfill all these requirements.
AuSi die attach for high-power RFPA Si devices is typically accomplished by an in-situ
metallurgical reaction between Si (being supplied from the Si die) and Au (supplied by
the Au metallization on the back of the die and on the flange surface). An SEM view of a
AuSi die attach cross-section is shown in Figure 9.18. A nearly void-free die bond with
a bond line thickness of about 5 m can be typically achieved with AuSi eutectic die
attach. Thus, AuSi die bond provides the best die bond method available for high-power
437
Figure 9.18 An SEM image of AuSi die-bond of an LDMOS Si RFPA device to a W/Cu metal
flange. Bond line is thin (5 m), of uniform thickness, and void free.
RFPA Si devices. Furthermore, AuSi die attach does not show any hardening or fatigue
behavior after long thermo-mechanical cycling since, being a hard solder, it behaves
elastically. Understanding the stress created in the Si and designing for the stress to
be well below the strength of Si is key in the successful practice of AuSi die attach in
high-power RFPA devices. It is well known that any void in the die attach interface can
add additional thermal resistance to the path and it usually manifests itself as a hot spot
in the active region of the die [56, 57].
AuSn die attach is less common in bonding high-power Si RFPA devices. However,
it is one of the most common die attach methods in bonding high-power GaAs and
GaN RFPA devices. Typically, AuSn die attach is accomplished with the help of a AuSn
preform or predeposited AuSn solder, thus the bond-line thickness is in the range of
25 m. The AuSn die attach interface layer typically has a higher thermal resistance
compared to a AuSi die attach interface layer both due to its lower k value (50 W/m
K versus 100 W/m K) and larger bond line thickness.

PbSnAg die attach is very common in bonding Si power devices to a CTE mismatched substrate such as Cu because PbSnAg soft solder has excellent thermal cycle
fatigue behavior. PbSnAg die attach is typically accomplished by dispensing molten
liquid solder or solder paste, thus the bond-line is thicker and typically in the range of
40 m. The PbSnAg die attach interface layer typically has higher thermal resistance
compared to AuSi die attach interface layer both due to its lower k value (35 W/m
K versus 100 W/m K) and greater bond line thickness. Ag-filled adhesive die attach
is most commonly used in the manufacture of low-power RFPAs for various mobile
devices and in the manufacture of general purpose amplifiers (GPA) and predriver PAs
that have lower thermal dissipation. Typical bond-line thickness ranges from 25 to
50 m. Ag-filled adhesive die attach has the highest thermal resistance compared to the
other three metallurgical die attach methods both due to it having the lowest k value
(<10 W/m K) and the highest bond line thickness (50 m).
Next in the thermal stack-up let us consider the thermal resistance due to the component device substrate, typically a metal flange in the case of a high-power LDMOS
438
TWO BARE SURFACES IN CONTACT:

1
K1
X
2
K2
POINT CONTACT
POCKET OF AIR
0 INTERFACE =
X
X
+
(Keff)pt Apt
Kair Aair
Keff = K1K2 /
K1 + K 2
2
Keff 1 TO 4 ORDERS OF MAGNITUDE HIGHER THAN Kair

Figure 9.19 Pictorial description of thermal contact resistance.
transistor. We discussed in a previous section the thermo-physical properties for a few

flange materials such as CuW, CuMoCu, Cu-CuMo-Cu and Cu. k values range from
180 W/m K to 385 W/m K. The selection of the flange material and its thickness are
driven by more than thermal considerations alone. Thermo-mechanically induced stress
in the active device due to die attach, in the window-frame material such as alumina
ceramic due to brazing, and the flatness of the finished component package all deserve
careful attention. The CTE of the flange material, its modulus, and its geometric thickness all play a role in determining the overall flatness of the RFPA component package.
Typically, the flatness of finished packages is in the range of 25 m to +40 m. Flatness can influence the interfacial contact thermal resistance between the RFPA device
component and the Cu coin/Cu insert in the thermal stack-up.
In Section 9.2.2 we presented a simple description of the thermal stack-up in an RFPA
pallet, see Figure 9.9. A high-power RFPA component is soldered or physically bolted
to a metal insert such as a Cu coin bonded or inserted into the PCB of the pallet, thus a
direct heat flow path from the RFPA component to an external heatsink through the Cu
coin is established. If the RFPA component is soldered to the Cu coin, then the interfaces
thermal behavior is like that of a bonded interface; we have already discussed the thermal
resistance in bonded interfaces in the context of die attach. Bond line thickness, void
level in the bond, and thermal conductivity of the solder together determine the joints
thermal resistance for the bonded interface. If the RFPA component is mechanically
bolted or clamped to the metal insert/coin, then the interfaces thermal behavior can
be described in terms of contact thermal resistance. In the thermal stack up we have
been discussing, typically the pallet in turn is physically bolted to an Aluminum finned
heatsink; again this interfaces thermal behavior can be described as another contact
thermal resistance.
At this point, it is relevant to discuss the concept of contact thermal resistance in
general, and in the context of RFPA thermal management in particular. When two solid
surfaces are brought into contact as shown in Figure 9.19, the interface in reality is
made up of many point contacts between the two solid bodies with the interstitial space
filled with air or a heat-sink compound such as silicone grease. Heat flow from one
439
solid body to the other occurs primarily through these solid-to-solid point contacts and
secondarily through the entrapped air or heat-sink compound in the interstitial space.
Since the thermal conductivity of air is typically four orders of magnitude smaller
compared to the thermal conductivity of a typical solid, the major contribution to the
contact thermal resistance arises from the interstitial gap. Contact thermal resistance
theory and a detailed survey are discussed in references [58, 59].
The contact thermal resistance is influenced by three considerations:
1. The geometry of the mating/contacting surfaces, e.g., shape (flat versus convex versus
concave) and surface finish (smooth versus rough).
2. The thermo-physical properties of the contacting surfaces, e.g., k of the mating
surfaces, k of any fluid medium such as air or thermal grease filling the interstitial
gap in the contact region.
3. The mechanics, e.g., contact pressure, micro-hardness of the contacting surfaces.
From the above qualitative description of the contact thermal resistance, it can be
stated that the contact thermal resistance can be reduced by:
r filling the interstitial space with a material of higher thermal conductivity such as
thermal grease rather than entrapped air;
r increasing the applied joint pressure, which enables more solidsolid point contacts;
r reducing the surface roughness of mating surfaces;
r reducing the micro-hardness of the contacting surfaces through modifying the surface
with coatings.
In typical RFPA applications, the RFPA device components mating surface flatness
is in the range of 25 to +40 m; the metal substrate of the RFPA device is typically
metallized with a NiAu, or flash of Au (as in NiPdAu) or Sn. The Cu coin/insert in the
heat-sink typically has a machined surface with a roughness of 1 m to 2 m. In the
assembly of the RFPA device component to the pallet, typically thermal grease [28] or a
compliant thermal pad [29] is used to reduce the contact thermal resistance. The contact
thermal resistance between the RFPA device component and the Cu coin/insert in the
pallet in a typical application is <0.1 C/W.
The RFPA pallet with the Cu coin is typically bolted to the base of a finned Al heatsink. The last item in the thermal stack-up for the flow of waste heat from the RFPA
device to the ambient air is the thermal resistance associated with the heat-sink. In a
macro base station, typically forced air cooling is used; in lesser power applications, such
as micro/pico base stations and remote radio heads, free air-cooled heatsink surfaces
are typically used. Sizing of the heat-sink (volume, surface area for heat transfer to the
flowing air) and its design (base plate dimensions, fin configuration such as fin thickness,
height and pitch) are typically dictated by two considerations, namely available thermal
resistance budget for heat disposal and available pressure drop for air flow. Usually, an
optimization exercise occurs in trying to maximize the surface area for heat disposal
such as a denser pitch between fins, a large form factor for fins (i.e., higher value for
the ratio between fin height to fin pitch), and minimization of the pressure drop for air
flow (such as coarser pitch between fins) to enable the cooling air mass to reach the
440
heatsinks finned surfaces. Many helpful guides are available from suppliers of heatsinks
[60]. Aluminum alloys are most commonly used for heatsinks. Extrusion, die-casting,
forging, milling/machining, and bonded fin are the prevalent manufacturing methods
for heat-sinks. The lowest cost heat-sinks are typically made from Aluminum alloys
(k 160 W/m K) by an extrusion process. In typical basestation applications, the
available temperature budget for the heatsink is 50 C (maximum Tambient air 40 to
50 C; maximum Theatsink-baseplate 90 to 100 C). Typical heat transfer efficiency from
the heat-sink surface to the ambient air is 0.001 W/cm2 C for free air cooling and
0.003 W/cm2 C for forced air cooling. Thus, from 1 cm2 surface area of an Al finned
heat-sink, about 0.05 W heat is disposed to the ambient air in free air cooling and about
0.15 W heat is disposed in forced air cooling. Thus, substantial surface area is built into
the Al finned heat-sink to dispose the total waste heat, and so the heat-sink adds to the
size, weight, and cost of the RFPA hardware.
9.6
RFPA thermal design trends and prognostication

The most important trend in the high-power RFPA space today is the drive to improve
the linear efficiency. In earlier discussions it was pointed out that the efficiency of highpower RFPAs in wireless basestations ranges from 10 to 60% depending on the PA
technology and mode of operation. Lower efficiency RFPAs translate into higher capital
and operating expenses for the wireless network operators. There is an incessant drive
to lower these costs to improve the profitability on the investment in the infrastructure.
There is one estimate [61] that an average 3 G cell site in Europe costs $3200/year
to operate; for a European operator running 20,000 cell sites, this will translate to
$64 M/year in OPEX. Further, various potential regulatory measures are on the horizon
to reduce the carbon foot-print of mobile communication products and services [62].
Information and Communication Technology (ICT) worldwide is estimated to contribute
2% to the greenhouse gas emissions [63]. Within this, the mobile communications
sector has a small share, but it is expected to increase significantly [64] due to the expected
growth in mobile data and internet traffic. Radio base stations are the main contributor
to greenhouse gas emissions within the radio network. Higher efficiency RFPAs will
help reduce the energy consumption, carbon foot-print, and OPEX for the basestation.
Among the various higher efficiency amplifier choices, Doherty Amplifier configurations seem to have the most promise in the near future [65, 66]. In this approach,
RFPAs will be configured to provide a certain average output RF power and when peak
demands happen, an additional peaking amplifier will switch on to provide the extra output power. Conceptually, this approach is not all that surprising; similar approaches have
been adopted for many years in the electric power utility industry on how they manage
power capacity both for average and peak demands. Given this back drop of improved
efficiency for RFPAs, looking toward the future, thermal management of high-power
RFPAs in wireless infrastructure and broadcast equipment should be more manageable.
Many of the established packaging materials, assembly processes, and hardware manufacturing technologies that are in current practice in providing thermal solutions for
9.6 RFPA thermal design trends and prognostication
441
RFPAs should be able to meet the needs adequately. Furthermore, there are many niche
technologies and solutions developed in the field of thermal sciences and engineering
that can be tapped with ingenuity to address exceptions or special situations. We will
briefly address some of those items.
Another identified area for efficiency improvement in an RBS is to reduce the loss
in the feeder cables. One estimate [1] gives this a multiplication factor of 17, i.e., one
unit of energy saved in the energy delivered to the feeder cables could save 17 units of
energy upstream due to amplifier losses. This is very dramatic. To realize this, RFPAs
should move closer to the radiating antennas, thus there is increased interest in tower
mount amplifiers (TMA) and remote radio heads (RRH). Furthermore, the RRH offers
flexibility in the deployment of distributed base stations. A typical RRH is compact in
size (40 50 30 cm), weighs in the range of 15 kg, and is packaged in an environmentally hardened box (as it is exposed to weather elements) with natural convection
cooling. Thermal management practices prevalent in natural convection cooling are
practiced in RRH, usually the outer case of the housing box incorporates the cooling fin
structure.
Next, let us consider trends in the power density [67] and thermal flux at device
level. The leading Si device technology, LDMOS, as practiced in high-power RFPA
applications at 2 GHz, 2832 V operation has saturated CW RF power density in the
range of 0.6 W/mm to <1 W/mm of gate periphery. At this power density level, the
thermal flux density in the active area for practical devices of today is in the range of
3 107 W/m2 . It is interesting to compare this thermal flux at the device level with that
on the suns surface (6.6 107 W/m2 ) [68]. The thermal flux in the active region of the
RFPA device is one of the highest among semiconductor devices and is within a factor of
two compared to what is believed to be on the suns surface. Though this is an attention
catcher, thermal conduction in solids such as Si is able to support such an immensely
large heat flux with the temperature gradients that are in the practical range. The power
density for Si LDMOS will increase as the technology advances to higher voltage
operation, from 32 V to 48 V operation; theoretically, the power density increase will be
2
proportional to the square of voltage [i.e., 48
2X ]. The corresponding increased
32
thermal flux density at the device level will necessitate many evolutionary improvements
such as improved device layouts, further thinning of the Si device, increased use of Cu
as the package substrate material, and a search for cost-effective but improved k for
the package substrate materials, all to provide the needed improvements in thermal
management practices.
However, device level power density is an area of concern for device technologies
such as GaN RFPAs for possible future basestation and broadcast applications. GaN
devices are capable of much higher power density (5 W/mm), thus potentially much
larger thermal flux densities are likely with GaN devices. The SiC substrate on which
typical GaN devices are built has a k value of about three times that of Si. Thus, GaN
on SiC inherently will offer a superior thermal solution compared to a GaN device
on a Si substrate. Taking this discussion further to package substrate materials, one can
make a case that todays commonly used package substrate materials (Cu-laminates with
k values 250 W/m K) will be performance limiting for high-power GaN RFPAs in
442
basestation applications. This will necessitate the need to use package substrate materials
of higher k values such as Cu and potential new materials such as diamond and CuGraphite composites. There are numerous technical and economic challenges to solve
before realizing such high k materials in RFPA products.
Package materials, assembly processes, thermal interface controls, and cooling methods that are in current practice to meet the thermal challenges within the cost structure
for high-power RFPAs in basestation applications are very well tuned. It is unlikely that
any major shifts from the current practices to manage thermal challenges will occur
in the near future, rather evolutionary improvements are more likely. Enhanced thermal management materials (such as natural and engineered diamonds, metal-diamond
composites, graphitecopper composites, and carbon nano-tube structures), advanced
manufacturing practices (thinning device material down to 25 m, direct bonding to
copper), and advanced cooling concepts (phase change cooling, liquid cooling, in-situ
thermo-electric cooling) are researched in the technical literature. However, realizing
them in basestations and broadcast applications will be severely challenged by the economics and the needed proof data on long term reliability. Hence, there will be continued
pressure to improve the efficiency of RFPAs, to deploy smaller cell sites (pico cell, femto
cell), and to seek other system level solutions at the RBS level to counter some of these
extreme thermal challenges.
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37. S. Rubin and F. Oettinger, Thermal resistance measurements on power transistors, NBS
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10
Reliability
Bill Roesch
TriQuint Semiconductor
10.1
Introduction
This chapter provides an overview of basic reliability theories and presents some example data to illustrate concepts. The three key reliability precepts of understanding failure mechanisms, failure distributions, and acceleration factors are discussed in detail.
Various reliability test methodologies and results are presented with respect to device
processing and circuit elements that are likely to be included in amplifying devices.
Some differences between compound semiconductor and silicon technology are covered
from a reliability point of view. Additional reliability aspects of fabrication, application,
and design are also discussed. It is hoped that the information presented here provides
the basis for establishing reliable radio frequency power amplifiers.
Reliability is as much a key to success in the microelectronics industry as is performance. Not only must a product perform as desired, it must work for years without fail.
It does little good to make the worlds highest efficiency amplifier if after two weeks of
operation it fails. With the complexity of todays microelectronics, a phenomenal level of
reliability must be maintained. For instance, if the probability of failure for a transistor
is one in a million, and you have a million transistors in a circuit, the probability of
failure is nearly certain. And yet, a modern microprocessor or memory circuit can have
more than 10 million circuit elements. Therefore, for any acceptable reliability on the
chip level, todays circuit elements must be among the most reliable things ever built.
In addition, reliability must continue to increase as the complexity increases and as
performance improves.
The semiconductor reliability we have enjoyed thus far has not come without considerable cost. Resources have been expended to solve the daunting problems facing
reliability engineers designing integrated circuits. The few wear-out failure mechanisms
that exist (metal contact interdiffusion, hot carrier degradation, time-dependent dielectric breakdown, and electromigration) have become understood well enough that we can
model these effects with some of the advanced design tools.
We know the countermeasures and de-rating factors to apply in order to delay any
wear-out issues beyond the devices useful life with margin to spare. However, to apply
the countermeasures effectively, one must understand the limitations of the materials
used to manufacture ICs, and work to ensure that products have adequate margin and
a high probability of success. Overestimating the capabilities of the materials and the
process could lead to catastrophic results, and underestimating capabilities could lead
10.2 Vocabulary and definitions (units, goals, and strategy)
447
to overdesign which would inflate costs beyond the limits of feasibility. Striking a
balance between conservatism and judicious use of the process capabilities is necessary
for continuous advancements, and can only be accomplished by obtaining empirical
reliability data.
Amplifiers must work relatively hard compared to other circuit functions. High currents, high temperatures, high-frequency operation, high voltages, and many thermal
cycles eventually take a toll. Two types of reliability issues can degrade circuits: defectrelated problems and wear-out. Defect-related problems are induced by manufacturing
flaws, such as a missing process step, contamination, undetected excursions, wide variation or narrow capabilities of fabrication processes. Even the best, most efficient,
semiconductor fabrication lines suffer from an occasional defect related event. Wear-out
is due to the degradation of aging, without any initial defects being present.
Although it may seem that redundancy and insensitivity to a failure mechanism is up
to the designer, and that defects are in the realm of the process engineer, in reality both
types of mechanism must be addressed by designers and process engineers alike.
10.2
Vocabulary and definitions (units, goals, and strategy)

There are two key parts to a definition of reliability. First, is a measure of goodness
such as conformance to standards, meeting expectations, or compliance to certain specifications. Typically, measures of goodness are replaced by definitions of what is not
good enough. For example, most semiconductor reliability engineers speak in terms of
failure rates instead of success probabilities. As the word rate implies, the second
major part of a reliability definition involves time. Expected periods of goodness may
range from several seconds for a guidance system in a missile, to decades for a communications system in an airliner or satellite. Other significant parts of a definition might
include environmental conditions and duty cycles.
A succinct definition of reliability is a performance attribute that is concerned with
the probability of success or frequency of failure and can be defined as:
The probability that an item will perform its intended function under stated conditions,
for either a specified interval or over its useful life.
Another slightly different definition of reliability is:
The ability of a product to function under given conditions and for a specified period
of time without suffering performance degradation beyond a defined limit.
Of course, the specific definitions of each word within the reliability definition can further
complicate this definition of reliability. For example, measuring the ability of a product
is often accomplished in terms of probability as shown by the interchangeability of
these terms in the two definitions above. Likewise, the ability is often measured by
quality terminology and definitions. So, in general, reliability definitions will contain
the following four aspects:
448
Reliability
r
r
r
r
performance attributes such as ability, functionality, or probability;

conditional attributes such as environment, bias, or operational description;
failure description such as allowable degradation, specified limits;
time component of an interval, warranty period, or general life expectation.
The simplest definition of reliability is: quality for a duration of time.

So the components of performance, conditions, and failure criteria are wrapped within
a simpler encompassing label of quality. Since time is so critically involved, reliability
is often measured by a rate. But just as quality is usually measured in terms of rejects
(or un-quality), reliability is often measured in terms of failures (or un-reliability).
Reliability is a measure of a products performance. Too often performance is thought
of only in terms of speed, capacity, range, and other normal electrical or physical
measures. However, if a product fails so often that it is seldom available for use, then its
speed, range, and capacity are less relevant.
10.2.1
Reliability goals
Reliability goals are determined with respect to each of the four components expected
within the definition of reliability. The elements of reliability goals are shown below
with examples:
r performance component: operation within specified data sheet parameters;
r conditional component: at an operating transistor temperature of 150 C;
r failure criteria: minimize or eliminate early failures. Keep the overall failure rates
below 0.01%/1000 device hours (less than 100 FIT see Section 10.8);
r time component: extend the useful life of ICs to greater than 20 years (175,000 h).
Therefore, a well-described reliability goal example might be:
Power amplifiers are expected to operate within all data sheet parameters at an
operating transistor temperature up to 150 C with less than a 100 FIT failure rate
for a 20-year lifetime.
Of course, reliability definitions could contain even more details and requirements, but
they should not omit any of the four elements used to define reliability.
10.2.2
Semiconductor reliability strategy

The strategy to accomplish and verify the reliability goals involves accelerated testing
of the circuit and the individual building blocks of ICs [1]. These building blocks are
labeled elements, and they consist of each metallization interconnect type, resistors,
capacitors, contacts, and active elements of transistors and diodes. Element testing
is optimal for a number of different reasons. It is essential to isolate and assess all the
various failure mechanisms possible for an amplifier. Element testing is especially useful
to the circuit designer because the data can be used to model the reliability performance
of circuits based upon physical sizes and operating conditions of each portion of the
10.3 Failure criteria
449
design. Element tests are used to verify, and in some cases, modify design and layout
rules. The strategy involves the following steps:
1. Conduct fundamental reliability studies to identify and measure wear-out mechanisms
for each amplifier process.
2. Calculate failure rates of each amplifier element. Continue process improvements
until each elements reliability exceeds the goals.
3. Model how temperature, voltage, current density, and other operational conditions or
environments affect the time to failure of each element.
4. Select the maximum ratings for each element, consistent with the reliability goals.
5. Verify compliance to reliability expectations with reliability qualification testing of
the completed amplifier product.
6. Establish the maximum ratings and conditions with the amplifier description
(datasheet).
7. Monitor amplifier reliability and compare results with reliability expectations based
on element predictions.
8. Re-evaluate elements as necessary and life-test circuits as improvements or changes
are made to processes and products.
As part of the reliability investigation of amplifiers, many product reliability tests have
been conducted and published. Outside of transistor elements, the individual elemental
results are less published.
10.3
Failure criteria
The definition of a failure is one of the most subjective and arbitrary aspects in the
measurement of reliability. When failures are abrupt or catastrophic, the failure criteria
has little effect on the outcome. However, when degradation is gradual or graceful,
then the criteria used to decide the amount of change allowed can influence the results
considerably.
The selection of a measurement of interest is usually narrowed by two types of
concern. One aspect is to consider parameters that are most affected by the aging
method. For example, temperature can universally affect many types of degradation,
but current stress will usually be monitored by measuring resistance. The other aspect
of degradation is to consider the parameters that are most important for the operation
of the device. For example, figures of merit for amplifiers are gain, 1 dB compression
point, and the two-tone third-order intercept point [2]. However, efficiency, noise, and
absolute power output are some of the many attributes that could be critical for any
particular application. Obviously, the definition of most important is dependent upon
the application and the users opinion. For the reliability engineer, the objective choice
is to monitor as many different parameters as possible, and determine which parameter
degrades most rapidly under the applied stress.
Once the most rapidly degrading parameter is determined, then a significant level of
change must be identified as the criteria. For some products, a simple test of significance
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Reliability
Table 10.1 Example failure criteria

Mechanism
Measurement
Failure criteria
General wear-out
Gain
Power
1 dB compression
>1 dB decrease in gain

>1 dB decrease in power out
>1 dB change in input at 1 dB compression
Transistor wear-out
Channel current
Beta
Leakage current
Breakdown
>20% decrease in channel current

>20% decrease in beta
>10 times increase in reverse current
>10% reduction in breakdown voltage
Interconnect wear-out
Resistance
>10% increase in resistance
Capacitor wear-out
Leakage
Capacitance
>10 times increase in leakage

>10% change in capacitance/unit area
Resistor wear-rout
Resistance
>10% increase in resistance
is the specified value or datasheet limit. The use of a specification threshold as a failure
criterion is easy to apply since it is clearly documented and most likely already part of an
electrical measurement regimen included in the product testing routine. However, using
a datasheet failure criteria is not a consistent gauge of degradation since the sample
population could lie anywhere within the specification range. If the population was near
the specification edge, then only a slight shift would be needed to result in a failure. If
the population had excess margin, and was at the opposite extreme from the wear-out
edge of the specification, then a large change in the parameter of interest would need
to occur before the population would begin to exceed the data sheet limit. Thus, two
samples from a common population may have the same rate of degradation, but different
times-to-failure if the failure criterion is an arbitrary specification limit.
Table 10.1 shows several examples of criteria used for mechanisms and measurements
selections. Whatever failure criteria is selected, the threshold must be easily discernable
by the instrumentation. In most cases, it would be expected that measurement resolution
should be at least 10 times better than the failure criteria. For example, if a 1mA
change of channel current is equivalent to the 20% increase in channel current, then
an instrument capable of resolving 100 A (or less) would be needed to assess the
failure criteria. The 10 times rule of thumb for resolving failure criteria can be more
formally evaluated with a gage repeatability and reproducibility (GR&R) study of the
measurement instrumentation [3].
An easy method of selecting appropriate failure criteria is one that matches with
previous published results, but the best measure of failure criteria is one that correlates
to customer findings and feedback.
10.4
Failure modes
The failure mode of a device is a description of the symptom of failure that is observable
from external evaluation. For example, a common failure mode is output degraded.
451
Table 10.2 Some common failure modes and mechanisms

Failure mode
Failure mechanism
Reduced output
Reduced output
Reduced output
Reduced output
Reduced output
Gate metal sinking on third-stage output transistor Q9

Electrostatic discharge damage between source and drain at transistor Q1
Die crack through capacitor C12
17 nA leakage through a gold filament between pad 14 and pad 15
Poor solder joint wetting on pad 15
The mode by itself does not provide sufficient information to understand the failure.
The mode does not describe how much degradation, nor does it describe the cause of
the degradation. The mode is an intermediate classification that provides a common
vocabulary between the customer and supplier. Often, the customer will simply describe
the failure as the part is dead. The failure analyst would prefer more descriptive failure
modes, such as the output power began to slowly degrade after 10 months of nominal
use, and failed to meet minimum requirements in the 350th day of use, or the gain
degraded with use and failed after long transmit sequences the part would recover after
cool down or if mechanical pressure was applied to the case of the circuit.
The failure mechanism describes what causes the degradation of the mode, preferably
in terms of the physical location and the physics behind the degradation. Table 10.2
shows some examples of failure mechanisms for one particular failure mode.
Although the failure mechanism may be a more specific description of a failure than
the mode, the mechanism is not necessarily a description of the root cause.
10.5
Failure mechanisms
Whether made from compound semiconductors or silicon, integrated circuits are susceptible to the same classes of failure mechanism. Failure mechanisms can generally
be differentiated into three types of physical structure: metallization, dielectric, and
semiconductor.
10.5.1
Metallization
Interconnects are expected to be conductive, to be immune to electromigration, to be
bondable, to be able to adhere to other circuit layers, to resist corrosion, to form good
contacts, and to be patternable into the desired structure. Metallization failures result
from degradation in one or more of these attributes.
Silicon technology uses aluminum (with small percentages of copper and silicon
added) almost exclusively for all metallization, which has some advantages. Adding
about 2% silicon aids the formation of direct ohmic contacts to the silicon active regions
without interdiffusion and contact spiking. The addition of small amounts of copper has
become popular to increase aluminums immunity to electromigration as metallization
feature sizes decrease.
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Reliability
Because of its maturity, the aluminum processing used in silicon-based devices generally meets all the above mentioned criteria for metallization. There have been persistent
aluminum problems with corrosion, intermetallic formation, and electromigration, but
in modern processes these have been controlled.
Compound semiconductor processing generally involves different specialized metallizations for ohmic contacts, Schottky gate formation, and interconnects (including
capacitor electrodes). Naturally, each of these types of metal are designed to meet
specific metallization properties, sometimes at the expense of other properties. Most
commercial compound semiconductor ICs employ gold-based metals, principally with
titanium and various other refractory metals. Gold/germanium is generally used for
ohmic contacts. Aluminum has been used for the gates of discrete power MESFETs
and for some interconnects, and some of the afore-mentioned aluminum problems have
been observed. Gold-based connections avoid the possibility of the intermetallic problems that an aluminum/gold metallization introduces. Gold-based metals have therefore
dominated compound semiconductor IC production.
The performance of gold metallization in terms of conductivity, bondability, and
adherence are probably about equal to that of aluminum used in silicon processing.
These have not been mentioned as problems as long as the metal system has been
primarily gold. Intermixing of gold and aluminum introduces the typical intermetallic
problems such as purple plague [4].
Next, metallizations are expected to have an immunity to electromigration and resistance to corrosion. Tests on aluminum and gold metallized ICs have indicated susceptibility to both these mechanisms. As silicon geometries have decreased, aluminum
electromigration issues have been alleviated by use of copper metals. However, copper
is much more reactive and susceptible to corrosion, so protective metals are added to
surround the copper and prevent reactions with subsequent process chemicals and with
moist environments. Because of the increasing price of gold and because of the advent
of copper bump technologies, some compound semiconductor metallizations are also
converting to copper. Electromigration and corrosion are not considered to be primary
failure mechanisms for gold interconnects but gold corrosion has been discovered in
highly accelerated humidity testing. However, gold corrosion has not been reported after
years of normal field use in nonhermetic packages.
Metallizations should also be fairly inert with respect to other materials used in
the processing. Aluminum probably has the edge in this category. Even though goldGaAs interdiffusion is essential in forming ohmic contacts, too much interdiffusion
of gold, either on the ohmic contacts or the Schottky gates, is the primary wear-out
mechanism in GaAs ICs. This interdiffusion may be at a controlled state, but the
variety of existing metal schemes and process techniques would indicate there is no
single, superior answer to the interdiffusion problem. Some gate metallizations are
being produced from refractory metals which can withstand high temperatures without
interdiffusion. But Au-Ge-type ohmic contacts, which are susceptible to interdiffusion
after long high-temperature exposures, are still in widespread use. Copper is also a fast
diffuser and would be detrimental to all semiconductor contacts if not separated by the
moisture and diffusion barrier metals that accompany its use.
453
Pattern definition of the metallization is performed differently for each of the metallizations. Because of the history of processing the aluminum metal used in silicon
devices, dry etching is usually done on all layers. Compound semiconductor metals
are usually formed by a liftoff process, at least at the ohmic, gate, emitter, base, and
collector contact levels. Upper layers may be etched or plated, but sometimes liftoff is
used for all metal layers. Liftoff is less complicated than the etch-back process because it
usually requires no etching steps, but liftoff is a procedure that requires careful control.
Both gold and copper are difficult metals to etch. Most copper patterning on silicon
devices uses a chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) process to achieve planarization
and patterning of their ever-decreasing feature sizes.
So, aluminum, gold, and copper metallizations each have advantages and disadvantages, but all three have been proven to have adequate reliability for use in devices and
ICs.
10.5.2
Dielectric
The next classification of failures is related to dielectrics. For the most part, materials
used to form dielectrics are quite similar, but their requirements are not. Silicon has the
advantage of an ability to grow a stable, high-quality oxide which is used principally
to form MOS gates and surface dielectrics. The silicon oxide is also used to isolate
individual transistors and to form MOS capacitors. Above the surface of silicon, layers
of nitride are generally used for interlevel dielectrics. Compound semiconductors have
no useful oxide, therefore silicon oxide is often used in processing as a capping material
or sometimes for interlevel dielectrics. Silicon nitride is the dielectric usually used
in metal-insulator-metal (MIM) capacitors. Silicon nitride is also often used as the
interlevel dielectric. The usual form of deposition is plasma enhanced chemical vapor
deposition (PECVD). The silicon industry has devoted much work to the development
of dielectrics because of their importance in gate formation and isolation. Compound
semiconductor suppliers have taken advantage of this work even though the requirements
of the dielectric are much more forgiving, because Schottky rather than MOS gates
are used and the compound semiconductor substrates are self-insulating. For some
compound semiconductor processes, interlevel dielectrics are not needed since airbridges
are supported above the base interconnect and contact layers. Except for capacitors, some
ICs could conceivably be constructed without any dielectric at all.
The special challenges of power amplifier performance make the dielectric a critical
consideration for silicon devices. The gate dielectrics are continuing to get thinner as
silicon geomtries shrink. There is a number of gate dielectric degradation mechanisms
that need to be considered in the design of a CMOS power amplifier and each can
degrade during amplifier operation. There are three predominant degradation mechanisms that can result in silicon dielectric failure. Hot carrier injection (HCI) is the
predominant degradation mechanism in NMOS devices whereas negative bias temperature instability (NBTI) dominates in PMOS devices. In addition, PMOS devices can also
experience HCI. Time-dependent dielectric breakdown (TDDB) is a failure mechanism
due to catastrophic failures of the transistor gate dielectric resulting in a hard failure of
454
Reliability
the device. TDDB failures are classified in two main categories: intrinsic and extrinsic
failure modes. The extrinsic mode is a function of the defects in the oxide during the
fabrication process. Usually, it results in infant mortality types of failure at a relatively
low electric field of 24 MV/cm. The intrinsic TDDB mode corresponds to the technology capability and is a function of the transistor or capacitor design and also of the
dielectric composition and quality. In the new process technologies, the intrinsic failure
mode occurs for an electric field strength of >10 MV/cm.
As one might expect, a variety of failure mechanisms affect this wide variety of
dielectric materials, but the most important failure mechanisms are related to insulated
gates and capacitors.
10.5.3
Bulk substrate material

The final general physical category of failure mechanism involves the substrate material.
The difference in resistance and mobility gives compound semiconductors some performance advantages in this area compared with silicon. The semi-insulating properties of
compound semiconductors have, for the most part, eliminated first-order problems with
isolation and latch-up which are constant nuisances for silicon. However, the complexities of compound semiconductor epitaxial layers make their transistors susceptible to
traps, and circuit interactions called backgating or sidegating have been discovered.
Semi-insulation may not be quite enough to prevent substrate conduction for microwave
and radio frequency circuits, but many performance issues are significantly reduced
compared to silicon devices. Of the three physical classifications for failure mechanism,
the substrate is arguably the least significant for reliability issues.
10.5.4
Schottky gate FET failure causes

The primary failure mechanisms for silicon technology generally involve gate oxide
integrity, electromigration, corrosion, and isolation while gallium arsenide problems
center around interdiffusion of metallizations. The FET is most often the center of attention in compound semiconductor circuits. Testing has revealed degradation of channel
resistance and decreasing channel current as clear failure modes of metal semiconductor
FETs (MESFETs) and high-electron mobility transistors (HEMT) at the end of their
expected lifetimes.
Early GaAs MESFETs suffered from direct channel burn-out. The shorting of the
channel from gate-to-drain, gate-to-source, and drain-to-source resulted from a lack of
consistent processing and poor substrate material. More recent studies have found this
shorting to occur only when MESFETs are overstressed in terms of current density,
voltage breakdown, and/or excessive power dissipation.
Another reported failure mechanism which could often account for increased channel
resistance and decreased saturation current was ohmic contact degradation. Interdiffusion of gallium and gold was a problem for manufacturers a few years ago. This interdiffusion often caused increased effective channel resistance and contact degradation.
As manufacturers standardized on Au-Ge-Ni ohmic materials, instead of incorporating
455
Cr or In, this problem subsided. Anecdotal evidence also seems to suggest that the
deposition technique is also a key to stable ohmic contacts. Deposition of ohmic metals
serially in distinct stacks has reportedly been more stable than ohmic contacts which are
deposited simultaneously or from a precombined source of metals.
As compound semiconductor development has progressed, the ohmic contacts have
become less of a problem. Investigations into FET degradation on a device physics level
has found that changes in pinch-off and/or transconductance often occur at the end of life
and cannot be explained by ohmic contact degradation. Analysis generally also indicates
an effective reduction of carrier concentration in the channel of the FET. At least three
possible mechanisms could be responsible for this predominant failure mode. Changes
in the carrier concentration of the FET can be caused by compensation from gate atoms,
diffusion of carriers out of the channel, or effective reduction of the channel depth by the
encroachment of the gate. Compensation can be measured by DLTS (deep level transient
spectroscopy). Diffusion can be assessed by the effects of bias during life-testing, and
movement of the gate into the channel can be confirmed by Auger or other destructive
analytical techniques.
The effects of burn-out, ohmic contact degradation, carrier compensation, carrier
diffusion, or gate metal interdiffusion is specifically dependent on the manufacturers
process. It is possible that several mechanisms at work simultaneously.
10.6
Failure distributions
One of the keys to understanding reliability is an understanding of failure distributions.
Any particular sample of devices will have a unique type of failure signature for each
mechanism that causes degradation. Analysis of these distributions is necessary to
characterize each type of failure mechanism, and to eventually predict expected lifetime
for all the relevant environmental conditions.
Separation of failure distributions is not always easy. When multiple failure mechanisms are causing degradation, it may be easier to physically separate the effects by
breaking down a circuit into each of its elements. Testing of individual transistors, capacitors, and resistors can expose a single failure mechanism that is easier to analyze than
a hodge-podge of factors causing ICs to degrade. However, further breakdown of the
individual elements into even simpler individual contacts and interconnects, etc., may
help to reveal more insight into the cause of the problem.
The measurement of reliability for semiconductors generally involves failure rates.
Traditionally, several classifications of failure types have resulted from the failure experience of large systems during their use. This experience is commonly translated to
the bathtub curve [5] shown in Figure 10.1. Whether measuring computers, automobiles, or even human lifetimes early, random, and wear-out failure types are generally
expected.
Over many years experience, and across a wide variety of mechanical and electronic
components, machines, and systems, people have measured empirical population failure
rates as a function of time. If the population is large enough, each study will produce
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Reliability
Figure 10.1 Traditional reliability bathtub curve.
Figure 10.2 Human mortality rates (in %) for males and females in the USA c.1990.
Source: Age-specific death rates from the human mortality database (HMD) from
http://www.mortality.org.
results which mimic the human results shown in Figure 10.2. and are generalized by a
graph with the shape of a bathtub shown in Figure 10.3. Because of the similarities in
shape of these failure rate curves, the curve has become widely known as the Bathtub
curve.
The initial region that begins at time zero when a customer first begins to use the
product is characterized by a high but rapidly decreasing failure rate. This region is
known as the early failure period and is also referred to as infant mortality period (from
the actuarial origins of the first bathtub curve plots). Burn-in can be used as a means of
weeding out infant mortalities and this is discussed in Appendix 10.1.
457
Figure 10.3 Alternate generalized bathtub curve composed of a defective failure distribution
and a wearout failure distribution. The combined distributions result in a population exhibiting
the traditional bathtub shaped failure rate.
Next, some systems have a period where the failure rate levels off and remains
roughly constant (and hopefully very low) for the majority of the useful life of the product. This long period of a low failure rate is usually identified as the random failure
period, and is sometimes called the stable failure period. The random failure period
characterizes the useful life of the system where the lowest failure rate occurs. Random
failures may be caused by infant mortality failure mechanisms which had extraordinary
long lives or by devices which wear-out prematurely. Random failures may also be
caused by misapplication of devices or by latent damage caused during manufacturing
and use. Additional application problems have been noted, such as electrostatic discharge and failure to adequately heatsink higher power devices. As with infant mortality
failures, inherent random failures eventually achieve undetectably low levels during the
maturation of a new technology.
Finally, if units from the bathtub curve population remain in use long enough, the
failure rate begins to increase as materials wear out and degradation occurs at an ever
increasing rate. This is known as the wear-out failure period. Gradual degradation
in device parameters is typical for amplifying devices when subjected to extremely
accelerated life-test conditions. Occasionally, this degradation leads to functional failure,
but in all cases, catastrophic failure mechanisms are rare except when devices are
overstressed, either by application or design.
For the system designer, early, random, and wear-out failure risks must be considered
for the selection of each component. The infant and random failure periods are dependent
on device processing, testing and screening and those risks should abate as technologies
mature.
It is debatable as to whether the bathtub curve represents a single distribution or an
accumulation of multiple distributions. When examining semiconductors under various
accelerated aging methods, the early and wear-out distributions are often distinguished.
Ideally, the burn-in conditions would exclusively accelerate the early failure mechanisms
without shortening the useful life of the device by accelerating the wear-out mechanisms.
458
Reliability
After 4380hrs at 260 C
Typical FET Curve

Idss = 94 mA
Rds = 8.4 ohm
Baseline
FET 3
Vp = 1.310 V
10 mA
Idss = 19 mA
Rds = 43.75 ohm
Vp = 0.818 V
Aged
FET 3
10 mA
500 mV
500 mV
200 mV
200 mV
per step
per step
gm = 50 m
gm = 50 m
per div.
per div.
Reference Device (time = 0 hours)
Extreme Wearout after 26 week life test.
Figure 10.4 Electrical characteristics of MESFET degradation.
However, if the wear-out mechanisms have margin to spare, then the effect of burn-in
may be negligible.
For semiconductors, the failure rates of the bathtub curves are depicted with a log
scale. The constant failure rate region may be simply the sum of the tails of the early and
wear-out distributions. It is expected that systems spend most of their lifetimes operating
in this very low failure rate portion of the bathtub curve, so it is sometimes called the
intrinsic region. The wear-out failure distributions should not be detected until after
the warranty lifetime of the product unless some form of accelerated life-testing is
employed.
10.7
Acceleration factors
10.7.1
Thermal acceleration
One of the primary failure mechanism for FETs is sinking gates. Sinking gates are
caused by gate metal interdiffusion into the channel. This interdiffusion produces shifts
in several MESFET parameters as the effective channel thickness is reduced. The largest
parameteric change caused by gate sinking is in channel current. Therefore, a 20% change
in channel current may be arbitrarily selected to define a FET failure. In addition, as
the gate sinks, channel resistance increases and the magnitude of the voltage required
to pinch-off a FET is reduced (this usually means pinch-offs are more positive). The
sinking gate failure mechanism is gradual rather than a catastrophic failure mechanism.
It is also self-limiting in a sense because as the channel current decreases so does the
power in the FET and thus the temperature is lowered; causing the gates to sink more
slowly. An example of the electrical and physical effects of extreme gate sinking is
shown in Figures 10.4 and 10.5.
Figure 10.4 shows the curve tracer characteristics for a typical MESFET and for a
MESFET after exposure to 4380 h at 260 C under bias and RF stimulus. Identical
459
Figure 10.5 Focused ion beam (FIB) cross-sections of reference (left) and degraded (right)
MESFETs subjected to 260 C lifetest. Gate metal width is approximately 0.5 mm.
Note: the electrical parameters of these two FETs match those in Figure 10.4.
degradation was observed at the same temperature without bias or RF drive. This
degradation is well beyond the 20% change failure threshold, but it was purposely
induced to ensure that an accompanying physical change could be detected. The physical
change which caused this electrical change is shown in Figure 10.5. As with the electrical
data, a virgin gate is shown as a reference. Both of these cross-sections were made using
a focused ion beam.
The movement of the metal gate at the semiconductor surface is dramatic on the
degraded transistor. Some voiding is also present in the degraded gate, probably because
of the mass of material which has moved into the transistor channel. This is an extreme
failure which resulted in a 2.2 dB change in the insertion loss of the MMIC, but
remember, this occurred at 260 C. In a similar life-test at 250 and 225 C, less than
0.8 dB and 0.08 dB change occurred, respectively, for the same 4380 h test duration
and similarly stressed MMICs. Operation at the maximum rated temperature (150 C)
would be expected to exceed 2000 years before a 1 dB change could be observed. This
expected longevity of sinking gates is acceptable in terms of common reliability goals,
and is not considered as a threat to device lifetimes under normal operating conditions.
To further analyze the sinking gate mechanism, an example of individual transistor
life-testing will be used. The changes in channel current during a six month, 245 C
life-test are shown in Figure 10.6. An arbitrary failure criterion of a 20% Ids reduction
was chosen because in the amplifiers using this transistor, a 20% drop in channel current
resulted in a 1 dB drop in output power.
As shown in Figure 10.6, the time to failure is not constant. In fact, no failures occur
in this sample until 1700 h have elapsed. The times to failure follow a distribution in
time.
If time is plotted on a log scale and failure accumulation on a normal scale, then
a straight line results, and then a distribution can be characterized with just two simple parameters, a point and a slope. The result of plotting the time to failure data in
Figure 10.9 is shown on a lognormal plot in Figure 10.7.
The first parameter used to characterize this distribution is the median life (ML).
It is determined by the time elapsed to cause half of the samples to become failures,
or approximately 4770 h for this life-test. The median life is a point selected as a
convenience, it has no particular significance in terms of the distribution, but it is a
popular convention to select the median life since there is no zero on the normal scale
Degradation (% Change in Idss)
Reliability
+10
0.0
10
20
Failure Criteria
245 C Life Test
30
40
1.0
0.5
1.5
2.0
2.5
Stress Duration (Thousands of Hours)

Figure 10.6 Degradation in channel current for a 245 C FET lifetest. A total of 24 individual
transistors were tested for 6 months, only the 12 fastest degrading samples are shown here for the
first 2600 h of the accelerated lifetest.
100,000
Sigma
245 C
10,000
1,000
Median Life
Test Time
(Hours)
460
100
10
Normal Scale
1
10%
50%
90%
Cumulative Failure Percentage
Figure 10.7 Lognormal plot of time to failure for a 245 C FET lifetest.
so an axis intercept is not possible. During conversions and mathematical curve-fitting,

the 50% failure point becomes the intercept because the normal scale is symmetric
about it. Once the median life is selected as a reference point, the distribution can be
fully described with a slope parameter, called sigma. Sigma is sometimes called the
distributions shape parameter and it physically defines the spread of the distribution.
The sigma for the data in Figure 10.7 is 0.90. Large sigmas (high slopes) indicate the
distribution generates failures over a relatively long span of the test. For any particular
failure mechanism, the sigmas should be similar, regardless of the stress temperature or
resulting median lifetime.
In order to predict lifetimes at lower stress i.e., lower temperature, then the acceleration
factor of the stress must be determined. By common definition, the acceleration factor
is the median life at low temperature divided by the median life at higher temperature.
100,000
Test Time
(Hours)
10,000
Failure Criteria:
20% Idss Change
461
245 C
260 C
1,000
275 C
100
290 C
10
1
310 C
Biased at Idss
10%
50%
90%
Cumulative Failure Percentage

Figure 10.8 Lognormal plot of degradation in channel current for five FET lifetests at different
temperatures.
Acceleration factors for thermally accelerated failure mechanisms are typically found
to follow the Arrhenius equation.
Ea 1 1
Acceleration Factor = e K T2 T1
(10.1)
where Ea is Activation Energy (eV), K is Boltzmanns constant (8.61423 105 eV),
and T is absolute temperature (K).
The median lives are determined by the methodology described in the previous section
(using the lognormal distribution) and the temperatures are the life-test temperatures
(converted to K). The remaining unknown value is the activation energy. With just two
temperatures, the activation energy can be determined by direct substitution. If lifetests are performed at more than two temperatures, then the activation energy can be
determined by performing a least squares linear fit as shown in the following example.
Figure 10.8 shows the lognormal failure distributions for life-tests conducted at five
different temperatures of 245, 260, 275, 290, and 310 C. These are all plotted using
the failure criteria of 20% change in channel current caused by the sinking gate
mechanism.
Whereas the transistors could last 4770 h at 245 C, they are degrading beyond the
20% limit in only 7.4 h at 310 C. Thus, lifetime is reduced by more than three orders
of magnitude for a temperature increase of just 65 C. It is clear that the sinking gate
mechanism is highly accelerated by temperature. Figure 10.9 shows a graph of median
life versus junction temperature using a least squares linear fit. The activation energy,
which in this case is 2.56 eV, is the slope of this line divided by K.
Compared to failure mechanisms for silicon devices, which have activation energies
from 0.3 to 1.2 eV, this activation energy is extremely high (remember, activation energy
is an exponential term). Higher activation energy implies faster degradation in MTTF
with increased temperature. Although high, it is not unexpected since the measured
activation energy for the diffusion of Au and Ti in GaAs is 2.64 eV and 2.93 eV,
462
Reliability
Median Life (hours)
108
Biased at Idss
10K Years
107
1K Years
106
100 Years
2.56eV
105
10 Years
104
103
102
10
1 Hour
1 Year
1 Month
1 Week
Failure Criteria:
20% Idss Decrease
75 85 100
125
1 Day
150
175 200 225 250
300
Temperature (C)
Figure 10.9 Arrhenius-style plot showing median lifetime versus temperature extracted from
Figure 10.8.
respectively, which is similar to the activation energy of sinking gates. Very similar
results have been demonstrated for various FET devices, including pHEMTs.
Now that a method of determining thermal acceleration factors has been defined, the
previous question about predicting when failures will occur can be addressed. If the
maximum specified operating peak hot spot temperature of a FET in a power amplifier
application is limited to 150 C, then Figure 10.9 shows the projected median life for
FETs at 150 C is about 1 billion hours, or 114,000 years! This prediction indicates that
the sinking gate failure mechanism is not likely in need of improving, at least for the
next few thousand years.
One reason to use such a robust example to describe distributions and acceleration
factors is to further delineate the difference between accelerated failure mechanisms
and natural failure mechanisms. The accelerated test will often find the wear-out failure
mechanism for the respective accelerated conditions, but the customer will experience
failures caused by defects. We would not expect customers to ever see a sinking gate,
and in fact they have not.
10.7.2
Current acceleration
One of the principal wear-out failure mechanisms is electromigration. Electromigration
is the mass transport of a metal due to the momentum transfer between conducting electrons and diffusing metal atoms. Discovered more than 100 years ago, electromigration
became a concern only when the relatively severe conditions necessary for operation of
integrated circuits made it painfully visible. Although electromigration exists whenever
current flows through a metal wire, the conditions necessary for electromigration to
be a problem simply do not exist on a macro scale. In bulk wires, such as those used
for home appliances, the maximum current density is about 10,000 A/cm2 Any current
density that exceeds this value will produce enough heat to melt a metal wire. However,
463
the driving force from electrons colliding into diffusing metal atoms would be insufficient to make electromigration a significant problem at those current densities used for
industrial power distribution.
All of this changed in 1966 when the integrated circuit was invented. Electromigration was rediscovered by semiconductor engineers. In circuits, electricity is conducted
by interconnects that are miniature thin-film stripes that are capable of dissipating heat
from very high current densities. Thin-film conductors can withstand current densities
at least two orders of magnitude greater than traditional bulk wires. This allows current
densities of nearly 106 A/cm2 without building-up enough heat to melt the interconnect. At current densities above 10,000 A/cm2, electromigration becomes a significant
degradation mechanism.
The first integrated circuits were constructed with metal lines made of pure aluminum,
a material with a low melting temperature, which implies fast diffusion at low temperatures. Thin-film conductors on the semiconductor scale contain small grains with many
grain boundaries that can be conduits for even more rapid diffusion. This combination
of high current density and fast diffusion at low temperatures was disastrous for early
circuits. Semiconductors were supposed to be very reliable compared to vacuum tubes,
but when the first ICs were placed into service, they failed within weeks. The shock to
the industry forced everyone to become an expert in understanding the electromigration
failure mechanism. Since those early days the electromigration mechanism has not gone
away, but it is now under control.
Electrons flow through a metal film and collide with metal atoms. The collisions
produce a force from momentum exchange on the metal atoms in the direction of
electron flow for n-type materials (opposite for p-type materials). This force causes
the metal atoms to move and this is termed electromigration. Electromigration is only
significant at high current densities. The magnitude of the electromigration force is
proportional to the current density, but Black [6] showed that electromigration failures
have an inverse square dependence on current density J rather than the expected purely
inverse dependence and that it is given by
H
t50 = A J 2 e( kT )
(10.2)
where t50 is the median time to failure in an ensemble of samples, A is a constant that
needs to be empirically determined, and H is the activation energy for failure. Equation
(10.2) is known as Blacks Law and has proven to be adequate even to the present day.
To ensure that electromigration failure does not occur in the field, we need to limit the
current density such that electromigration failure will not become significant until long
after the projected useful lifetime of the circuit. This is a function of not only the current
density in the metal lines and contacts, but also of temperature and other variables, such
as interdiffusion, mechanical stress and the grain structure of the conductor.
Interconnects and resistors also suffer from electromigration but the dependence on
current density is no longer a pure inverse square law relationship. Thus, Blacks equation
is generalized to
median life =
Area ( Ea )
e kT
Jn
(10.3)
464
Reliability
Median Life (Hours)
106
Plated
Gold
250 C
n=4
105
NiCr Resistor
200 C
n=3
104
103
Ohmic Contact n=3.5
203 C
102
n=1.5
Deposited
Gold 300 C
10
1
0.1
1.0
Current Density (M Amps/sq. cm.)
10
Figure 10.10 Current density acceleration factors for example metals used in amplifiers. Slope is
the current density exponent identified as n in equation (10.3).
30
60
40
20
0
40
Jc = 101 kA/cm2
100
80
Ic (mA)
Ic (mA)
120
20
10
2000
4000
6000
Time (Hours)
8000
Jc = 34 kA/cm2
0
2000
6000
4000
Time (Hours)
8000
Figure 10.11 L-Band HBT biased high-temperature operating lifetest degradation at a junction
temperature of 250 C and at two different current densities for transistor samples having
2.2 45 m2 active area.
where J = current density, n = current density exponent, Ea = activation energy,

K = Boltzmanns constant, and T = temperature.
Just as with the Arrhenius equation, the electromigration effects on lifetimes can
be determined using a graphical approach. Figure 10.10 shows the graphed results for
several example metallizations life-tested with different current densities applied.
We can follow the same failure distribution and acceleration factor graphing technique
for electromigration as we did for the metal interdiffusion mechanism of the sinking
gate and extend the effect of current density into the realm of transistors. Many published results on HBT amplifiers have demonstrated that collector current density has
a significant impact on transistor degradation. Most HBT suppliers recommend current
density levels between 20 KA/cm2 and 50 KA/cm2 [7]. Degradation data for an L-Band
HBT amplifier is shown in Figure 10.11.
Plotting the time to failure versus the collector current using the data in Figure 10.11
results in the lognormal plots of the degradation distributions shown in Figure 10.12.
Finally, the median times to failure for each HBT life-test done at different current
densities as determined from Figure 10.12 will produce an estimate for the current
density exponent if plotted against current density as shown in Figure 10.13.
100000
Time (Hours)
Time (Hours)
10000
465
1000
100
10000
1000
Tj = 250 C
Jc = 101 kA/cm2
10
10
30 50
70
90
98
Tj = 250 C
Jc = 34 kA/cm2
100
2
Cumulative % Failure
10
30 50 70
90
98
Cumulative % Failure
Figure 10.12 250 C Lognormal failure distributions of L-Band HBT biased HTOL degradation at
two different current densities.
Median Life (Hours)
106
HBT at 250 C
105
104
n=1.5
103
102
10
1
10
100
Collector Current Density (K A/cm2)
1000
Figure 10.13 Current density exponent determination for 250 C L-Band HBT biased HTOL
degradation.
This plotting analysis exercise using Figures 10.11 to 10.13 demonstrates several
important results. First of all, current density is an accelerating stress that degrades
transistors in a similar way to interconnect metals. Second, HBT transistor reliability
may be predicted by multiple applied current densities at constant temperature. Finally,
HBT current handling capabilities are about an order of magnitude less than those of
interconnects for roughly the same temperatures. These findings might indicate that even
though HBTs are accelerated by thermal failure mechanisms, current density may be a
more useful acceleration tool for measuring the reliability of these transistors.
10.7.3
Voltage acceleration factors

(MIM capacitors are an important component of any RF circuit. As such, their long term
reliability is an integral part of the overall dependability of an RF device. However, the
accelerating stress for capacitors is almost entirely voltage. So unlike electromigration
466
Reliability
degradation, the effect of temperature as an accelerating stress is almost negligible. By

employing the method of ramped voltage testing, almost any capacitor structure can be
used to assess dielectric reliability. However, to measure defect density, larger capacitors
are preferred. The expected failure mechanism for MIM capacitors is determined by
measuring the TDDB.
Ramped voltage testing is a viable process monitoring methodology which can be
easily and effectively realized by on-wafer probing. Although thin dielectrics are used as
gate dielectrics in silicon technologies, for the most part silicon nitride (SiN) capacitors
with films less than 100 nm thick are uncommon in the compound semiconductor
industry. However MIM capacitor thicknesses are expected to shrink, albeit at a much
slower rate than gate dielectrics.
For this example, we will examine a 50 nm thick silicon nitride capacitor. The bottom
and top plates of these capacitors generally consist of sputtered gold metallizations.
The bottom plate is built using the first local interconnect layer while the top plate
is a restricted metal layer used solely for capacitors. The silicon nitride is a PECVDdeposited film with a dielectric constant of 68. These thin-film capacitors allow higher
capacitance in a smaller chip area. While thinner nitride films are beneficial for on-chip
density, they set a higher bar for manufacturability and long-term reliability. It then
becomes essential to continuously monitor the quality of thinner nitride films and the
over all capacitor fabrication process.
Silicon nitride films are often categorized by their corresponding breakdown voltage.
Different films have different breakdown voltage characteristics. In general, thicker
nitride films exhibit higher breakdown voltages and are thus more forgiving of process
and film variations. Thin MIM capacitors are more susceptible to deviations from the
normal film quality as well as defectives introduced by the fabrication process. The
robustness of a nitride film is generally characterized by an associated TDDB graph
[810]. This is often used to predict a capacitors lifetime at a given voltage. Many
publications on capacitor reliability have demonstrated the use of both constant voltage
and ramp-to-breakdown methods in silicon nitride lifetime studies.
The capacitance per unit area and leakage current at a set voltage are the typical
parameters used as a figure of merit for MIM capacitors. The voltage-ramping of a
capacitor to breakdown provides a means of monitoring capacitor quality, defect density,
and allows TDDB analysis to predict MIM film robustness. Ramped TDDB studies
are an accepted method of benchmarking capacitor reliability in todays compound
semiconductor industry.
The capacitors used were manufactured using a mask set with MIMs of various sizes
ranging from 1 103 m2 to 8 105 m2 . There were 6100 MIM capacitors on a wafer
that could be individually probed and voltage ramped. Example ramping results on a
population of capacitors is shown in Figure 10.14. When the results are ordered or
plotted on a probability axis, the population of intrinsic and extrinsic devices is clearly
obvious. Failure is defined to be when the leakage current exceeds 10 mA. This test is
destructive. Voltage ramping is a powerful tool in the identification and classification of
capacitor defects.
For the ramp to breakdown measurements on large area capacitors, a ramp with
voltage steps of 1 V was selected for convenience. The ramp rate was then adjusted
467
Process Variation
110
25 K um2 Capacitor
100
Intrinsic capacitor
population
(Good Capacitors)
Ordered Capacitor Data
Ordinal
90
80
70
60
50
40
Defect Density
Extrinsic capacitor
population
(Defect-driven)
30
20
10
0
0
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
50
55
60
Capacitor Fail Voltage (Volts)

Figure 10.14 Ramp to failure data on a population of 25,000 m2 capacitors.
to compensate for the size of the capacitor under test. Several intrinsic test capacitors
were chosen and ramped to breakdown with at least two different voltage ramp rates
to characterize the electric field acceleration factor, . Once this is known, the TDDB
performance of the silicon nitride film can be predicted. For thinner SiN films the small
area capacitors exhibit a small extrinsic population. The data was collected with a ramp
that used 0.25 V steps.
Based on these observations, the 5 103 m2 capacitor was selected as the main test
vehicle for ramped TDDB studies. In addition to limiting the maximum size to avoid
extrinsic defects, a conscious effort was made to ensure a purely intrinsic population
by including only voltages between the 5th and 95th percentile. Statistically, this did not
affect the median voltage for each ramp rate but significantly improved the standard
deviation of the data. The Table 10.3 shows the resulting median and standard deviation
when the exclusion is applied to the data collected on various capacitors.
Having selected an appropriately sized test capacitor and established a methodology
to ensure an intrinsic population of capacitor breakdown voltages, several voltage ramp
rates were investigated. Voltage steps of 1 V, 0.25 V, 0.1 V were utilized in combination
with different time steps that varied from 5 ms to 200 s to achieve the desired ramp rates.
Table 10.4 summarizes the different voltage and time steps that were used in the course
of this investigation. This resulted in a broad distribution of voltage ramp rates.
Early on it was evident that selecting the height of the voltage step dictated the granularity of the data. As such the use of steps of 1 V misleadingly quantized the distribution
of capacitor breakdown voltages. The 1 V voltage step also necessitated longer time
steps to achieve reasonable ramp rates negating one of the benefits of ramped voltage
testing. Using this larger step size presented challenges to the test instrumentation. For
468
Reliability
Table 10.3 Comparison of median and standard deviation
Ramp rate
Cap size
Median
Std dev
Median
exclude
Std dev
exclude
0.5 V/s
1 K um2
5 K um2
10 K um2
46.75
46.50
46.00
0.88
0.92
1.32
46.75
46.50
46.00
0.47
0.45
0.47
5.0 V/s
1 K um2
5 K um2
10 K um2
51.25
50.25
50.00
0.81
2.12
0.73
51.25
50.25
50.00
0.43
0.45
0.36
50.0 V/s
1 K um2
5 K um2
10 K um2
54.50
54.00
53.75
7.34
1.05
0.94
54.50
54.00
53.75
0.38
0.42
0.37
Table 10.4 Voltage ramp rates

Voltage
step (V)
Time
step
Ramp
rate (V/s)
0.1
20 ms
40 ms
400 ms
1s
5.00
2.50
0.25
0.10
0.25
5 ms
50 ms
500 ms
50.00
5.00
0.50
20 ms
200 ms
2s
20 s
200 s
50.00
5.00
0.50
0.05
0.005
several combinations of time steps and capacitor sizes, the test system was erroneously
reporting a higher voltage than what was actually being applied to the capacitor.
For the TDDB studies, it was determined that smaller step sizes are more useful.
Voltage steps of 0.1 V and 0.25 V provide a broad distribution of voltage ramp rates with
reasonable test times. The selected voltage and time step combinations were successfully
implemented by a parametric test system.
Besides capacitance and breakdown voltage, the leakage through a capacitor is also
measured. This is usually done at a single voltage and a shorted capacitor would be
easily evident. The data collected from this measurement can be interpreted into a defect
density number at that voltage. But by doing so, the only extrinsic defects that can be
detected would be those which short the capacitor at voltages lower than or at the test
voltage. The advantage of a ramped voltage test would be the ability to detect defects
469
99.9
Size
25 K um2
50 K um2
100 K um2
200 K um2
400 K um2
800 K um2
99
Population (Percent)
95
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
5
1
0.1
0
12
18
24
30
36
42
48
54
60
Ramp Failure Level (Volts)

Figure 10.15 Capacitor breakdown voltage for various area capacitors.
at every voltage step. Its only disadvantage is that it is a destructive test which damages
the capacitor.
Figure 10.15 shows all the data collected from one of these reliability test wafers
sorted by capacitor size.
For the ramped voltage TDDB studies, three different wafers were used to collect the
necessary data. Two of the wafers came from a single fabrication lot while another wafer
was taken from a separate lot. All 50 nm capacitors measured in this study had the same
SiN MIM film. This exercise was done to make certain of the consistency of the ramped
voltage method across material.
Figure 10.16 shows the ramped voltage data collected for 5 103 m2 MIM capacitors
using voltage steps of 0.1 V and 0.25 V. Ramp rates of 0.1 V/s, 0.25 V/s, 0.5 V/s, 2.5
V/s, 5 V/s, and 50 V/s were used.
Table 10.5 summarizes the median and standard deviation of the capacitor breakdown
voltage for the material subjected to the ramped voltage test.
Using the data from Table 10.4, the electric field acceleration factor can be calculated
using any combination of two different ramp rates and median failure voltages using the
equation below:

1
ln Rate
Rate 2
=
(10.4)
E1 E2
The results of this calculation are shown below in Table 10.6. Different combinations
of ramp rates and median failure voltages result in a consistent value for the electric
field acceleration factor. This is also seen to be relatively constant when tested across
different wafers.
Reliability
Table 10.5 Capacitor breakdown voltage
Material
Voltage
step
Lot A, Wafer 1
Ramp rate
Median
Std dev
0.25 V
0.5 V/s
5.0 V/s
50.0 V/s
46.50
50.25
54.00
0.64
0.68
0.59
Lot B, Wafer 2
0.25 V
0.5 V/s
5.0 V/s
50.0 V/s
47.50
51.25
55.00
0.76
0.89
0.76
Lot B, Wafer 3
0.10 V
44.4
49.3
49.6
50.7
0.84
0.92
0.79
0.83
0.1 V/s
0.25 V/s
2.5 V/s
5 V/s
Table 10.6 Electric field acceleration factor
Ramp combinations
Combination 1
Combination 2
Combination 3
Combination 4
Combination 5
Combination 4
Lot A, Wafer 1
0.25 V step
Lot B, Wafer 2
0.25 V step
Lot B, Wafer 3
0.10 V step
3.07E-08
3.07E-08
3.07E-08
3.07E-08
3.07E-08
3.07E-08
3.15E-08
3.12E-08
3.10E-08
3.11E-08
3.10E-08
3.05E-08
99.9
99
Population (Percent)
470
5 K um2
Capacitors
5.0 V/s 5.0 V/s
0.1 V/s
95
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
5
1
0.5 V/s
50.0 V/s
1.0 V/s 2.5 V/s
0.1
42
44
46
48
50
Ramp Failure Level (Volts)

Figure 10.16 Ramped voltage data at various ramp rates.
52
54
56
471
1014
1013
1012
Time To Failure (Seconds)
1011
1010
109
108
107
106
Me
dia
105
104
103
102
10
100
pp
0.1
102
103
104
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
50
55
Applied Voltage (Volts)

Figure 10.17 Lifetime prediction for capacitors relative to applied voltage.
Once the electric field acceleration factor is known, predictions of capacitor lifetimes
can be made. Since all capacitor ramp measurements were made at room temperature,
the TDDB equation does not need to include the Arrhenius portion, so lifetimes can be
represented by
Time to failure = e E
(10.5)
where E is the electric field. Figure 10.17 shows the resulting lifetime prediction for
capacitors with a constant voltage applied. Note that the median time to failure is plotted
as well as the time to the first 100 parts per million (1 in 10,000 capacitors).
Ramped voltage testing of capacitors across a wafer allows a process monitoring
methodology that facilitates the improvement of capacitor yield and long-term reliability.
Capacitor defect densities at a suitable voltage and capacitor operating lifetimes can be
measured and monitored for a particular nitride film thickness.
Just as current density is an important stress for HBT devices and ICs, applied voltage
has been found to accelerate failure mechanisms in GaN HEMT devices. AlGaN/GaN
HEMTs were investigated [11]. Standard life-tests were conducted at drain-to-source
biases of 15, 20, 25, and 30 V at 10 GHz drive with the devices driven 3 dB into
compression at room temperature. Under these stress conditions, the change in output
power was monitored for 20 h and the results are shown in Figure 10.18.
The degradation distribution of each group of the transistors was analyzed, and
Figure 10.19 shows the resulting prediction of time to failure (1 dB failure criteria)
for the respective channel voltages that were applied. The logarithmic relationship of
lifetime to applied voltage is very similar to those found for capacitors.
These HEMT results indicate that applied voltage with RF drive provides a viable
stress for life-testing of AlGaN/GaN HEMTs. No temperature acceleration is needed to
examine this degradation mechanism. In fact, a negative activation energy was observed
472
Reliability
0.2
Change in Power Out (dB)
0.0
0.2
0.4
Vds = 15 V
0.6
Vds = 20 V
0.8
Vds = 25 V
Vds = 30 V
1.0
1.2
0
10
15
20
Stress Time (Hours)

Figure 10.18 Change in output power for AlGaN/GaN HEMTs stressed with four different
channel voltages and under 3 dB compression at room temperature.
Time to 1 dB loss of Pout (hours)
10000
1000
100
10
30
25
20
15
Vdg in Volts
Figure 10.19 Time to fail versus applied voltage to the transistor.
in thermal life-tests on these devices. Results are consistent with a hot carrier induced
failure mechanism.
10.7.4
RF bias acceleration
One aspect of accelerated reliability stress that is relatively new is RF biasing. Testing
of individual transistors with RF bias has been conducted from time-to-time, but the
concept of RF drive as a wear-out mechanism is new. Past RF drive tests have included
10.8 Reliability predictions (MTBF, MTTF, FITs, etc.)
473
6
5
Thick Gate Oxide
1dB compression
Projected Degradation (% Id sat)
4
3
2
1
0
25
Thin Gate Oxide

20
15
10
10
15
5 Year RF Input Drive (dB m)

Figure 10.20 Model of % degradation of Ids after five years versus RF input power drive for thick
and thin NMOS devices. Note, this integrated power amplifier is at 1 dB compression at an
applied input power level of +8 dB m.
temperature as the primary method of acceleration. Even though some RF drive conditions have added considerable power (and temperature) the tests would keep RF stimulus
constant and conduct stress testing with multiple temperatures. As RF power continues
to increase in commercial applications such as for cell phones interest in RF acceleration also increases. Some cell phone PA module qualification testing has recently
shown that filters subjected to high RF drive levels will degrade while the active parts
of the module seem to be relatively unaffected.
The design models for the hot carrier injection failure mechanism in CMOS devices
has progressed enough that a recent model was utilized to predict the degradation of
a radio chip under various RF inputs [12]. The authors determined that the primary
wear-out mechanism in their integrated power amplifier would be caused by hot carrier
injection since the RF transistors in the amplifier core are NMOS devices configured in
a cascade structure which was susceptible to Vds swings which were modeled for various
RF drives and also for two different oxide thicknesses. Figure 10.20 shows the projected
degradation after five years of stress.
As more RF biased life-testing is conducted, perhaps more reliability relationships
will be discovered for use in predicting lifetimes.
10.8
Reliability predictions (MTBF, MTTF, FITs, etc.)

It is a basic belief of reliability engineers that failures must be generated to quantify
product reliability. Failures are required to identify the root causes of reliability problems,
or to evaluate the weakest link of an IC so that changes can be made to improve the
474
Reliability
reliability. Failures also provide the reference point for future comparisons. If life-tests
are performed before and after a process change, and they both result in zero failures,
theres no way to decide if the process change improved or impaired the reliability. Most
importantly: without fallout, a failure distribution cannot be determined. It is auspicious
that the published work on amplifier reliability contains many thousands of failures.
Just any failure will not do, however. The failure must be representative of degradation
that occurs in actual use. To ensure the usefulness of the failures generated, a five-step
procedure for evaluating devices is recommended:
Step 1. Operational analysis.
Step 2. Thermal analysis.
Step 3. Step stress test.
Step 4. Life-test.
Step 5. Acceleration factor test.
The five steps begin with an operational analysis. The operational analysis is simply
an investigation into the normal operating conditions of a particular device. During the
analysis, the proper biasing techniques to cause the device to be in a representative
state are investigated. The operational analysis includes developing fixturing which can
maintain the device in its desired state and engineering a technique or methodology for
electrical measurements which will ensure repeatable and reproducible results throughout all the subsequent testing. Part of this first step includes an evaluation of the device
as configured for testing. Specific checks are conducted to ensure that the device does
not oscillate or otherwise switch into an anomalous state, especially at high temperature.
Power supply interactions are also investigated as to the effects of proper power-up and
power-down sequencing, overshoot at turn-on, soft shut-off, and the effects of glitches
or other interruptions during operation.
The second step in finding representative failures is a thermal analysis. This is an
absolutely necessary step. Determining device temperatures is a key part of any reliability study, especially if acceleration factors are to be determined accurately. There are
several possible methods for measuring temperature, each with different advantages and
disadvantages. Temperatures of the entire IC package environment are best evaluated
from case to hotspot. The hotspot temperature is important for accurate calculations,
but the case is the best reference point for a packaged device. It has been determined
that peak hotspot temperatures are the least ambiguous parameters to define because
environmental effects such as air flow, humidity, and heat-sinking need not be examined.
The measurement and calculation of die temperatures is discussed in detail in Chapter 9.
Systems which exhibit constant failure rates may be characterized by a simple
parameter mean time between failures (MTBF). In such cases, the mathematics of
reliability becomes very simple. However, the assumption of constant failure rates in
systems is not correct for most integrated circuits, which instead follow more complex
distributions of degradation that may vary significantly with the type of accelerating
stress being applied and with the actual conditions the device experiences throughout its
lifetime. Although well understood since the early seventies, nonuniform failure distributions were largely ignored by systems engineers in favor of the simpler constant failure
10.9 Wear-out versus defects (acceleration versus real life)
475
rate and MTBF calculations. Even today, the simpler calculations shown in equations
(10.1) and (10.2) are preferred over the more complex relationships between failures and
time as shown in equation (10.6) where Q(t) is defined as the probability that a device
will fail in a time equal to or less than t (i.e., the fraction of the population that has failed
up to time t)
t
Q(t) =
f (t)dt
(10.6)
where f (t) is the failure probability density function which, for a log-normal distribution,
is given by

1
1 2
(10.7)
f (t) =
exp 2 ln t tm
2
2 t
where and tm are the standard deviation and median time to failure, respectively.
The failure rate for a constant failure rate system is defined as the number of failures
divided by the total time for these parts to fail and in this case

MTBF = 1
(10.8)
The reliability unit commonly used for failure rates today is the FIT. A FIT is a shorthand
unit of measure for the rate of failures in time. Originally, reliability engineers measured
the failure rate in units per hour. As the reliability of semiconductors improved, they
changed this to % per 1000 h. Then when reliability improved beyond 0.01% per
thousand hours, they made up a Failure unIT, which was equivalent to 0.0001% per
thousand hours, and gave it the name FIT. Over the past 30 years, engineers switched
the name from Failure unIT to the acronym Failures In Time, but they kept the units the
same. So, the FIT is merely a rate unit of convenience, similar to measuring speed in
MPH, a FIT has the units of failure fraction per hour. For mathematical convenience, we
sometimes refer to a FIT as failures per billion hours but even though that statement is
easy to understand mathematically, failures per billion hours is not technically correct.
10.9
Wear-out versus defects (acceleration versus real life)
10.9.1
Thermal excursion example no. 1. Interconnect vias

The focus of most reliability testing has been on high-temperature life testing. Several
failure mechanisms are highly accelerated by temperature, so this methodology has
produced data that is easy to analyze and straightforward to predict applicable albeit
very long lifetimes. However, some devices actually fail for quite different failure
mechanisms during typical use. This section will address a failure mechanism accelerated by thermal excursions such as temperature cycling, thermal shock instead of high
temperatures.
This short summary is intended to provide information on the methodology, implementation, and results of reliability assessments enacted by thermal excursion testing.
Reliability
Table 10.7 Standard thermal excursion definitions
Test
Type
JEDEC specification
reference
Range
1
2
3
4
5
Infrared reflow
Thermal shock
Thermal shock
Temperature cycle
Thermal shock
JESD22-A113
JESD22-A106 condition D
JESD22-A106 not specified
JESD22-A104 condition G
JESD22-A106 condition B
+25 C to
65 C to
40 C to
40 C to
0 C to
Cycles
+240 C
+150 C
+125 C
+125 C
+100 C
<20
<20
<100
<500
<2500
250
225
200
Temperature (C)
476
175
45 Seconds > 235 C

150
125
180 Seconds > 183 C

100
75
50
25
60
120
180
240
300
360
Time (Seconds)
Figure 10.21 IR reflow thermal profile.
Historically, accelerated tests such as temperature cycling are good at finding the same
natural failure mechanisms discovered by customers and so thermal excursion testing is
both important, and representative of what causes failure in devices under normal use in
the field.
As an example, a particular RF gain block IC was investigated to examine the consequences of using IR an reflow solder process on the device. Figure 10.21 shows the
reflow profile. This particular IC suffered from a metal interconnect track going open
circuit during the soldering process.
Thermal excursion testing is accomplished by subjecting samples to temperature
extremes. These extremes are generated by thermal conduction in air, immersion in inert
liquids, or by infrared radiation. All of the excursion testing is designed to alternate
rapidly between the extremes. Each of the three types of excursion testing used in this
study is specified by JEDEC specifications (see Table 10.7). The test conditions are
shown in Table 10.8. For each test, a sample of 100 parts was selected and measured.
477
Table 10.8 Thermal excursion profile data
Test
Type
Maximum
transfer time
Minimum
dwell time
Maximum
time to temp.
1
2
3
4
5
Infrared reflow
Thermal shock
Thermal shock
Temperature cycle
Thermal shock
140 s
10 s
10 s
1 minute
10 s
20 s
2 minutes
2 minutes
10 minutes
2 minutes
6 minutes
5 minutes
5 minutes
15 minutes
5 minutes
120
#1. IR Reflow +25 C to +240 C
#2. T/S 65 C to +150 C
Percent Fallout
100
#3. T/S & #4. T/C 40 C to +125 C
80
60
#5. T/S 0 C to +100 C
40
20
T/S = Thermal Shock

T/C = Temperature Cycle
0
0
0.5
1.5
2.5
3.5
Thermal Excursion Log Cycles

Figure 10.22 Thermal excursion failure distribution data for four stresses. Regression shown by
dashed lines.
Samples were subjected to thermal shock using rapid transfer between two fluorinert
liquid baths one hot, one cold and temperature cycling which involved air-to-air
transfer of material between adjacent chambers at the two temperature extremes.
The resulting failure distributions were analyzed and found to be logarithmic (not
necessarily lognormal). In other words, the number of failures increased linearly with
the log of the number of cycles as shown in Figure 10.22.
Additionally, all of the excursion testing resulted in the same slope of failure accumulation except the most benign test, which had a slope half that of the others. This
difference would indicate either a threshold of some type in the mechanism, or perhaps a different mechanism. When using the same temperature range, both the thermal
shock and thermal cycling testing had the same results. Even though the delta (215 C)
of temperatures in a simulated solder reflow (+25 C to +240 C) is the same as 65 C
to +150 C, the reflow caused considerably more failures in the same number of excursions. The data indicates that the excursion delta is definitely an acceleration factor for
478
Reliability
Initial Percent Failure
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
0
50
100
150
Temperature Delta (C)
200
250
Figure 10.23 Comparison of excursion delta to failure percentage after one excursion for cycling
and shock.
the mechanism in this study. The percentage of initial failures after one cycle at several
test conditions is shown in Figure 10.23.
For the failure mechanism in this study, there is no difference in sample degradation
between thermal shock and temperature cycling stresses, at least for the conditions of
40 C to +125 C. Four of the tests had a slope of 20% failure per log cycle, and
the fifth had a 10%/log cycle slope. It is clear from Figure 10.22 that for this particular
failure mechanism, one reflow simulation is approximately equal to eight thermal shocks
from 65 C to +150 C, or to 144 thermal shocks (or temperature cycles) from 40 C
to +125 C, and to 4,989,000 thermal shocks from 0 C to +100 C.
10.9.2
Thermal excursion example no. 2. Copper bump

Another example where thermal excursion testing is extremely valuable is flip-chip die
attach. Flip-chip eliminates wire-bonds and the need for substrate vias so semiconductor
processing and assembly is greatly simplified. Flip-chip can be implemented in practice
by using copper solder bumps, and these are very effective at removing heat from the die
since they are placed near the sources of heat. For this study, flip-chip was implemented
in an existing commercial amplifier module application. The module includes a copper
interconnect laminate base, an injection molded thermo-set epoxy overmold, standard
GaAs HBT process die, with a copper plated bump, and tin solder. See the diagram in
Figure 10.24. Note, Figure 10.24 is not to scale and does not represent overall size ratio
of the components inside the module. In some experiments, the under-fill material is
replaced by over-mold epoxy.
A special test structure was designed and manufactured to investigate the primary
failure mechanisms expected for the flip-chip construction. This type of Failure Mechanism Analysis (FMA) included consideration of all types of failure mechanism, i.e.,
die, assembly, and module. FMA also differs from failure modes and effects analysis
(FMEA) because the failure modes, severity, and detection aspects are not considered.
479
Module Overmold Epoxy

Flipped
GaAs Die
Bond
Pad
Passivation
Cu
Under
Bump
Metal
(UBM)
Sn
Solder
Mask
Bump
Underfill
(Optional)
Cu
Solder
Pkg Pad
Module Laminate
Pkg lead
Figure 10.24 Flip-chip technology description.
Overmold Epoxy
Semiconductor Die (Flipped)
Laminate Substrate
Figure 10.25 Cross-section of the flip-chip Test Structure.
Instead the mechanisms, the accelerating stresses, and the structures for detecting the
mechanisms are of primary importance. Using the FMA approach, mechanisms are
ranked by their likelihood, and then considered for incorporation into the test structure
layout.
The test structure developed for this example includes a daisy chain of 36 bumps, a
special detector, and a 15 W heater. A polished cross-section of the test die, mounted in
a module, is shown in Figure 10.25.
The detector was designed for multiple purposes. It serves as a temperature monitor, a mechanical fracture detector, a solder creep detector, and a leakage monitor. A
480
Reliability
Table 10.9 Failure criteria

Resistance values
Structure
Daisy chain (cold)
Daisy chain hot
Detector (cold)
Detector hot
Chain-detector
Detector-heater
Heater
Leakage
2X
Open
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
laminate-based substrate was designed to match up with the structure and form the
bump-interconnect daisy chain. Normal manufacture includes a standard encapsulate.
Various under-fill materials and bump configurations were investigated using the test
structures.
Thermal excursion testing was accomplished by subjecting samples to temperature
extremes generated by thermal conduction in air, immersion in inert liquids, by convection, infrared radiation, or by power dissipated within the device. All of the excursion
testing is designed to alternate rapidly between extreme temperatures. The reference
level of testing used in this study was temperature cycling, per JESD22-A104 Condition
G, 40 C to +125 C, 1000 cycles. In this study, excursions were accelerated and
increased up to >250 C using on-chip power cycling. An on-chip thermometer verified
average die temperatures.
For the primary investigation, various power cycling conditions were applied to several
different flip-chip lots. The cycling parameters of power, time on, and time off were varied
and compared to results from the reference level test results. In addition to the variable
of the applied stress, other parameters were also evaluated. For example, various solders,
under-fills, and assembly pretreatments were investigated using population samples.
Typically, resistance changes in a daisy chain were used to assess aging. The failure
criteria shown in Table 10.9 were applied.
Each of the three resistance paths (daisy chain, detector loop, and heater resistor)
were measured at room temperature and immediately after a power cycle of the heater.
Immediate measurements were generally within 20 ms of the heat pulse, although some
hot measurements could be up to 0.5 s after the heat pulse. Changes in resistance
were found to be relative to the time after heating. In some instances, resistances would
increase upon cooling, but in other situations the opposite effect would occur. Obviously,
this type of information is not usually available from standard temperature cycling
where the devices are measured at set intervals. Figure 10.26 shows an example of data
accumulated during power cycling on a single test structure.
The failure mechanism for these devices was an open circuit in an interconnecting
pathway. Average die temperatures could be easily monitored during the stress using
the detector loop. As expected, increases in heater current resulted in failures with
481
10000
Max Die Temp = 202 C
Detector Hot 512 cycles
Resistance (Ohms)
1000
Detector
673 cycles
Heater Resistor:
448 to 400 ohms
856
cycles
100
Daisy Chain 277 cycles

daisychain
Daisy Chain Hot

493 cycles
10
detector
heater
isolation
daisychainHot
Isolation Fail
at 703 cycles
detectorHot
1
0
200
400
600
800
1000
1200
Power Cycles (Heater = 2 sec ON, 20 sec OFF, 179 C Rise)
Figure 10.26 Typical resistance changes observed during power cycling.
fewer power cycles. The intent of investigating such a range of stress parameters is to
produce a representative type of degradation in the fastest possible time. Failure analysis
was a key part of the investigation since anomalous failures were not the objective.
Examples of anomalous failures generated in this study are: heater resistor burnout,
device interconnect failure, and melting of dielectrics or overmold plastics. By adjusting
the heater power and the heating time, all of these anomalies could be avoided, and
legitimate mechanisms were consistently generated in a highly accelerated manner in
hours instead of weeks.
Multiple failure mechanisms were generated using power cycling on the test structure.
One of those generated was identical to failures observed during traditional air-to-air
temperature cycling tests. In general, the mechanisms varied across each individual
sample depending on proximity to the on-chip heater. Cracking within the bump itself
was never observed. The predominant type of daisy chain failures observed during
power cycle aging was solder fatigue. This mechanism was also observed in traditional
temperature cycling. Normally, the crack would form through the center of the solder,
as shown in Figure 10.27. However, cracking was also observed nearer to the solder
intermetallic compound (IMC) interfaces.
The result of standard temperature cycling aging is the solder fatigue crack shown
in Figure 10.28. This crack took 2000 cycles to form per the standard excursion and
dwell times, and it is the expected failure mechanism for this structure under these aging
conditions. No failures were noted at read points with fewer cycles. This aging took
42 days to complete. In contrast, the crack in Figure 10.27 took 81 minutes to generate in accelerated power cycling testing. Both cracks shown in Figure 10.27 and
482
Reliability
Copper Bump
Trace on Laminate
Figure 10.27 Typical flip-chip failure cross-section separation within the solder after 153 cycles
of 2 s on, 30 s off with a 4.8 W heater.
Semiconductor Die
Copper
Bump
Trace on Laminate
Figure 10.28 Standard temperature cycle flip chip failure cross-section note similarity to
Figure 10.27. This is a typical solder fatigue failure after 2000 temperature cycles or 42 days
of thermal excursion aging.
Figure 10.28 measured open electrically at room temperature before cross-sectioning.

Thus, thermal excursion failure mechanisms can be accelerated to assess flip-chip reliability using on-chip power cycling.
10.9.3
Defect amplification and K factors

Regardless of the measured lifetimes, there have been few wear-out failures reported
during use of the circuits. Instead, customers do report measurable defect rates and early
life failures that often match-up with yield fallout failure mechanisms. This section
investigates a particular defect that not only corresponds with many of the early life
483
failures, but is also unique to compound semiconductor manufacturing. The defect is

generalized as liftoff metal shorting.
Defects are those rare artifacts that are present in every process, but seldom discussed
in reliability investigations. The important extrinsic reliability failures occur from defects
that degrade to a complete failure under nominal aging and use conditions. The most
prevalent defects which fall into this category are:
r
r
r
r
r
capacitor dielectric defects;

metal intralevel connection defects;
adjacent contact short defects;
metal interconnect short defects;
contact or interconnect step coverage defects.
Although capacitor defects are among the most commonly reported types of defect,
they have already been thoroughly reported for GaAs devices [1315]. Intra-level (via
or plug) type defects and their associated thermal excursion acceleration methods have
been similarly discussed [16]. This leaves the next two defect types related to shorting
of contacts and metal interconnects. In general, both contacts and adjacent interconnects
are formed by the same process technique named liftoff. Liftoff is a metal deposition
technique that involves no specific metal etching. The process involves these steps:
1. Apply photoresist.
2. Pattern the photoresist to define x and y dimensions of the metal.
3. Deposit the metal. Note that the metal covers everything including the remaining
photoresist and open areas where the photoresist has been removed.
4. Remove the photoresist, and liftoff the unwanted metal on top of the photoresist.
Metal remains in the patterned areas.
This technique can be contrasted to the typical process of depositing a blanket metal,
applying photoresist, developing the photoresist as an etch mask, and then subtracting
the unwanted metal by etching the entire field except areas protected by the etch mask.
Both techniques have benefits and issues, but because of the difficulties of etching gold,
the liftoff technique is very commonly used for the gold-based metallizations utilized in
compound semiconductors.
The liftoff metallizations can include: (a) contacts (gate, ohmic, emitter, base, and
collector); (b) interconnect layers (deposited layers which are primarily gold); and (c)
resistors (usually thin-film type such as NiCr or TaN).
Liftoff defects are introduced by excessive process or material variation, random
contamination, or mechanical damage during handling. As an example, photolithography
defects may cause electrical near opens or near shorts. Examples of near opens are
rare for compound semiconductor metallizations (see Type V above). These would lead
to the type of extrinsic failures that could be accelerated by increased current density
resulting in electromigration at a reduced metal cross-section. The near shorts are
more prevalent for compound semiconductors, and they are accelerated by electric field
resulting in dielectric breakdown between contacts or metal stripes.
ef
ec
Reliability
484
Metal
Trace
Yield Loss.
(Shorts)
Reliability
Concerns.
Unknown?
Figure 10.29 Shorting-type defects for liftoff metal lines with constant defect size and increasing
spacing.
For interconnect metallization, there are the same two main types of defect, namely
shorts and opens. Figure 10.29 shows a simple example of intralayer shorting defects.
In this case, the width of the metal and the defect remains constant but the spacing
varies leading to different consequences. With the narrowest spacing, the presence of
this defect will result in an electrical short.
At moderate spacing, the shorts are less probable, but the reliability may be impacted.
At the widest spacing, this single defect does not matter. Of course, changes in defect
size and occurrence are significant factors. Various sizes of interconnect may also have
a second-order effect. In this study, shorting type defects were examined. The defects
are shorts or near shorts which occur in the liftoff metallization processes.
Yield is normally considered a measure of the percentage of acceptable devices at time
zero. As we plan to use both time and voltage as independent variables, the definition of
yield will change with aging so we will use a very specific definition for yield, namely
quality at zero age. This definition of yield will later emerge as the value of the y intercept
for whatever aging measurement (voltage or time) is selected as the independent variable
(x). Likewise, we will define reliability as a function of time, i.e., a rate of quality. This
is more often defined as a rate of un-quality, or failure. In order to carry the reliability
definition even further, we will need to remove the rate, and classify reliability as a
prediction of quality. This is necessary, since we plan to use accelerations other than
time. As we have defined yield as quality at age equal to zero, reliability will be defined as
quality at age greater than zero. So, rather than use yield as a quality measurement across
different variables, we will use quality as a measurement of nondefective (nonshorted)
devices. Note that this definition of yield is different from other studies which often use
yield to define and describe quality regardless of the prior history or aging up the point
of measurement.
This study first quantified defectiveness in terms of quality and yield. Once the defects
were characterized, the effect of age acceleration levels on the measured shorts could
be examined. Voltage acceleration is well established for aging and measuring capacitor
reliability, but voltage is not reported so much for metal shorting or for measuring
yield relationships. As the occurrence of defects was found to be related to voltage, a
relationship between quality and reliability could be derived.
485
Test Structure Quality Level (%)
Spacing Between Metals (Approximate 100 nm Units)

Figure 10.30 Quality versus spacing in a comb-style test structure.
Using the spacing in Figure 10.29 as a variable, the dependence of quality can be
characterized for various spaces between metal traces. Figure 10.30 shows how quality
is affected by the spacing. Figure 10.30 would obviously be utilized to set layout design
rules for optimum quality and circuit density. However, we will exploit our knowledge of this curve to amplify detection of defects for populations which follow this
relationship.
In Figure 10.30, we expect very high quality at the minimum allowed spacing (layout)
limit. Eventually, with long enough adjacent traces of closely spaced metal there will
be a defect. Assuming there is a practical limit to the adjacent metal periphery, another
means of acceleration or amplification is sought. In order to increase the likelihood
of detecting the rare defects, we propose a decrease in the spacing as an amplifier of
defects. With decreased spacing, more and more defects can be detected, but there is a
risk that the type of defect will change. For example, smaller and smaller defects will
show up with narrowed spacing. These smaller defects may not ever be a concern for
wide (nominal) spaced lines. Normally, the size of the defect and the location of the
defect relative to metal patterns are the most important considerations. However, we
have found that the applied voltage of the quality measurement is equally as important.
In circuit layouts, the tightest nominal spacing occurs between transistor contacts.
The proximity of these contacts makes them important for defect studies. However, the
presence of the semiconductor makes the measurement of quality at high voltages
impossible as the semiconductor leakage will mask the detection of the shorts. highvoltage characterization of the shorting type of defects is possible for metal interconnect
metallization as this is not in contact with the semiconductor but is not possible for
transistor contact metals. Similarly, if the spacing is kept constant, and the voltage is
increased the graph in Figure 10.31 results.
Reliability
Resulting Yield
486
Applied Voltage (Volts)
Figure 10.31 Quality versus voltage for different spacing between metal lines.
A logical relationship between quality and reliability has been pondered for many
years. Investigations into relationships between yield and reliability began with the first
defect characterizations by Stapper two decades ago [17, 18]. Later, a ratio of quality
defects and reliability defects was proposed by Shirley [19] in the form
K =
Reliability defect density

Quality defect density
(10.9)
Shirley postulated that this ratio K is a constant, and that each failure mechanism has
its own ratio. He also suggested the ratio was at least 1/100. Estimates for this ratio have
expanded to a region between 1/100 to 1/1000 [20]. Simply put, for every 1000 Quality
Defects, i.e., yield at age zero, you should expect between 1 and 10 reliability defects.
Using the K ratio, many studies have investigated and optimized burn-in [21].
Estimating reliability from a sample population is difficult because there are few
detectable reliability defects particularly in the extrinsic region. There can be so many
more failures available from the intrinsic region if the devices are accelerated to wearout. However, we are focused on the extrinsic failures for this study so the traditional
acceleration methods and wear-out failures need to be avoided, or separated from the
population of interest which is the defects i.e., the extrinsic population. Figure 10.30
provides the first important clue towards accelerating the detection of defects: narrow
gaps generate more fallout. Figure 10.31 shows the second clue: higher voltage generates
more fallout. A relationship between these two accelerations is intuitive since decreasing
the gap is effectively increasing the electric field at least for the defects that are nearly
but not yet shorted in the gap of interest.
Figure 10.32 shows the combination results of different gap sizes and increasing
voltage measurements. All data is normalized for a constant periphery of 1 cm.
487
Test Structure Quality (% per cm)
Applied Aging Stress (Volts)
Figure 10.32 Quality versus voltage for various normalized gap spacing of interconnects.
Figure 10.32 indicates several relationships. Note that each of the gap experiments
includes a sample of more than 70 structures, resulting in a population total of 500
for this data set. As expected, the number of defects increases as the gap between the
lines decreases. The rate of defects per volt also increases with decreasing gaps. These
relationships are predictable and monotonic for all the gaps except the structure with
the narrowest spacing we measured. This discrepancy at narrow gaps indicates that there
is a limit to the spacing amplification. At this point, it could not be determined if the
defectgapvoltage relationships changed at wide spacing since the detectable defect
level dwindles to such a meager level. Basically, the defect samples became undetectable
at the upper gap edge of our data set. A different acceleration or more periphery is needed
to characterize the lowest defectiveness region of these relationships.
An interesting result of using voltage acceleration is that for constant gaps, the populations of defects are similar in behavior to the extrinsic population of capacitors [15,
22, 23]. But, the failure modes remain somewhat unique. For example, under constant
voltage, capacitor leakage will decrease until a catastrophic short occurs [9, 24]. The
metal line structures in this study exhibit either stable or slightly increasing leakage up
to the catastrophic short. Nonetheless, the huge base of capacitor reliability knowledge
is likely to be applicable if we remember the focus on extrinsic distributions.
These results have unveiled the ability to measure defects and apply improvement
techniques that have been established for other structures such as capacitors. This
opens up opportunities for measuring, monitoring and screening in ways not previously
discussed for compound semiconductor devices. These results bridge the gap between
quality and reliability. The focus is specifically on early life failures the ones that
customers actually experience. Progress on this type of failure is necessary to improve
488
Reliability
reliability on any maturing process. This work demonstrates that quality has a clear
relationship with device reliability.
10.9.4
Environmental example humidity activation energy

Product reliability investigations typically include accelerated humidity testing. Originally, the standard test was a biased 85 C/85% relative humidity (RH) life-test for
1000 h. Recently, a substitute accelerated version of this test has been used. The accelerated version is called HAST (highly accelerated stress test). The HAST conditions are
also biased, at 130 C, 85%RH, and approximately 18 PSI overpressure. The duration
of the HAST test is normally 96100 h to be equivalent to the 85/85 test [25]. This
section is intended to describe thermal acceleration in moisture and show that equivalent
HAST tests on compound semiconductors are more highly accelerated and could be
concluded much faster than indicated in the HAST standard.
Compound Semiconductors utilize different metallizations, dielectrics, and contacts
than silicon devices and so it should not be surprising that there are different failure
mechanisms between the two technologies. The humidity acceleration factors were originally based upon typical silicon-based mechanisms, such as aluminum corrosion. GaAs
substrates have a unique set of failure mechanisms. For example, the gold metallizations
utilized for compound semiconductors are not as reactive as aluminum or copper, but
gold can still be susceptible to moisture and bias if ions or other catalysts are available.
The study of humidity acceleration factors has been extensive and complex. Testing in
humidity is much more than just thermal life-testing overlaid with another environmental
dimension. The addition of humidity demands attention to plastic encapsulation, to
interactions between stress variables, and to complexities of moisture adsorption in
complex packaging systems. These complexities can be simplified by focusing on one
product, one package style, one bias, one failure mechanism, and several accelerated
temperatures that are above 85 C.
The product investigated here is a simple low noise amplifier with an RF switch in an
MLF/QFN style lead frame plastic package. The device does include two separate die
for optimum pHEMT and HBT functionality, but all the focus will be on the pHEMT
die. This is not a special device or package that is designed to focus on specific aspects
of humidity testing, instead it is an actual product.
Humidity test biasing is often an under-reported aspect of the reliability testing
methodology. Bias is very critical in two competing manners. Bias activates moisture
failure mechanisms with electric potentials and current flow (leakage), and bias also
provides power dissipation which drives moisture from plastic encapsulated devices.
The balance of humidity, temperature, and bias conditions can be tenuous for any particular failure mechanism. In some humidity testing specifications, the bias is confined by
power dissipation limits or by the maximum permitted temperature rise. This leaves the
scientist plenty of room for creativity. The intent of bias seems simple: (a) to create an
electrical potential at nominal levels across as many nodes as possible within the integrated circuit, and (b) to avoid any thermal gradients within the device that would tend
489
Table 10.10 Environment temperature and humidity data [26]

Nominal environment
Temp.
Environment +30 C
Rel. Hum.
Temp.
Rel. Hum.
BATON ROUGE LA. Summer 4 months

Max. temp. (day)
90 F (32 C)
Min. temp. (night)
71 F (21 C)
65%
90%
62 C
51 C
12%
15%
Remainder of the year

Max. temp. (day)
Min. temp. (night)
80 F (26 C)
45 F (7 C)
60%
85%
51 C
37 C
10%
13%
ALLENTOWN, PA. Summer 4 months

Max. temp (day)
80 F (26 C)
Min. temp. (night)
60 F (16 C)
60%
85%
56 C
46 C
11%
14%
Remainder of the year

Max. temp. (day)
Min. temp. (night)
Air conditioning
65%
77%
50%
35 C
25 C
55 C
10%
10%
9%
40 F (5 C)
23 F ( 5 C)
72 F (25 C)
to prevent moisture from penetrating the device to locations which may be susceptible
to degradation mechanisms.
Consider the tradeoffs between bias and humidity within an IC. Peck and Zierdt [26]
gave us an insight into this in their original paper. Table 10.10 is an excerpt from their
standard-setting work.
The data in Table 10.10 indicates that a uniform 30 C temperature rise will decrease
relative humidity 4075%. For individual thermal gradients, the humidity reduction is
on the order of at least 1.5%RH for each degree increase in temperature. If biasing is
allowed to raise the case temperature even by less than 10 C then gradients within
the package may be significantly larger and the resulting local decreases in humidity
could clearly exceed 15%.
Accounting for all the thermal gradients within an IC would be a very complex task.
If the part is biased with no thermal rise, then gradients can be ignored. Thus, full bias
is applied as normal, but the part is controlled into the off state so that only leakage
current is flowing. Some devices can also be turned-off hard, i.e., a voltage is applied
above nominal levels, yet the device is held in the off state. This bias configuration has
been previously designated as high voltage zero power moisture (HVZPM) [27].
Most processes, lots, and samples investigated over the past 20 years are not susceptible to degradation in moist environments. Both 85/85 and HAST test conditions are
normally incapable of causing degradation for standard durations (1000 h for 85 /85%
and 96 h for HAST). Even when devices are subjected to double the normal durations,
measurable degradation is very rare. Occasionally, special lots and/or specific designs
are found to be more susceptible to degradation in moist conditions. In this study,
several of these special samples were investigated. These samples include HBT and
pHEMT technologies utilizing GaAs substrates. However, the compound semiconductor
490
Reliability
material is not what makes these lots special; it is the metallization and specific layout
configurations that determine susceptibility for this investigation.
There are three main categories of failure mechanisms that afflict semiconductors in
humid conditions. The first failure mode category is shorts. The mechanism is electrolytic
conduction between electrically biased metallization paths. This type of degradation was
first reported as migrated gold resistive shorts (MGRS) [28] by Shumka and Piet. They
claimed three ingredients are essential for MGRS:
r reactive chemicals such as halogens;
r a layer of water to form an electrolyte between neighboring metal lines;
r a bias for the electrochemical reaction to take place.
Furthermore, Shumka and Piet found that there was a minimum threshold of water
required for the failure (1.5% water vapor by volume in a cavity package). In a plastic
package, 1.5% water vapor would be slightly below 100% relative humidity (RH) at
25 C. In their study, they also saw that the onset of failures was very rapid. Some 60%
of the failures occurred in less than 50 h at 25 C.
The second failure mode category is open circuits. This type of degradation ranges
from chemical reactions to simple loss of adhesion between layers [29]. The failure
mechanism is typically corrosion of metallization involving ionic contamination, water,
and bias. Historically, the common example is the attack of chlorine on aluminum
in a wet environment. Moisture penetration between dielectric layers or at interfaces
between metals, dielectrics, and semiconductors can result in adhesion loss, increasing
resistance, and eventually, open circuits. While testing pHEMTs, Ersland et al. [29]
reported electrical behavior corresponding to increasing current (the mode of shorts),
but the visual result was loss of adhesion of the silicon nitride passivation layer (the
mode of opens).
The third failure mode category is threshold malfunction without cumulative degradation. This failure mechanism is caused by charge separation of mobile ions to form
parasitic gates. This mechanism is identified with MOS devices.
In the course of standard device qualification testing, a special lot utilizing a new
device design was produced. This lot was special because there was fall-out during
the biased HAST conditions of 130 C/85%RH and 96 h. In order to measure precise
the time to failure, small samples of devices from this lot were subjected to 85% RH,
a turned-off bias, and various temperatures. The electrical conditions were nominal
bias on all pins, with the control pins turned-off (grounded). These bias conditions were
achieved by soldering each sample device to a small circuit board. Each board was
monitored at periodic intervals during the aging. The chamber used for this study had
only eight electrical feed-throughs, so the sample size was limited to three.
The electrical degradation of these special devices was a fairly abrupt reduction of
current. Once the devices were removed from the bias boards, the reduction in current
was more apparent. Failure analysis determined that delamination within the metal layers
caused increasing resistance, and eventual open circuits. All of the degradation measured
during this study was caused by the open circuit mechanism. The special sample devices
were tested under HAST conditions with various temperatures between 85140 C. All
491
Table 10.11 Results of 85% RH testing

Temp.
( C)
ML
(H)
AF
(10 C)
AE
(eV)
140
130
120
12
32
150
2.7
4.68
1.4
2.10
140
130
120
11
29
132
2.64
4.55
1.39
2.07
140
130
120
11
50
231.5
4.55
4.63
2.07
2.09
Lot
P/C
of the tests were pressurized, and at 85% RH. The accelerating effect of temperature was
measured over these conditions and then activation energy was calculated.
A 5% reduction in bias current was used as the failure criterion. The devices were
monitored on a frequent basis during the first test. Monitoring involved a manual switch
of the device mode from a turned-off state (only leakage current and bias board current)
to a turned-on state (device current and bias board current). The static current through
the bias board was large compared to the sample off-state current (nA), but insignificant
compared to the on-state current (mA). This manual measurement took about 5 s to
stabilize, so the device was on for 6 or 7 s to make a measurement.
In measuring the devices during the initial test, it was discovered that once the devices
began to degrade, the degradation could be temporarily suspended by the process of
turning the device on for 5 s. In general, the samples would degrade at 140 C in less
than a day, at 130 C in a couple of days, and at 120 C within about a week. To reduce
the counter-acting effects of turning on the devices, monitoring intervals were extended
to 3 h.
Typically, plastic encapsulated devices are subjected to environmental testing after
a preparation sequence involving an initial electrical measurement, dry bake, specific
moisturization, three repetitions of solder reflow simulations, and a final electrical measurement. This pretreatment is called preconditioning (P/C). The mosturization parameters are defined by the moisture sensitivity level (MSL) designation of the package. For
this study, the moisturization was 168 h at 85 C/85%RH, otherwise known as the MSL1
pretreatment. Because of the speed of the monitored test, samples were initially aged
without preconditioning. A complete set of results could be obtained over the duration
of the preconditioning. For one of the lots, testing was performed both with and without
preconditioning. The overall results of this study are shown in Table 10.11.
The monitored testing utilizes very small sample sizes. However, the time to degradation was very similar for most of the population samples. Once the current started to
decrease, the degradation was very rapid occurring in less than a couple of hours.
For special samples without preconditioning, the onset of degradation appears to
be significantly shorter. Based upon all other nonpreconditioned tests, we expected
degradation in less than 7 h at 140 C, but it always took 11 or 12 h. This could be
492
Reliability
Table 10.12 Acceleration factors for HAST Vs 85/85
Source (mechanism)
AF
(85130)
AE
Hours Needed
for 1000 h
@ 85 C /85%
Old standard (lore)

Si (Al corrosion)[29]
pHEMT (short) [28]
pHEMT (open)
10.42
16.25
471
1865
0.647 eV
0.770.81 eV
1.7 eV
2.08 eV
96 h
61.5 h
2.13 h
32 minutes
explained if moisture penetration takes approximately 6 h at 140 C. Assuming the onset

time is insignificant for results at 130 C and 120 C, the unexpected results at 140 C
could be explained if the preconditioning reduces the time for penetration but doubles
the lifetime.
Testing on compound semiconductors has produced 85/85 HAST activation energies
from 2.07 eV to 2.10 eV for the circuit and mechanism described here. Previously
reported results [29] indicated the activation energy for shorting-type mechanisms in
compound semiconductors is 1.7 eV. Based upon the degradation data of these special
lots, and taking into account both short and open failure mechanisms, a three hour HAST
test could be equivalent to 1000 h 85/85 tests. This is considerably faster than 96 h which
has been specified for silicon devices. Equivalencies are shown in Table 10.12.
All of the historical humidity acceleration factors were based upon silicon device testing and a primary mechanism involves aluminum interconnects. Since most reliability
requirements claim that 96 h of HAST (130 C/85%) is equivalent to 1000 h of 85 /85,
the expected acceleration factor (AF) is 10.42 and the activation energy is 0.647 eV.
Actual measured results for 14 silicon humidity tests [30] found the silicon/aluminum
corrosion failure mechanism to have an activation energy between 0.770.81 eV.
Two results were especially interesting. First of all, the onset time for device degradation was found to be very short. Under nonsaturated conditions, we were surprised to
see that degradation began as quickly as 11 h. Absorption times have previously been
generalized at 24 h. Second, we found that the effect of preconditioning the parts (drying, moisturization, and soldering simulation) tended to extend the onset of degradation.
This finding is particularly good news since the preconditioning is thought to simulate
conditions that devices would experience in actual use.
These results indicate that 96 h of 130 C/85% RH HAST is a more than adequate
replacement for 1000 h of 85 /85% RH. The data in Table 10.12 shows that thermal
acceleration factors for two compound semiconductor failure mechanisms in HAST
are much higher than those reported for silicon devices experiencing aluminum metal
corrosion. A standard HAST test of 96 h is actually equivalent to 520 years (45,216
179,040 h) at 85 /85% RH conditions.
10.10
Process effects and influence

The semiconductor manufacturing process includes various steps, such as etching,
dielectric deposition, photolithography, metal deposition, alloying, cleaning, drying,
10.10 Process effects and influence
493
Table 10.13 Photoresist process effects on reliability

Process affecting
reliability
Related item on device
Related factors
Failure mode
Resist application
Transistor, diode,resistance,
metallization,shape and
size, contact
Characteristic failure,
pinholes, large leakage
current
Mask alignment
metallization, shape and
size, contact
Transistor, diode,
resistance, metallization,
shape and size, contact
size, contact
size, contact
Improper film thickness,

poor uniformity, dirt,
foreign particles,
residual photoresist
Misalignment, dirt, foreign
particle adhesion, flaws
Exposure
Development
Etching
Insufficient/Excessive
exposure
pinholes, large leakage
current
Characteristic failure
Development
Characteristic failure
etching, etching
temperature faulty,
insufficient washing
characteristic fluctuation
plating, annealing, substrate thinning, testing, wafer sawing, and inspection. These steps
include various heat treatments, chemical treatments, mechanical stresses and electrical
stresses that are applied to the devices. These steps involve a great number of factors that affect reliability. Factors that degrade reliability include processing variances
(dimensions, parametric values, etc.) that inevitably occur during product manufacturing, defects and damage that occur in the manufacturing process, handling errors due to
human error, and equipment operation errors. The semiconductor manufacturing process is extremely complicated, requiring great precision. In addition, because product
characteristics are extremely sensitive, it is essential to fully understand the factors
that affect reliability and take corrective actions to prevent each factor from occurring.
Table 10.13 shows the factors affecting reliability that are related to the photolithography
step in the semiconductor manufacturing process.
The manufacturing procedure repeats several processes to form the elements of the
semiconductor product, such as the transistors, resistors and capacitors that are placed
on the semiconductor substrate, and then interconnects these elements to form a single circuit. These processes are adversely affected by contaminants and therefore take
place in clean-rooms. It is critical that the particles that originate from equipment and
instruments as well as the dust level inside clean-rooms should be controlled at the submicron level. Such contaminants greatly affect reliability as discussed in Section 10.9.2.
The factors that are related to the semiconductor substrate are the most fundamental
to the product reliability. Factors such as crystal defects, resistivity dispersion, surface
contamination and surface flaws directly affect product characteristics.
The assembly process begins with dicing followed by die bonding, wire bonding
and, finally, sealing. All these processes are particularly critical. Die bonding and wire
Reliability
Yield at Zero Age (% per cm)
494
Space Between Adjacent Metals (micron)
Figure 10.33 Measured quality levels for different spaced metallization measured at 1 V
(normalized to a periphery of 1 cm).
bonding are the processes used to secure the chip and bond the electrodes to the exterior.
Since junctions are formed between different materials, changes in temperature and
other physical forces (such as vibration, shock, and acceleration) can result in die cracks
or open faults, either of which can be fatal to the product. In the case of encapsulation,
impurities in the sealing resin (such as sodium, potassium, or chlorine), moisture absorption, thermal expansion and mold shrinkage are critical. These can result in failures such
as corrosion, characteristic failure, bonding wire breakage and die cracks. In the case of
hermetic sealing, critical points include the moisture content and other impurities in the
sealing gas, and the presence of conductive foreign matter. These can adhere to the chip
surface and cause failures such as increased leakage current or faulty operation.
Process aspects relate directly to reliability in terms of layout configurations. Using
additional work from defect studies in Section 10.9.2, we can investigate the impact
of metallization capability on reliability. We have seen that special test structures can
help us bridge the gap between process manufacturability and defects. And we have
seen that the K factor shows relationships between quality and reliability particularly
for defects. If we extend the findings from Figure 10.30 into the realm of quality, the
relationship between process capability (in terms of spacing between patterned metal
lines) and quality (in terms of yield measured at 1 V) will be defined by the curve in
Figure 10.33.
Figure 10.33 shows that a spacing below 0.7 m would have very poor quality for
adjacent metals sharing a 1 cm periphery. Spacings above 1.4 m are likely to have very
good quality. In this particular case, the quality is expected to be very good since the
layout rules were set at 2 m.
However, knowing the acceleration effect of voltage (from Figure 10.31), we can make
additional predictions on the effects of process capability on the number of defects and
this is shown in Figure 10.34.
495
Fallout per Applied Volt (ppm.cm)
10.11 Design for reliability
Space Between Adjacent Metals (microns)
Figure 10.34 Predicted number of defects in ppm/cm V.
As line spacing changes then the number of defects changes at a rate of over 300
times per micron! Not only does this give process engineers an important yardstick, it
shows designers the leverage of additional spacing on their layout.
10.11
Design for reliability

Design for reliability is supported by a number of reliability tasks. Some of the pro-active
techniques which have proven to be successful include:
r environmental characterization (tailoring of design requirements to expected operating
conditions);
r parts selection and control (includes parts, components, assemblies and software);
r parts application (i.e., derating, thermal and mechanical design management), thermal
and mechanical analysis (reducing failure accelerating temperature/vibration conditions);
r critical item identification and control (risk reduction);
r modeling and simulation (design tradeoff techniques).
It is important to emphasize, however, that designing for reliability should address not
only the product, but also the processes used to develop and manufacture the product.
Inadequate or deficient manufacturing processes, for example, may introduce defects
that can lead to failures after delivery to the customer. The same is true for quality
processes. In designing the processes that will be used to manufacture the product,
consideration should be given to the defects that may result and the potential ways to
eliminate them. Similarly, how the product will be operated and repaired is a major
consideration in the design process.
496
Reliability
A reliability model, often in the form of a block diagram, is also recommended to

improve the design process. Such a diagram can be used to identify reliability goals
and determine if additional analyses will need to be performed. The model shows
the functional relationships between components and assemblies within the product.
The model is iterative in nature, and its validity can be assessed through a variety of
simulation techniques. Comparison of the model to product reliability goals provides
focus to potential design improvements.
Reliability analysis techniques can serve a useful purpose beyond the simple assessment of progress in the design of the product. Analyses can also be effectively applied
as a means of trading off design options and characterizing the impact of design decisions. Used in this manner, the supplier can have greater confidence in manufacturing a
product that will operate failure-free and be tolerant of faults to the extent that the basic
reliability objective can be achieved within the required business constraints.
Verification and qualification testing also plays an important role in the design process.
While often viewed as a reactive means of measuring reliability, certain types of testing
may also be vital to successful product design. Incremental testing of critical parts,
assemblies and functional performance of the design may be beneficial to understanding
and making decisions about the product and process design. Design of experiments is
an effective test process for optimizing product or process design characteristics in a
cost effective manner. The use of test data for design improvement can be extended to
more formalized test-analyze-and-fix or reliability growth test methodology. Reliability
testing can prove useful in identifying necessary design changes in products that have a
high degree of functional and/or physical complexity.
Fabrication, application, and design are three major factors controlling the ultimate
reliability of integrated circuits. Manufacturing processes must be capable of demonstrating inherent reliability regardless of device function or complexity. This aspect is
handled by maintaining a controlled process which has been developed with reliability
as an integral goal.
Another key aspect of circuit reliability is the application or insertion of devices,
with correct handling and assembly procedures, into an adequate environment for their
intended use. This is the area that is least controllable by the semiconductor foundry,
and is also usually somewhat removed from the design. Unfortunately, because of this
detachment, many of the early users of RF and microwave power amplifiers had difficulties with application problems such as electrostatic discharge, improper heat-sinking,
and poor impedance matching.
Lastly, some aspects of reliability are controlled by the design of the circuits, since
even the best processing can yield devices which fail prematurely in their intended
applications. These design-controlled aspects are the major emphasis of this discussion
on designing for reliability.
In any technology, or at any foundry, the designer is given some guidelines or boundaries to increase the probability of successful designs. Most of the focus of these guidelines is on performance and functionality. However, some of the guidelines are imposed
to improve the probability of quality and reliability as well. Both electrical ratings and
layout definitions are key guidelines for reliability. Regardless of the technology, the
497
Table 10.14 Example of maximum ratings (beyond which the useful life of the
product may be impaired).
Parameter
Limit
Storage temperature range

Assembly temperature exposure
65 C to +150 C
+300 C, 5 minutes
FET and N diode maximum ratings

Channel temperature
Drain-to-source voltage
Gate-to-source voltage
Gate-to-drain voltage
Forward gate current
Channel current (N)
Tch = 55 C to +150 C
7.5 V (desired)
7.5 V (desired)
7.5 V (desired)
0.2 mA/m of gate width
0.15 mA/m of channel
Overlap or N+ diode maximum ratings

Reverse voltage
Forward current
0.2 V
0.2 mA/m of diode width
Passive device maximum ratings

Sputtered/evaporated metal current density
Plated metal current density
Nichrome resistor current density
Gate metal current density
Ohmic metal current density
MIM capacitor voltage
2 mA/m width
5 mA/m width
1 mA/m width
2 mA/m width
2 mA/m width
15 V
maximum electrical ratings must be maintained. Likewise, limitations on feature sizing,

spacing, overlaps, exclusion boundaries and inclusion requirements are important.
A thorough review of the ratings prior to design is strongly suggested. Table 10.14
shows some examples of electrical and thermal ratings.
Transistor reliability guidelines. It is very important that the hottest transistor temperature does not exceed the maximum temperature rating. Furthermore, designing a
circuit so that the transistors operate cooler will result in additional reliability and lower
failure rates. For example, reducing a transistor channel temperature from 150 C to
100 C will improve its reliability by a factor of 9800 for a FET (assuming an activation
energy of 2.5 eV). The projected median life values of FETs are (based on data from
300 m interdigitated FET life-tests) are shown in Table 10.15.
Other reliability guideline examples for transistors are:
1. Limit the power dissipation, so that the typical worst case transistor temperature is
<125 C, and that the absolute worst case transistor temperature is less than 150 C.
Note that in calculating channel temperatures, ambient temperature, package thermal
resistance, and die attach must be taken into account.
2. Be sure that none of the current density maximum ratings for connecting metal and
transistor contacts is exceeded. Also note that the maximum forward gate current in
a FET transistor is limited by two factors:
(a) the current carrying capacity of the gate metal cross-section;
(b) the current carrying capacity of the semiconductor contact.
498
Reliability
Table 10.15 Temperature acceleration effects on FET lifetimes
Temperature
Determination
Lifetimes
(hours)
Lifetimes
(years)
310 C
290 C
275 C
260 C
245 C
150 C
125 C
100 C
measured
measured
measured
measured
measured
projected
projected
projected
7.4
50.4
220
838
4770
10 109
7.4 1011
9.9 1013
negligible
1/200
1/40
1/10
1/2
1 million
84 million
11 billion
3. Do not exceed the maximum voltage ratings for any transistor. Exceeding the maximum voltage ratings may result in catastrophic failure. Also note that transistor
breakdown voltages may decrease at high temperatures.
Thin-film resistor reliability guidelines. Thin-film resistors such as nichrome may
be the metals under the highest electrical stress in any technology or process. Do not
exceed the maximum rated current density. Additionally, the resistor should never exceed
150 C. Check for any derating suggestions on temperature or current density. Exceeding
the current density or the maximum temperature will accelerate the resistance value drift
and may result in catastrophic failure. Note that the use of subsquare resistors is not
recommended because of current crowding possibilities.
Interconnect metal reliability guidelines. This section applies to the all interconnect
metals and to transistor contact metals. Do not exceed the maximum current density
ratings for these metals, not even on a transient basis. When current is passed through
a conductor, the interaction of the electrons with the lattice produces a thermal energy
equal to the product of the square of the current and the resistance. This is called Joule
heating. Metal lines will heat up whenever current is passed through them. If the current
is low, the heat is effectively conducted away, but there must be some temperature
increase even if it is not detectable. When current densities approach 106 A/cm2 , Joule
heating can produce enough energy to make the conductor lines heat up appreciably.
Designers must realize that Joule heating is caused by root mean square (rms) current
and not by the average current, as is electromigration. For a narrow pulse, the rms current
can be much higher than the average current. The average current can be well within
any guidelines that may be set for electromigration considerations, yet significant Joule
heating can result. This can be more prevalent on upper level metallization, where heat
must be conducted through several layers of interlevel dielectric, which is a poor thermal
conductor.
The problem with Joule heating is not the modest temperature increase, but the
temperature gradients that result. Typically, at the current densities found in modern
circuitry, temperature increases would range between a few and a few tens of C. This
produces temperature profiles that decay within a few microns, so that temperature
499
Figure 10.35 Rudimentary ESD input protection circuit.
gradients of 104 to 105 C/cm will be found. The temperature gradients produce flux
divergences which tend to accelerate electromigration effects.
RMS current density must then be limited below 106 A/cm2 because reliability of
metal lines in the presence of temperature gradients cannot be accurately estimated.
Temperature gradients can vary tremendously throughout a real structure, depending
on subtleties of the geometry and on the use of the underlying semiconductor devices.
The only way to deal with these issues is to take a conservative approach and forbid
temperature gradients by limiting the rms current density to the levels suggested above.
MIM capacitor reliability guidelines. Do not exceed the maximum voltage rating
when using MIM capacitors. Also note that the layout rules defining the capacitor metals
should be optimized to reduce defects and potential high field points around the edges.
Also check to make sure that interconnects to capacitors are capable of handling the
expected AC or RF current levels through the capacitor.
Diode reliability guidelines. Do not exceed the maximum breakdown voltage. Do
not exceed the forward current rating. Use the transistor-related maximum ratings for
most styles of diode.
ESD guidelines. ESD damage thresholds should be characterized using a simulator.
Relative sensitivity should be known for each of the various circuit elements. It is recommended that designers plan to include ESD protection from the beginning, rather
than attempting to beef up prototypes that are found to be weak. Typical shunt and
blocking elements are available on all processes. In some processes, special ESD structures may be offered. The designer should plan to employ protection (see Figure 10.35)
on every external pathway of his device. For circuits that cannot be protected in this
manner, a special ESD sensitivity warning should be specified and included in device
labeling. Use of all possible ESD countermeasures are encouraged when handling the
fabricated devices, including wrist straps, floor mats, conductive floor and table mats,
and conductive packaging materials.
Optimizing for and ensuring reliability. The challenge to IC designers is to ensure
reliability while squeezing as much performance out of the process as possible. Unfortunately, the requirements for these two goals are often conflicting. Higher performance
means higher stresses within smaller structures, whereas reliability demands lower stress.
Table 10.16 shows examples of mitigating factors for compound semiconductor failure
mechanisms.
500
Reliability
Table 10.16 Example failure mechanisms and acceleration factors in GaAs processes
Failure mechanisms
FET gate metal
sinking
FET burnout
Metal interconnect
interdiffusion
Current density Thermal

exponent
activation energy
Detection/
acceleration
Recommended
prevention
N/A
2.44 eV2.77 eV
High temperature
Do not exceed 150 C.
N/A
N/A
Overstress conditions
n = 1.5
2.22.5 eV
High temperature
High current density
0.4 eV

High temperature
High temperature
High temperature
High voltage
Watch ESD/EOS obey

current density
rules
Watch breakdown
voltages
Temperature
management
Current density rules
Layout rules
Do not exceed 150 C
Do not exceed 150 C
Do not exceed
15 Volts
Do not exceed
1 V/m
Do not exceed 150 C
Gold electromigration n = 3 to 5
Thin-film resistor
interdiffusion
Ohmic contact
interdiffusion
MIM capacitor
breakdown
PIN Diode, substrate
conduction
n = 3
1.0 eV
n = 3.5
N/A
N/A
Low
N/A
N/A
High voltage
High temperature
A conservative approach has been to generate design rules based on worst case
scenarios. In this strategy, guidelines limit conditions to a certain value assuming that
all the elements on the circuit are to be used at this high rating. The limiting values can
be determined from extrapolating the failure times, usually fitted to a lognormal failure
distribution, to some required level of reliability based on the chip complexity. This
approach can be supplemented by a strategy known as Reliability Budgeting.
As an example of budgeting for electromigration, all one needs to do is calculate how
much power is dissipated by a chip running with every wire at the electromigration limit.
It is often kilowatts. To perform reliability budgeting, we need to know how much current
is going through each element. In todays complex microcircuits, this is a daunting task,
but the payback is significant. The allowable current density for critical circuit paths
can be increased substantially while maintaining reliability, since the majority of circuit
elements have little to no current flowing though them and are thus effectively immortal.
If trouble spots can be eliminated then a more reliable circuit can be designed.
The easiest thing a designer can do to increase reliability in his design is to set
his default metal widths at some value above the minimum size geometries. In this
manner, the designer must make a conscious choice to use the least reliable circuit
features, instead of always having them at his fingertips.
10.12 Historical trends and technology comparisons
10.12
501
Historical trends and technology comparisons

Occasionally, considerations of reliability are discussed when making technology
choices. However, reliability dynamically improves as a function of maturity rather than
because of an inherent property of silicon or compound semiconductor technologies.
For the most part, there are very few applications where performance and cost
attributes overlap between competing technologies for RF and power amplifier products. More often than not, if products can be developed using competing technologies
that both meet the performance requirements, say for example gain-bandwidth, then the
choice can easily be decided by a prioritization of additional performance parameters,
such as noise or efficiency. Should all the attributes be in equilibrium through all aspects
of performance, then price, delivery, quality, or familiarity will delineate a clear choice.
For those situations where reliability might be considered as a critical aspect, then a
direct comparison of lifetimes or failure rates is desired at the equivalent operating
conditions. However, few projects have the resources or the time to design, fabricate,
stress, and analyze competing devices in parallel. However, this points out the difficulty in
making a comparison any other way. Basing a reliability decision on arbitrary conditions
of different applications is problematic.
All reliability results are specific to the particular conditions, packages, environments,
of a particular application. However, the variation or reliability across the application
space is overshadowed by the variation of reliability that spans the technology maturation. In other words, a mature technology will most likely outperform a burgeoning
technology regardless of the operating conditions. The maturation of semiconductor
reliability follows a process of experience. This learning cycle has been studied and
discussed at length in the reliability community [31]. In general, the cycle follows a
series of eras, which is repeated for each technology generation.
The first era of reliability improvement is a focus on materials, specifically, the
semiconductor, metallization, and dielectric. Once the material set is determined, then
work begins on the second era, which is major reliability problems. This is basically a
hard look at expected issues and experiences from the previous generation. The third era,
which is reliability physics, is to gain an understanding of the failure mechanisms well
enough to develop models. The fourth era is focused on prediction and prevention, where
reliability engineering efforts such as design-in reliability and wafer level reliability
efforts are applied. The fifth and final era is to reduce defects, add statistical control
countermeasures, and detect mavericks. The eras start over with the introduction of new
generations which have new material sets. In general, reliability improves by progress
through these five eras of reliability science. The amount of improvement per era depends
on the reliability limitations of any particular generation. While some aspects may solve
certain problems, they may generate different problems in other eras. For silicon-based
technologies, progress from generation to generation is driven by Moores Law. For
compound semiconductors the progress is driven by materials. Table 10.17 shows these
differences between silicon and compound semiconductor technologies.
Technology comparisons over time. The generation-to-generation and era-to-era
improvements in reliability and quality have been demonstrated over and over in the
502
Reliability
Table 10.17 Technology comparisons
Si
C.S.
Performance
Reliability
Yield focus
Shrink physical size

New materials
New materials
Dont shrink
(good enough)
Defects
Parametric
Figure 10.36 Summary of published reliability results for the past 30 years. New technologies will
typical report lower expected lifetimes, but improve with maturity.
history of reported results. Figure 10.36 shows this for compound semiconductor technologies. As technology improvements occurred for MESFETs, then HBTs, and currently GaN, each one of these cycles began with relatively low reliability, followed by
improvements in the reported lifetimes.
For specific cycles of cellular phone power amplifiers, the same improvement cycles
were experienced. Figure 10.37 shows that subsequent generations learn from previous
generations, and the cycle time for improvement can be accelerated. However, when the
technology changes significantly, the cycle time can be extended.
These cycles of learning are similar regardless of the technology. Figure 10.38 shows
that even major mainstream silicon suppliers experience quality improvement cycles
with each new step along the path of miniaturization.
The previous three graphs all show that maturity gained within each generation has an
impact on quality and reliability levels. However, the absolute level of reliability meets
the requirements for use for each application.
10.13
Summary
The highest performing power amplifiers are invariably constructed using some of the
most advanced semiconductor processes. Semiconductor reliability issues have been
10.13 Summary
503
Die Yield
Figure 10.37 Example of reduction in fallout during RF product development.
Month (period of initial development)
Figure 10.38 Example of quality improvement during progress of shrinking node sizes.
around since the beginning of solid state technology and most of the problems are
common regardless of the technology. Although it has a certain allure, new technology
has unfortunately carried a suspicion of reliability risk. This chapter has discussed the
basics of reliability and touched on some of the unique aspects of power amplifiers and
the technologies that have been developed for radio frequency amplifiers over the past
20 years.
The basics start off with vocabulary on units of reliability, roles of reliability in product
development, and goals of reliability in end applications. Various failure mechanisms
were described along with the three keys to reliability prediction:
504
Reliability
r knowledge of the root cause of failure mechanisms;

r measurement of degradation distributions;
r characterization of acceleration factors.
Measurements in these three key areas were mentioned with emphasis on reliability
methodology, and results given for several specific examples. Product, technology, and
package mechanisms have been considered.
The importance of using the right acceleration was presented. If we are to make
predictions about reliability, we must be able to accelerate the failure mechanisms
without generating new issues brought on by the aging itself. Thermal acceleration
is easy, but that doesnt make it the right thing to do in all cases. An understanding
of mechanisms and degradation distributions can help us to look where acceleration
might be less understood. To help, we need to talk more with customers who use power
amplifiers. Their use of the devices can give clues as to what types of acceleration are
most applicable. For example, thermal excursions, voltage, current density, and humidity
might be preferable to high-temperature acceleration.
With few exceptions, the reliability investigations on power amplifier circuits over
the past two decades have evolved to rely on thermally accelerated wearout failure
mechanisms. Regardless of the measured lifetimes, there have been few wearout failures
reported during use of the circuits. Instead, customers do report measurable defect rates
and early life failures that often match-up with yield fallout failure mechanisms. This
discussion has involved various mechanisms, while focusing on yield and reliability
relationships which are intertwined with early lifetimes of products.
There are a few obvious improvement strategies available to semiconductor reliability
engineers. Some tactics are similar to those used by mainstream silicon engineers, and
some are unique to the special power amplifier technologies. As the overall reliability
improves, degradation becomes elusive. An example of an alternate method to predict
failure rates is the consideration of yield correlations to reliability. If yield fallout also
disappears with maturity, we can use new tricks such as physical amplification of defects
in order to extend our predictive capability. Recent breakthroughs with innovative tests
such as power cycling, high-voltage ramping, and RF biased lifetesting, are the kind
of tactics that can put power amplifier reliability understandings ahead of the learning
curve of our larger mainstream solid state relatives.
Weve touted the technology differences as defense for the power amplifier product
niche; why not use the reliability differences as well? Because of the unique mechanisms
and absence of the silicon scaling problems, power amplifiers have an opportunity to
demonstrate exceptional reliability in the future.
Appendix 10.1
Brief discussion on burn-in
Early or infant failures refer to systems which fail long before normal wear-out would
be expected. Early failures are attributed to devices or assemblies with manufacturing
References
505
defects or problems. Consumers have been historically protected from these early failures
by a warranty. If the early failure rate exceeds an acceptable level, then some form of
infant mortality control may be needed. For electronics, this control is achieved by
accelerating the population through the early failure rate region. This type of infant
mortality failure rate reduction is called burn-in. For the first three decades of the
electronic age, early failures were screened by the practice of burn-in, where devices or
systems are turned-on for a short period of time before being delivered to customers.
Occurrences of early failures decrease significantly as devices age, so burn-in was
effective in preventing warranty failures. Over the years, burn-in was optimized by
elevating the temperature. This thermal acceleration caused early failures to occur faster,
and allowed manufacturers to ship products sooner. Over recent decades, semiconductor
manufacturers have discovered that eliminating manufacturing flaws during fabrication
is a more cost-effective method of reducing early failures than screening individual
devices with burn-in.
Although electronic assemblies and subsystems still routinely receive burn-in, integrated circuit burn-in is often phased-out during the early technology development.
Mature amplifier production lines ordinarily do not experience significant infant failures. Early failure occurrences on mature technologies have been at an extremely low
level. Aside from difficulties in repeatedly measuring devices operating at GHz frequencies, less than one amplifier per 10,000 has been found to be screenable by burn-in.
Similarly, data from hundreds of different life-tests running in excess of millions of
device hours show no indication of infant failure mechanisms. These infant mechanisms are expected to be eliminated by continuous improvement activities throughout
the process flow used to construct amplifiers. For example, several processing steps are
conducted at temperatures high enough to accelerate most early failure mechanisms to
failure. So, many mechanisms are inherently screened by the fabrication and assembly
processes used to construct amplifiers.
Additional screens are often applied to amplifiers during final product tests. Biasing
may be applied to products beyond the defined conditions that are used to validate
compliance to the specified operating parameters of the device. For example, severe
reverse bias leakage tests, extreme power-on shock tests, acute voltage supply bias, and
high input RF drive tests may be included within the suite of verification tests applied to
all circuits. For many early failure mechanisms, biased screening is much more effective
than thermal burn-in.
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6. A. Black, Jr., Electromigration a brief survey and some recent results. IEEE Transaction
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8. H. C. Cramer, J. D. Oliver, and R. J. Porter, Lifetime of SiN capacitors determined from
ramped voltage and constant voltage testing, International Compound Semiconductor MANufacturing TECHnology Conference, Vancouver British Columbia Canada, pp. 9194. April
2006.
9. M. J. Brophy, A. Torrejon, S. Petersen, K. Avala, and, L. Liu, MIMs the word capacitors
for fun and profit, International Compound Semiconductor MANufacturing TECHnology
Conference, Scottsdale AZ, pp. 5759, April 2003.
10. J. Beall, K. Decker, K. Salzman, and G. Drandova, Silicon nitride MIM capacitor reliability
for multiple dielectric thicknesses, GaAs MANufacturing TECHnology Conference, San
Diego, CA pp. 145149, April 2002.
11. R. Coffie, Y. Chen, I. P. Smorchkova, B. Heying, V. Gambin, W. Sutton, Y.-C. Chou, W.-B.
Luo, M. Wojtowicz, and A. Oki, Temperature and voltage dependent RF degradation study
in AlGaN/GaN HEMTs IEEE International Reliability Physics Symposium, Phoenix, AZ,
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12. M. Ruberto, O. Degani, S. Wail, A. Tendler, A. Fridman, and G. Goltman. Intel Corporation,
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13. J. Scarpulla, E. Ahlers, D. Eng, D. Leung, S. Olsen, and C. Wu, Dielectric breakdown, defects, and reliability in SiN MIMCAPs, GaAs Reliability Workshop, Atlanta, GA,
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14. H. Cramer, J. Oliver, and G. Dix, MMIC capacitor dielectric reliability, GaAs Reliability
Workshop, Atlanta, GA, pp.4651, Nov. 1998.
15. B. Yeats, Assessing the reliability of silicon nitride capacitors in a GaAs IC process, IEEE
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CA, pp. 119126, Oct. 1999.
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20. K. R. Forbes and P. Schani , Characterization of the time-dependent reliability as a function
of yield for a 130 nm SRAM device and application to optimize production burn-in, IEEE
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International GaAs MANufacturing TECHnology Conference, Vancouver British Columbia
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11
Mustafa Akkul and Wolfgang Bosch

ASELSAN A.S. and Graz University of Technology
11.1
Introduction
Power amplifiers (PAs) are usually the last active component in the RF chain in modern
radar and telecommunication equipment. Their nonlinear behavior has a significant
impact on the overall system performance and quite often is the most limiting factor
in modern radio systems. The purpose of a power amplifier is mainly to boost the
radio signal to sufficient power levels suitable for a wired or wireless transmission from
the transmitter to the receiver. Typically, they work at relatively high power levels and
hence are a major power consumer in the overall transmitter system. However, their
conversion efficiency from DC supply power to RF output power is traditionally very
poor. Further, it is strongly dependent on the RF signal drive level and highest when the
amplifier is operated in its most nonlinear region and the output RF power compressed
or even saturated. Efficiency and linearity are severely contradicting power amplifier
requirements and the most important parameters to be traded off.
One of the biggest selling factors for mobile handsets is talk time. For other battery operated systems such as wireless sensor networks or even satellites the time in
operation is commercially a highly valued asset. For fixed wireless transmitter systems (e.g., base stations) the running cost and the electricity bill are commercially most
relevant, they translate directly into carbon footprint and related CO2 emission. Most
military platforms that are capable of carrying a modern radar system are limited in
space, energy and cooling capability, hence the efficiency of the radar transmit power
amplifier mostly determines the performance and size of the radar equipment that can be
implemented on a given platform. The overall efficiency of a power amplifier subsystem
is highly commercially relevant and detailed system requirements and tradeoffs need to
be well understood when deciding on a power amplifier architecture.
Major trends in power amplifier requirements can readily be observed when looking
at the developments of the mobile telecom industry in the last twenty years. The first
analogue cellular systems, such as the total access communication system (TACS) used
an analogue frequency modulation scheme, which allowed the adoption of highly nonlinear PAs because of the constant or near-constant envelope of the RF signal modulation.
However, even with the second generation of the European mobile telecom system global
system for mobile communications (GSM) that still uses an almost constant envelope
modulation, more stringent linearity requirements for the PA were put in place to counteract transmission phase errors, spectral re-growth and signal interference due to fast
509
power ramping. The introduction of more complex modulation schemes in 2.5G systems
such as enhanced data rates for global evolution (EDGE) that uses the existing GSM
spectra requires even higher power amplifier linearity resulting in a reduction in power
amplifier efficiency. With the introduction of multipath resistant orthogonalf-frequencydivision-multiplexing (OFDM) multicarrier schemes and wideband code-division multiple access (WCDMA) systems the overall linearity requirements in 3G communication
systems become overriding and very stringent, and therefore system power conversion
efficiencies are frequently in the single digit region. The trend in the next generation
4G systems is towards even higher data throughputs, more efficient use of the spectrum,
and higher robustness (e.g., utilization of MIMO technology), all requiring very linear
amplifiers over a wide dynamic range.
It is evident that for todays 3G and future 4G communication systems a simple power
amplifier design will not be sufficient to meet the linearity and efficiency requirements,
hence more sophisticated power amplifier design techniques to either boost efficiency
or to enhance the overall linearity have to be implemented. A very good understanding
of the power amplifier design parameters and their impact at system level is crucial for
overall product design success.
The following sections will discuss some common system level parameter tradeoffs,
highlight the most promising linearization and signal combining techniques, and will
provide selected examples from commercial and military applications.
11.2
System design parameter tradeoffs
11.2.1
Output powerefficiency tradeoff

The output power of a power amplifier is defined as the RF power that is delivered to
the load. For maximum power delivery the load is typically conjugate matched to the
output impedance of the amplifier and hence resistive only. The time average of the
instantaneous output power is the average output power.

1 T /2
v (t) i (t) dt.
(11.1)
Pout =
T T \2
In most cases only the output power at the fundamental frequency is of relevance, and
in case of CW operation and a resistive load R the fundamental average output power
simplifies to
V02
(11.2)
2R
where V0 is the amplitude of the sinusoidal output signal.
The power conversion efficiency of power amplifiers is a key performance parameter
and in the simplest form measured at a single frequency under CW operation. For a
single gain stage the drain efficiency (or collector efficiency) is defined as:
Pout =
Efficiency = D =
Pout
PDC
(11.3)
510
The PAE is given by:

Pout Pin
PDC
PAE =
(11.4)
where Pout and Pin are the RF power measured at the fundamental in CW operation.
Typically, the maximum efficiency will be reached at maximum output power and will
then drop with reduced drive signal. For Class A amplifiers in the ideal case it can be
shown that the maximum efficiency is 50%.
D class A =
Pout
V2
1
= 02
PDC
2
2 VD
(11.5)
where VD is the supply voltage. Hence, when reducing the input RF power in linear
operation the output power will be reduced accordingly and the efficiency will drop with
a linear dependence on the output power or the square of the envelope voltage as shown
in Figure 11.1. For a Class B amplifier the efficiency in CW operation can be expressed
by
D class B =
Pout
V0
PDC
4VD
4
(11.6)
Here the efficiency rises linearly with the voltage of the output signal and hence has a
square root relationship to the output power. The instantaneous efficiency is defined
as the efficiency at a specific output power level (typically measured at a specific
CW frequency). For most amplifiers the maximum efficiency is reached at maximum
output power and is a very useful and easy to measure benchmark when designing
amplifiers.
However, in typical communication systems, even with constant amplitude modulation
schemes, the drive level may change significantly over time and the average efficiency is
more of a concern and the determining factor for the overall system design. The average
efficiency is defined as the time average of Pout (t) divided by the average input power
Pin (t) [1].
Davg =
Pout avg
.
PDC avg
(11.7)
For modulated band-pass signals the amplitude of the CW carrier frequency V0 can be
expressed as the time varying envelope function A(t). The output power and DC power
can then be expressed as function of the signal envelope A(t).
The probability density function (PDF) of the envelope A(t) describes the relative
amount of time the signal spends at a given amplitude. For uncorrelated multiple carrier
signals, and also for random Gaussian processes, the envelope is Rayleigh distributed.
p(A) =
A2
A
e 2 2
2
and the average efficiency is then calculated as

A max
D avg =
D ( A) p(A) d A
o
(11.8)
(11.9)
511
0.5
3.5
3
pdf(envelope)
efficiency
0.4
0.3
0.2
0.1
0
0
2.5
2
1.5
1
0.5
0.2
0.4
0.6
envelope
0.8
0
0
0.2
0.4
0.6
envelope
0.8
pdf of the efficiency
0.2
0.15
overall efficiency:4.0%
0.1
0.05
0
0
0.2
0.4
0.6
envelope
0.8
Figure 11.1 Average efficiency of a Class A power amplifier with a Raleigh distributed output
signal [3].
Figure 11.1 shows a visual example to calculate the average efficiency for the Class A
amplifier under multicarrier operation. Assuming a peak to average ratio of 1:10 the
average efficiency drops to only 4% from a peak efficiency of 50%. In case of the Class
B amplifier with a maximum efficiency of 78% the average efficiency drops to 28% [2].
The peak efficiency and the dynamic relationship between efficiency and output power
of an amplifier in conjunction with the PDF of the envelope strongly determine the
overall efficiency performance of the PA system. Therefore, the initial power amplifier
design aims to achieve the best peak efficiency for the required linearity. Typically, at
a higher design level the amplifier is then put into a linearization system that enhances
the linearity for a given efficiency and output power, or it is assembled into a Doherty
configuration where a higher efficiency is kept even at lower drive level.
For many communication and radar applications the output power of the amplifier is
controlled and changes over time in order to adapt to the environment, or to conserve DC
power in battery operated systems. Prior system knowledge and a good understanding of
the application is key for an optimum amplifier design. In CDMA systems for example
all users transmit at the same frequency at the same time. Constantly controlling the
output power of all users to avoid interference and to equalize the receive signal levels at
the base station is common practice to optimize the overall performance. In TDMA and
FDMA systems the users have allocated time and frequency slots, hence output power
512
0.8
PDF
0.6
TDMA/FDMA
CMDA
0.4
0.2
0
30
20
10
Pout /Pout,max (dB)
Figure 11.2 Measured PDF of the average output power in TDMA/FDMA systems and in
CDMA systems [3].
is mainly adjusted to compensate for the distance to the base station and to conserve
battery power. Figure 11.2 shows the measured PDF of the average output power in a
TDMA/FDMA and a CDMA communication system. It is evident how dissimilar the
RF power statistics of these systems are and that they require significantly different
amplifier designs for optimum performance.
11.2.2
Linearity, modulation scheme, and crest factor

The linearity of a power amplifier can be measured in many different ways in the time or
frequency domain. The most useful but not fully comprehensive is the characterization
of a nonlinear power amplifier in terms of the amplitude and phase distortion in relation
to the the output or input signal power level. A nonlinear amplitude distortion results in
an output amplitude or envelope of the signal that is not an exact amplified replica of the
input envelope. In most cases the output signal will be compressed and the shape (slope)
will have changed. A nonlinear amplitude to phase conversion is essentially a phase shift
as a function of input drive and will cause an additional unwanted phase modulation
of the output signal. Any nonlinear amplification will also cause additional frequency
components in the output signal and an unwanted spreading of the output spectrum.
Nonlinear distortion is caused by inherent nonlinear transistor effects, saturation
effects, charge storage and thermal effects, and it also comes from the simple fact that
every system is limited in output power and hence the amplitude of the output signal will
be clipped at some point in time when it hits the limits of the system. As the efficiency is
highest at the maximum output power of an amplifier people traditionally have operated
the amplifer close to satturation and have used phase or frequency modulation schemes
with constant enevelopes to achieve the best efficiency and linearity performance. Classic
digital modulation systems such as FSK or PSK also have a constant envelope and utilize
saturated amplifiers with the best efficiencies, but the phase/frequency signal transistion
is quite aprupt and causes very wide spectral spreading. This is fine for the low data rates
of the past, but for more modern systems a tradeoff between required data rate, available
513
spectrum, variation of the envelope amplitude and ruggedness towards amplitude and
phase distortion has to be taken.
Very commonly used in todays communication systems is Gaussian minimum shift
keying (GMSK) modulation, which is essentailly an offset QPSK modulation scheme
that uses gaussian pulses instead of raised cosine filtering to reduce the modulation side
lobes even further while still maintaining a quasi constant envelope. GMSK is used in
GSM systems, in digital European cordless telephones (DECT), cellular digital packet
data (CDPD) systems, the cellular phone systems digital communication systems (DCS)
1800, and in PCS1900 in the USA.
The peak envelope power PEP of a given modulation scheme is one of the most
important design figures in power amplifier designs. The size of the semiconductor
devices, the maximum power and voltage ratings of all components, and the cooling
capacity of the power amplifier assembly are all strongly dependent on the maximum
output power required from the system. The ratio of peak signal power to average signal
power (PAPR) is commonly used to determine the input power back-off that is required
to provide good linearity.
The PAPR is defined as:
PAPR =
PEP
Pavg .
(11.10)
and is often given as a logarithmic power ratio in dB:

PAPRdB = 10 log
PEP
Pavg
(11.11)
The voltage based expression of the peak to average ratio is defined by the Crest Factor
CF, which is calculated by
C F = PAPR.
(11.12)
Constant envelope signals such as frequency or phase modulated signals, unfiltered PSK,
QPSK, GMSK, etc. have a PAPR = 0 dB.
However, in multichannel applications where several modulated signals are combined
and the composit signal is fed to the amplifier the signal envelope is not constant any
more and will vary over time. For a two carrier signal the PAPR = 3 dB. It can be shown
that for multicarrier signals with N independently modulated and not correlated carriers
the peak to average power ratio is equal the number of carriers N.
PAPR = N (number of carriers).
(11.13)
Many modern communication systems are using OFDM schemes where the data is
transmitted by many closely spaced orthogonal subcarriers that are typically QPSK or
PSK modulated. Although the subcarriers have a constant envelope, the composit OFDM
signal has a wide variation in signal power. The number of subcarriers ranges from a
few tens (e.g., 52 for WLAN) up to several thousands in DVB applications. Hence,
the theoretical peak power could be very high (1000 times), but statistically very rarely
occurs. In practice PAPR ranges from 10 dB to 16 dB. The large variation in power,
514
and hence the required large power back-off, is one of the major drawbacks of OFDM
systems.
Recently, several methods have been developed to reduce the high PAPR of OFDM
and other multichannel signals. Clipping and subsequent filtering techniques [4] remove
the signal peaks and smooth the clipped signal. There are recursive methods [5] where
clipping and filtering is repeated several times until the signal has the desired PAPR ratio.
Clipping is inherently a highly nonlinear function and generates in-band distortion and
out-of-band crosstalk, therefore there is always a tradeoff between PAPR and distortion.
In the digital domain specific coding techniques e.g., Golay [6] or ReedMueller [7, 8]
have been developed to avoid code constellations with high PAPR. Another method is
to dynamically extend outer constellation points in data carrying channels in order to
minimize the peak magnitude [9]. Similar techniques exist for CDMA and W-CDMA
systems.
11.3
System level linearization techniques
11.3.1
Introduction to linearization techniques

Linearization and efficiency enhancement techniques have been around since the 1935
and many variants have been developed and published since then. As the linearity
and the efficiency of a power amplifier are contradicting requirements, quite often the
applied technique either enhances the overall efficiency or it improves the linearity
of the system. A simultaneous efficiency enhancement and linearity improvement is
very difficult to achieve and usually requires the combination of several enhancement
techniques. Typically, for a given linearity requirement of a system, the efficiency of
the amplifier is enhanced or maintained over a wider dynamic range. Depending on the
application the complexity of the linearization and/or efficiency enhancement technique
can vary from a simple back-off system to a quite complex digitally predistorted Doherty
amplifier.
A predistortion scheme is primary a linearization technique that can vary in complexity
and is put in front of an amplifier. The predistorter (linearizer) can also be combined
with a subsequent efficiency enhancement scheme such as a Doherty system [10], an
envelope elimination and restoration (EER) scheme [11] or a Chireixs out-phasing
(LINC) scheme [12]. In this way the efficiency and the linearity of the overall system
can be improved, however these systems are very complex and costly.
The most important enhancement schemes and their typical application are discussed
in the following sections.
11.3.2
Digital baseband predistortion

The concept of predistortion is similar to an audio equalizer that compensates for the
acoustic characteristics of a system. However, the linearization for MW power amplifiers
is not performed in relation to its frequency response, but to compensate the nonlinear
Baseband
Signal
FA(.)
515
PA
LO
Baseband
Signal
FD(.)
PA
LO
Figure 11.3 Basic principle of a linearized amplifier using predistortion
relationship of the input signal versus the output signal. It can be shown that in theory an
nth-order nonlinear system can be compensated and linearized by cascading an inverse
pth-order nonlinearity. The resulting system shows a linear transfer function up to the
order of n*p, but then generates higher-order nonlinear mixing products, which typically
are negligible.
Figure 11.3 shows the basic block diagram of a linearized amplifier using a predistorter. In analog linearization systems the predistortion is typically implemented at RF
frequencies. Using relatively simple RF circuit designs a gain expansion unit with an
inverse phase characteristic is often realized that linearizes the power amplifier at the
circuit level. The level of improvement is adequate for minor nonlinearities, however
if there are strong linearity requirements, as is the case for multicarrier communication systems (CDMA and OFDM), then analog predistortion becomes very difficult.
The inverse amplitude and phase characteristic have to be matched to the nonlinear
PA characteristic very accurately (less then 0.1 dB in amplitude and a few degrees in
phase) and need to be tracked over temperature, signal drive level, and ageing of the
device. Therefore digital predistortion techniques with a feedback control loop have been
developed.
Digital predistortion techniques exploit the ever-increasing processing power now
available from DSP devices, which allows them both to form and to update the required
inverse nonlinear characteristic [13]. Typically, they operate with a digital baseband
signal.
The digital baseband predistortion (DPD) approach, as the name says, does not take
into account the RF carrier frequency the PA is working at. It rather models the PA
behavior by the following complex baseband model in which x and y are the complex
envelopes of the RF input and output signal, respectively, and PA (|x|) is the complex
amplifier gain depending on the input signal magnitude.
y = x PA (|x|)
(11.14)
Power specturm denel
Power specturm denel
516
-20
-40
-60
-80
-100
-120
-3
-2 -1 0 1 2
Frequency / Hz
Baseband
data
0
-20
-40
-60
-80
-100
-120
-3
-2 -1 0 1 2
Frequency / Hz
PA
Predistorter
LO
Figure 11.4 Illustrative block diagram of a predistorter.
Introducing PD (|x|) as the complex baseband predistorter gain depending on the input
signal magnitude and M as the real PA gain, it can be described as follows.
y = x PD (|x|) PA (|x|) M
(11.15)
The entity forming the inverse nonlinear characteristic is the predistorter itself. There
are several techniques to implement such nonlinear characteristics but all of them have
in common that their output is calculated as an input magnitude-dependent function
of their input. Thus, the predistorter produces a distorted signal out of its linear input
signal. Beside the linear signal, the output signal contains the inverse intermodulation
products, mainly of the 3rd, 5th, and 7th orders. Figure 11.4 illustrates the predistorter
function. Taking the example of a single carrier UMTS signal, the distortion produced
by the predistorter is depicted and the resulting linearity improvement at the PA output
is shown with measured data.
To enable this functionality, the predistorter system has to be implemented in such a
way that it not only fulfils the Nyquist criteria according to the bandwidth of the incoming
baseband signal but also the significantly higher one of producing the predistorted output
signal. Furthermore, the linear baseband signal has to be sufficiently interpolated before
it is fed into the predistorter.
The higher bandwidth of the predistorted output signal has to be propagated up to the
PA input, demanding suitable DACs and diligent analogue design. This can certainly be
seen as the main drawback of digital baseband predistortion. One further issue for DPD is
the determination of the nonlinearity applied to the baseband signal. The simple solution
is to bring an example PA to a test bench, characterize its nonlinearities, calculate the
inverse function, and program the predistorter with it. The linearity at the PA output will
improve but effects such as device drift over temperature, aging, etc. are not considered.
To overcome these severe limitations, adaptive DPD has been introduced. Figure 11.5
shows schematically the system in which a sample receiver is used which allows control
of the PA output behavior instantaneously.
Having feedback information from the PA output available within the DSP, an algorithm calculates the PA nonlinearity and hence its inverse function on a regular basis.
Applying the calculated inverse nonlinearity to the predistorter, the difference between
Baseband
data
Predistorter
PA
517
LO
Adaptation
LO
Figure 11.5 Adaptive predistorter block diagram.
the baseband signal (X) and the sample receiver signal (Z) is minimized. Such architecture is able to react to any changes in the behavior of the PA line-up mentioned
above.
11.3.3
Memory effect compensation

In wireless communication systems, the trend to higher bandwidths is unbroken due to
multicarrier transmissions and new standards like LTE which support signal bandwidths
up to 20 MHz. High PA output powers are also demanded to increase cell coverage.
Unfortunately, with increasing signal bandwidth and higher output power, the PA shows
dynamic semiconductor effects which are not covered by a single nonlinearity. These
so-called memory effects are caused by thermal behavior, trapping effects and parasitic
capacitances within the semiconductor.
When compensating memory effects, it is not sufficient to consider only one single
point in time in defining the PA characteristic. Hence, modeling and mitigating of such
memory effects becomes more complex, especially when an additional variable such as
time is taken into account.
Figure 11.6 shows example measurements in three spectral plots which differ in the
adjacent channels. Trace 1 shows the initial spectrum of a PA transmitting four carrier
UMTS at approximately 40 W output power. The PA works with acceptable power
efficiency but violates the applicable specifications for the adjacent channel leakage
power ratio (ACLR) [14]. In trace 2, DPD is applied, resulting in higher linearity but still
not fulfilling the specification in the alternate channels. The best linearization result is
reached by applying DPD with memory effect compensation, as shown by trace 3. This
signal now fulfils the specifications with a comfortable margin.
11.3.4
Impact on power efficiency

In terms of power consumption, there is only a negligible amount required for DPD in
DSP. The reason is that in most applications, a DSP unit already exists for other signal
518
Figure 11.6 DPD performance plots.
Figure 11.7 Without DPD (10 W, 20 W, 40 W) left-hand side, 40 W with and without DPD
right-hand side.
conditioning issues. This unit just has to be expanded to cover the digital baseband
predistortion functionality. Fortunately, DPD can take advantage of the fact that the
power dissipation of DSP decreases with the digital technology evolution. The power
consumption of the DACs and the analogue circuitry also rises slightly because of the
higher bandwidth to be transmitted. This supplementary effect is difficult to estimate
but is in the region of a few watts. Hence, the amount of dissipated power to perform
digital predistortion can be summarized as small and, furthermore, mostly independent
of the PA output power. As a result, the power efficiency of a PA with DPD linearization
increases with its output power.
Figure 11.7 illustrates the power efficiency impact for an LDMOS PA module taking
a single carrier UMTS transmission as an example. The left spectral plots show the
behavior of a nonlinearized PA at different output powers and hence different power
efficiencies. Trace L3 was measured when transmitting 10 W at about 8.0% power
519
efficiency, trace L2 when transmitting 20 W at about 12% power efficiency, and trace L1
when transmitting 40 W at slightly more than 18% power efficiency. Whereas L3 and L2
fulfil the 3GPP ACLR specification, L1 violates it. Trace R1 on the right measurement
plot shows the same measurement as L1 (40 W @ 18% efficiency). Trace R2 shows
the result of applying DPD at the 40 W level. The PA now not only meets the ACLR
specification, it also has higher output power and better efficiency than the nonlinearized
amplifier when backed off to meet the spectral requirement (traces L2 and L3).
This example shows that there is not only a power saving by applying DPD; transmitting 40 W at 18% efficiency with a single transistor instead of a nonlinearized 20 W
at 12% saves a second semiconductor device and the combining network, which would
be required to achieve a comparable output power of 40 W in the nonlinearized case.
The overall DC power savings are more than 110 W. Even in this simple example the
enormous benefit of introducing DPD can be seen. In cases where the PA has to transmit
a wider signal bandwidths (e.g., four modulated carriers), quite often, memory effects
of the amplifier degrade the performance such that even with a large back-off the ACLR
specifications are violated and cannot be recovered. In those cases the utilization of a
DPD scheme is absolutely required to make the system compliant (independently of the
output power). Referring to Figure 11.6 a single DPD linearized PA is capable of transmitting a four-carrier UMTS signal and meeting the ACLR specifications, potentially
saving up to three further PAs and a complex output combining network.
11.4
Wireless communication power amplifiers
11.4.1
Mobile radio communication today

Todays mobile radio communication is characterized by the coexistence of various
different wireless communication standards such as GSM, UMTS and WiMAX. Soon
this list will be supplemented by LTE which will be commercially introduced in near
future. In the following, these main standards are briefly introduced.
Global system for mobile communication (GSM)

GSM was the first standard of the so-called second generation (2G) mobile radio systems
and enabled full digital radio communication, and was commercially introduced at the
beginning of the 1990s. Today, GSM is still the most common standard in the world and
is mainly used for telephony, packet switched data transmission, and short messaging
(SMS). GSM works by means of different frequencies for uplink (transmission from
user equipment to mobile radio network) and downlink (from mobile radio network to
the user equipment). Later standard extensions which came along are HSCSD, GPRS,
and EDGE (e.g., up to 220 kbit/s) allowing for faster data transmission.
Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS)

UMTS was introduced as the third mobile communication standard (3G) with significantly increased data rates ranging up to 384 kbit/s in downlink. Standard extensions
520
for increased data rates are, for example, HSDPA with up to 7.2 Mbit/s in downlink.
Thanks to the increased data rates, UMTS supports audio- and video-telephony, internet
access, etc. UMTS uses frequency-division-duplex (FDD) mode thus requiring paired
frequency bands. The chip rate in FDD is 3.84 Mcps with a channel spacing of 5 MHz.
Today, the 3GPP (third generation partnership project) consortium cares for UMTS and
further standardization.
Long-term evolution (LTE)

LTE (also called E-UTRAN or 3.9G) appears as a successor of the UMTS standard and
was defined within 3GPP. LTE uses the so-called OFDM scheme and supports multipleinput-multiple-output (MIMO) techniques with the aim of enabling cheap high bit-rate
data services and thus make mobile internet a mass market. Compared to UMTS, LTE
supports different bandwidths (e.g., 3 MHz, 5 MHz, 10 MHz and 20 MHz) which make
it more flexible for future use in different spectra. LTE is designed to operate in FDD
mode as well as in time-division-duplex (TDD) mode.
Worldwide interoperability microwave access (WiMAX)

WiMAX is used as a synonym for the IEEE 802.16 standard and can be regarded as being
a competing standard to LTE. WiMAX networks can be used to connect GSM/UMTS
base stations in the backhauling area or for wireless internet access. Unlike GSM,
UMTS or LTE, WiMAX frequency bands are not globally standardized in a uniform
manner and can also be used out of the usual mobile radio L and S bands up to high
frequencies as e.g., 60 GHz. Three frequency bands in the range of 2.3 GHz, 2.5 GHz, and
3.5 GHz have been licensed by the WiMAX Forum which coordinates WiMAX policies.
WiMAX is planned in FDD and TDD mode and supports different signal bandwidths
up to 10 MHz. Like LTE, WiMAX is based on OFDM.
The allocated frequency bands for mobile radio communication are mainly located
in the UHF, L, and S bands between approximately 400 MHz and 4 GHz. Figure 11.8
indicates the placement of the mobile radio frequency bands compared to communication
applications like point-to-point and satellite communication. Some frequency ranges
allocated to the GSM-, UMTS-, WiMAX-, and LTE-standards are also shown. In the
mobile radio frequency range the wavelength is still large enough to allow for hybrid
amplifier realization, compared to the applications operating at even higher frequencies
which more likely require MMICs.
The current situation in mobile communication arose due to the sequential introduction
of new standards which became necessary in order to satisfy the demand for the data
rates which have been steadily increasing. These introductions needed to be performed
without shutting down the preceding standards, at the same time observing regionally
independent standards and frequency allocation or coverage requirements.
Todays and future standards increasingly use modern digital transmission techniques
like W-CDMA (UMTS) or OFDM (WiMAX, LTE) in order to manage the continuously increasing data rates necessary to support mobile multimedia applications. Unlike
GMSK used for GSM single-carrier application, the modulation schemes used in UMTS
521
100
Power / [W]
Mobile Radio
Communication
300
MHz
1 GHz
2 GHz
3 GHz
Broadband Wireless Access

Sate
PtP, PMP
Com llite
mun
icat
ion
4 GHz
8 GHz
12
GHz
18
GHz
27
GHz
30
GHz
40
GHz
Frequency
UHF
L-Band
S-Band
SHF
C-Band
X-Band
(Reference: ITU: Rec. ITU-R V4.31-7, Nomenclature
of the Frequency And Wavelength Bands Used in
Telecommunications)
hybrid
GSM
LTE
0.9 GHz
0.45 GHz
GSM
CDMA
KU
K
Ka
EHF
MMIC
UMTS
LTE LTE
2.1 GHz 2.6 GHz
1.8 GHz 2.5 GHz

WiMAX
GSM
LTE
3.5 GHz
WiMAX
(exemplarily overview only, collocation not exhaustive)
low
Energy Efficiency
High
Figure 11.8 Placement of mobile radio frequency range.
Increased signal PAR

low
(0 dB)
2G
GSM
high
(12 dB)
3G
UMTS
Speech and
SMS only
low
4G
WiMAX, LTE
Multimedia applications
Data Rate
high
(without application of linearization and reduction of signal dynamic)
Figure 11.9 Efficiency trend for different mobile radio standards.
or in future LTE are characterized by strongly varying signal envelopes with high peakto-average ratios (PARs) of > 10 dB. Figure 11.9 shows the effect of higher data rates
on amplifier efficiency. While in the case of single-carrier GSM a relatively high efficiency can be obtained, the efficiency decreases significantly for modern standards like
522
UMTS or LTE, due to high PAR. By applying signal dynamic reduction (clipping) techniques and linearization such as digital predistortion, this dramatic efficiency drop can
be mitigated. These techniques have not been considered in Figure 11.9.
Furthermore, the signal bandwidth clearly increases with increased data rates. In the
case of the single-carrier GSM, a channel bandwidth of approximately 200 kHz is used,
whereas for single-carrier UMTS, the bandwidth increases up to 3.84 Mc/s (5 MHz
channel spacing). Usually, todays base stations are capable of handling up to four WCDMA carriers resulting in a total signal bandwidth of 20 MHz. The total bandwidth
allocated for UMTS in the core band is 60 MHz ranging from 2.11 GHz up to 2.17 GHz.
LTE supports different bandwidths with up to 20 MHz per carrier.
11.4.2
System level and power amplifier requirements

In addition to the previously mentioned requirements like frequency range and signal
bandwidth, several further requirements either on system or amplifier level exist, which
have to be fulfilled. In the following, some of the main requirements affecting the power
amplifier are described in the case of the UMTS-FDD standard.
Many important communication standard specific requirements are defined and put
together by the particular standardization bodies in order to guarantee a sufficient quality
of service as well as a widely undisturbed coexistence of different standards, and an
undisturbed parallel operation in directly adjacent frequency bands of different operators.
In order to assure this, very high linearity limits for adjacent channel leakage ratio
(ACLR), or spectrum emission mask (SEM) are set by the 3GPP standardization bodies.
In parallel, in-band linearity requirements such as error vector magnitude (EVM) or peak
code domain error are defined by the standardization in order to secure a high quality of
service. In order to meet the standard specific requirements and maintain high-energy
efficiency, as well as due to technical limitations, todays mobile communication market
has usually to be supplied with frequency and communication standard specific solutions.
This leads to the fact that system manufacturers have to provide a large product range
resulting in a laborious development and logistic effort.
Further system requirements arise from different application scenarios and cell planning aspects. Usually, indoor solutions support a smaller cell size compared to outdoor
solutions which are designed for covering larger areas. Thus, the indoor solutions require
lower transmit power levels, e.g., in the range of 20 dBm (0.1 W) or below. In contrast
to this, macro base stations are in the range of 47 dBm (50 W) average transmit power
per sector or even higher. In the 3GPP specifications [15] different power classes are
defined as shown for UMTS-FDD by Table 11.1.
During operation, a stable transmit average output power has to be guaranteed for
the targeted output power, usually requiring an adaptive power control. The basestation
power class directly controls the power amplifier dimensioning. Depending on the power
class as well as on the application scenario, highly efficient solutions with limited
power consumption are required. An application being highly critical with respect to
energy efficiency and power consumption is, for example, a remote radio head solution.
Such systems are preferably located at the antenna mast close to the antenna, thus
523
Table 11.1 UMTS-FDD base station power classification

Base station class
Rated output power
Wide area BS
Medium range BS
Local area BS
Home BS
- (note)
+ 38 dBm
+ 24 dBm
+ 20 dBm (without transmit diversity or MIMO)
+ 17 dBm (with transmit diversity or MIMO)
Note: There is no upper limit required for the rated output power of the wide area
base station similar to that for the base station for general purpose application
in release 99, 4, and 5 (source: 3GPP TS 25.141 V8.6.0 (200903)).
requiring compact size, low weight as well as preferably no active cooling. An important
benefit of such systems is that the cable losses of the antenna feeder can be drastically
reduced leading to a clearly improved overall system efficiency compared to conventional
solutions, where the base station is located further away from the antenna.
Furthermore, with the clearly increased number of different mobile communication
networks and also due to the improved coverage and complexity, the operating costs
of the networks have clearly increased and constitute a large expenditure asset of the
mobile operators which cant be neglected. The ever-increasing wireless network causes
a substantial share of worldwide energy consumption, affecting the utilization of natural
resources and increasing significantly the carbon footprint. This situation highlights the
need for highly efficient communication systems independent of technical requirements.
Due to the fact that the base station load distribution has a clear influence on the
base station energy efficiency, the demand for solutions maintaining high efficiency
over a very wide dynamic range (e.g., down to 10 % load at night) becomes more and
more important since maximum efficiency is achieved only at peak utilization for a
limited period during the day. Advanced Doherty [16] techniques are resolving some of
these problems by offering high efficiencies over a wider dynamic range. The Doherty
principle is discussed in Section 11.9 of this chapter.
An important requirement is also high reliability of all components in order to guarantee a long system lifetime with minimum defect probability. A mean time to failure of
more than 10 million hours of operation within a specified temperature range is required
from the power transistor.
11.4.3
Power amplifier design outline

When designing a power amplifier for mobile radio communication, a plurality of
parameters as well as the specific target application has to be taken into account. First
the specific application-related requirements such as frequency band, power class, standardization requirements, efficiency, use of linearization techniques, etc. have to be
collected. Against this list, a suitable semiconductor technology has to be chosen. Currently, silicon LDMOS is the most common technology for base stations due to good
Power
Amplifier
e.g. FPGA
(power amplifier output)
Design point with DPD
Vsat
Vout
Vin
DPD Response
Overall System response

Vout
Digital
Predistortion
Vout
524
Vin
PA Response
Signal Feedback (adaptive linearization)
Design point
without DPD
Vin
Figure 11.10 PA design point when using digital predistortion.
efficiency, high linearity, and low cost. Because of the cost pressure in the telecommunication sector the power transistor price becomes an important decision factor, especially
for high-power devices, and makes insertion and commercialization of new and more
expensive semiconductor technologies like GaN-HEMT technology difficult, although
GaN based devices show technical benefits such as higher transit frequencies, increased
bandwidth capability and/or higher efficiency. GaAs FET devices are a third option but
cost, power capability, and supply voltage limitations are the major factors why GaAs
technology utilization is limited for base station power amplifiers in mobile communication compared to Silicon LDMOS devices.
After suitable power transistors have been identified, a power and gain budget for
the power amplifier line-up is prepared, taking the total required gain (influencing the
required number of amplifier stages) and the potential use of a linearization scheme into
account. Applying linearization procedures such as digital predistortion allows operating
the power amplifier closer to its saturation point, increasing the efficiency, while still
maintaining good linearity. Figure 11.10 indicates on the left-hand side the nonlinear
response of the power amplifier as well as the related DPD response. On the right-hand
side, the overall response and the amplifier design points without and with predistortion
is shown. Without digital predistortion typically the 1 dB compression point is used as
the design point for power capability in order to maintain sufficient linearity. The design
point when using digital predistortion is shifted towards higher compression levels,
typically the 3 dB compression point.
In order to further increase the final stage amplifier efficiency and thus the overall efficiency, highly efficient power amplifier concepts such as Doherty or envelope
tracking [17] are being evaluated. Doherty amplifier schemes are commonly already
designed into products, but envelope tracking amplifiers are in the R&D phase and not
yet as mature as standard Doherty PAs. The Doherty concept offers improved efficiency
over a wider dynamic range by modulating the load. The basic symmetrical Doherty
concept has a manageable increase in complexity compared to conventional Class AB
amplifiers, and is the most popular concept for efficiency improvement in modern base
stations. Limitations for the Doherty approach are the operational bandwidth (best suited
for single-band applications), and the low-load efficiency improvement. In contrast,
the envelope-tracking concept offers efficiency improvement through bias modulation.
525
Conventional Class AB amplifiers are always operated with fixed supply voltages. Irrespective of the traffic load on the base station the full supply voltage is always supplied.
In an envelope tracking amplifier a fast power supply modulator provides a modulated
supply voltage to the RF transistor. The voltage is adjusted in relation to the signal
envelope. Therefore the RF amplifier is always operated close to its saturation point and
is thus highly efficient even at varying signal power levels. Compared to the Doherty
scheme, the envelope-tracking concept requires higher complexity, specifically the addition of a high-power envelope modulator. However, the concept is inherently broadband
and supports multiband applications.
After the device and block diagram has been finalized, the amplifier design follows,
usually supported by use of suitable computer aided design tools and transistor models
provided by the semiconductor suppliers. Since the final power amplifier stage mainly
defines the output characteristic (power, efficiency, etc.) of the whole line-up, the design
process should be started with the final amplifier stage. In order to protect the final amplifier stage against reflected power (e.g., if the antenna is disconnected at full operation),
usually an isolator whose insertion loss additionally has to be considered is placed after
the power transistor. In order to enable adaptive predistortion, a coupler is additionally
placed at the final power transistors output in order to feed a sample of the amplifiers
output signal back to the digital unit via an appropriate feedback path. This sample is a
very low-power fraction of the output signal, hence avoiding a considerable degradation
of the overall performance. For the design of the RF input and output matching networks,
different techniques such as load-pull, load-line, and conjugate match based design are
used. Figure 11.11 gives a basic overview of the RF power amplifier topology and the
parameters which are affected by the particular building blocks.
In the amplifier design an acceptable tradeoff between power, efficiency, and gain has
to be found related to the respective application requirements. For example, linearity
and efficiency are usually opponents, and linearity requirements are usually fixed by the
standardization bodies for each standard and meeting them is thus mandatory. In order
to squeeze the best efficiency out of the amplifier under this condition, the amplifiers
are usually designed and operated close to these linearity requirements. Figure 11.12
illustrates this situation in a qualitative manner taking only ACLR as the linearity
criterion into account.
The dashed lines in the spectra plots indicate the linearity limits which are defined
by the standardization organization. The measured single-carrier spectrum was obtained
at the related power level. At low-output power levels the signal shows high linearity
with a lot of margin with respect to the standardization requirements but with very low
efficiency, the spectrum in the middle is at an increased output power level close to
the linearity requirements and shows improved efficiency. The third spectrum on the
right-hand side is measured at further increased output power with higher efficiency,
but is violating the linearity requirements. As already noted earlier in this chapter,
additional linearity parameters like EVM or Spectrum Emission Mask have in parallel
to be considered and met.
Once the final amplifier stage is designed, the driver and preamplifier stage design
follows. It has to be ensured that the predriver and driver stages are powerful enough
Biasing Networks
affecting
- maximum power
- bandwidth
Ouput
- stability
Bias
Input
Bias
Output
DC Feed
RFout
Input
DC Feed
RFin
526
RF
Block
Input
Matching
Input Matching Network

affecting
- gain
- bandwidth
- stability
Power
Transistor
Power Transistor
affecting
- maximum output power
- energy efficiency
- bandwidth
Output
Matching
RF
Block
Output Matching Network

affecting
- output power
- bandwidth
- energy efficiency
Figure 11.11 Main RF PA building blocks.
to drive the final amplifier stage, especially if digital predistortion is used since the
final amplifier stage can be operated closer to its saturation point. Multistage packaged
MMIC drivers are helpful in order to reduce design effort and allow for a more compact
design since interstage RF matching is already included in the package and, additionally,
the input and output impedance of such packaged drivers are 50 or close to it. Such
multistage drivers are available in LDMOS technology. Figure 11.13 shows a three-stage
amplifier line-up with the required matching networks.
Additional electronic components for bias stabilization, gain control, and automatic
shut down are usually used in order to guarantee a stable performance and safety for the
power amplifier module and thus the whole base station.
In summary, power amplifier design procedure has to address the three main subjects
of semiconductor technology, power amplifier design concepts, and linearization and
reduction of signal dynamic against the background of modern communication system
requirements and standards in order to achieve the optimum performance of mobile radio
communication amplifiers. All these three subjects have to be chosen specifically for the
respective application, and have to be mutually optimized as indicated in Figure 11.14.
527
ACLR requirement
violated
at ACLR limit
Power, Efficiency
ACLR
highly linear
poor linearity
high efficiency
Poutpk
at linearity limit
increased efficiency
high linearity
low efficiency
Poutav
Efficiency
ACLR 5 MHz
5 MHz ACLR limit
ACLR 10 MHz
10 MHz ACLR limit
Input Power
Input
Matching
Pre-Amplifier
Stage
Interstage
Matching
Driver Amplifier
Stage
Interstage
Matching
Final Amplifier
Stage
Output
Matching
Load
(Antenna Network,
Antenna)
Source
Figure 11.12 Example of RF PA linearity and efficiency tradeoff.
Partially available as monolithic microwave integrated circuit
Figure 11.13 Multistage RF amplifier.
11.4.4
Doherty amplifier for efficient base stations

In order to increase the efficiency of modern base stations in the field of power amplifiers,
the Doherty concept (described in Section 11.9) is commonly used. Figure 11.15 shows
a single-stage Doherty amplifier test board, based on AlGaN/GaN HEMT technology
from FhG-IAF Freiburg.1 The amplifier was realized within a national funded research
project.2
1
2
Fraunhofer Gesellschaft Institute of Applied Solid State Physics in Freiburg, Germany

The support of the German Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) under contract 01BU600 is
gratefully acknowledged.
528
Figure 11.14 Holistic PA design approach.
Figure 11.15 Photo of a single-stage Doherty amplifier.
529
Doherty Mode versus Balanced Mode @ 2.7 GHz
40
30
30
20
20
10
10
Drain Efficiency [%]
40
Pout (pk) - Doh

Pout (av) - Doh
Pout (pk) - Bal
Pout (av) - Bal
Efficiency - Doh
Efficiency - Bal
50
50
60
2
5
2
3
2
1
1
9
1
7
1
5
1
3
1
1
Power [dB m]
Clipped Single-Carrier W-CDMA Signal
60
Input Power (per amplifier) [dB m]

Figure 11.16 Measured Doherty mode versus balanced mode characteristic.
The upper transistor in Figure 11.15 represents the main amplifier, the lower transistor
constitutes the auxiliary amplifier, which is only active for high power levels. Since both
transistors are of same gate width, it is a symmetrical Doherty amplifier. On the input
side, a 3 dB, 90 hybrid coupler is used for signal splitting and feeding the signal to the
input of the main and the auxiliary amplifier. On the output side, the matching network
was manually tuned in order to guarantee a proper load modulation and thus achieve a
satisfactory overall performance. The symmetrical GaN Doherty amplifier was designed
for a center frequency of 2.7 GHz and for about 110 W peak output power.
In order to evaluate the efficiency improvement enabled by the Doherty concept, the
amplifier was measured in a Doherty configuration and subsequently in balanced mode
configuration. This can be achieved by appropriate biasing of the power transistors.
Figure 11.16 shows the measured average and peak output power as well as the drain
efficiency for both configurations. Due to the fact that the Doherty configuration exhibits
less gain compared to the balanced mode, the Doherty configuration was measured at
up to 3 dB higher input power level. The measurement results show that for the available
amplifier, a drain efficiency improvement of about 10% can be achieved at the 6 dB
back-off range by applying the symmetrical Doherty concept. This constitutes a clear
energy saving, especially for power amplifiers of mid and high power class. For these
measurements, a single-carrier W-CDMA signal was used which had been reduced in
its signal dynamic.
Figure 11.17 shows a single-carrier W-CDMA spectrum measured at the output of
the Doherty amplifier test board. For this measurement again a single-carrier W-CDMA
signal with reduced signal dynamic was used. Additionally, digital predistortion was
applied in order to meet the 3GPP ACLR linearity requirements combined with high
efficiency. For the depicted measured output spectrum, the Doherty amplifier achieved
530
Figure 11.17 Measured single-carrier W-CDMA output spectrum.
45 % drain efficiency at 44.9 dBm average output power, meeting the 3GPP ACLR
specification.
11.5
Military power amplifiers
11.5.1
Radar Tx/Rx modules

Tx/Rx modules are the most critical components of phased array radar systems. The
basic block diagram of a T/R module is given in Figure 11.18. Functional blocks common
to both Tx and Rx paths are a variable gain amplifier and variable phase shifter which
are either duplicated or shared between the two signal paths as shown in Figure 11.18
by the use of Tx/Rx switches which are controlled by logic circuits.
The duplexer, which is a ferrite circulator in general, provides three basic functions:
r to provide a 3-port junction so that both the PA output and Rx path input can be
simultaneously connected to the antenna without using a switch;
r to protect the LNA device from damage when the Tx pulse is fired. X-band circulators
have around 20 dB isolation between the Tx and Rx ports;
531
Limiter
TX
T/R
Switch
LNA
Variable
Attenuator
Control
Logic
Circulator
Antenna
Variable Phase
Shifter
RX
T/R
Switch
HPA
Figure 11.18 T/R Module block diagram.
r PAs need to be presented with better than 20 dB load return loss otherwise the power
output from the PA will degrade. In a phased array antenna system the impedance at
the input of each antenna element is not a very well controlled parameter and changes
with the phase state of each T/R module because of the moderate coupling levels
between the antenna elements. Because the reflected power from the antenna element
travels to the third port of the circulator independent of the antenna impedance, the
power amplifier will always be presented with a matched load. Depending on the
reflected power levels from the antenna element, either the LNA is designed to present
a matched load in Tx or else a dual junction circulator is used with the fourth port
terminated in a high-power load.
The limiter prevents damage to the low-noise amplifier during transmit or whenever
stray radiation is present. The limiter also provides a termination to the circulator during
transmit to absorb power that is reflected from the antenna.
The variable phase shifter is used to feed the antenna array elements with different
progressive phase shift levels to provide the electronic scanning ability of the phased
array. The variable attenuator is used to add an amplitude taper across the antenna array
to reduce sidelobes. This is usually done in Rx , as in Tx one would like to radiate as much
power as possible. The other function of the variable attenuator is to compensate for the
insertion loss change of the variable phase shifter with the switched phase state. This is
especially important in Tx , as the PA saturation level should be kept within some limits
in order to protect PA devices from excessive forward gate currents which might have
an adverse effect on device MTBF. The attenuator often performs a second function of
aligning the amplitudes of the individual elements.
532
The high-power amplifier (HPA) is the biggest and most expensive part of a T/R
module. It also is the primary source of waste heat that you have to sink using a proper
cooling arrangement. The HPA must be switched off after transmit to receive in a couple
of 100 ns for two reasons:
r the noise from the Tx path might de-sensitize the Rx degrading the sensitivity of the
radar receiver;
r keeping the HPA biased in Rx will degrade the overall efficiency of the T/R module.
This is almost always done by circuitry that turns off the drain current to the HPA.
It is theoretically possible to turn on/off the HPA using the gate voltage, but this is
almost never done because any noise on the gate due to settling time of the modulation
waveform will have a much larger effect than ringing on the drain voltage. p-channel
MOSFETs are usually used to turn the amplifiers on and off. The p-channel MOSFET
should have low on-resistance to keep the voltage drop as low as possible. Some of the
important points to be kept in mind in drain switching are as follows:
1. Because the HPA needs to be quickly switched on and off between Tx and Rx modes,
and because the power supply is electrically far away, properly sized charge storage
capacitors must be used to supply the required current for the HPA devices during
the RF pulse. The amplifier essentially runs off the capacitor during the RF pulse
and the power supply merely supplies an average current to keep the capacitors
charged up. Charge storage capacitors are nearly always tantalum because highdensity capacitance is needed in a small layout area.
2. The inductance between the charge storage capacitors and the HPA drain pads should
be minimized in order to decrease the modulation on the drain voltage due to the
.
term V (t) = L i(t)
t
3. The charge storage capacitors should not be placed between the p-MOSFET and the
HPA because doing so will cause switching-off times of the HPA to be much longer.
Although the p-MOSFET is switched off, the charge storage capacitors will continue
to supply current to the HPA.
4. So the only solution is to keep the RF bypass capacitors (generally 10100 nF) as
close as possible to the HPA drain pads, place the p-channel MOSFET as close as
possible to the HPA, and place the charge storage capacitors between the power supply
and the p-MOSFET but as close as possible to the p-MOSFET. The size of the charge
storage capacitors can be calculated as follows:
Q = CV
(11.16)
where Q is the charge in Coulombs, C the capacitance in Farads, and V the voltage in
volts. If we take the derivative of each side with respect to time then
I (t) = C
V (t)
t
(11.17)
533
Table 11.2 Typical T/R module HPA performance requirements

Frequency band
Bandwidth (MHz)
Power (W)
Efficiency (%)
S band
X band
Up to 500 MHz
Up to 1 GHz
Up to 1.6 kW
Up to 20 W
4050
3040
where I(t) is the current in Amperes. Now we can re-arrange equation (11.17) to solve
for CCS , the charge storage capacitance:
CCS =
I t
V
(11.18)
where I is the change in current in amperes with the RF pulse on and off, V the
allowable voltage drop in volts between RF pulse on and off, and t the pulse width in
seconds. Acceptable voltage droop levels are around 5%, which will drop the power by
around 10%, equivalent to 0.45 dB. While selecting the capacitors one should make sure
that the capacitors have a voltage rating of twice the drain voltage level. Also one should
consider the derating factor when the HPA is required to operate at higher temperatures.
T/R modules are physically connected to a phased array antenna and they should be
sized to be below generally half wavelength of the operating frequency of the array in
both dimensions including the space required for the cooling arrangement. For example,
for a 3D array operating at 10 GHz the size of the T/R module needs to be less than
15 mm in both dimensions. The required power levels, bandwidths, and efficiencies
from the HPAs to be integrated into a T/R module for S- and X-band radars are listed in
table 11.2.
The available devices in S band are LDMOS, GaAs pHEMT, and GaN pHEMT.
130 W LDMOS and GaAs pHEMT devices are commercially available from various
vendors and if necessary then binary combining techniques, using balanced or Wilkinson
structures, need to be used to reach the required power levels. GaN devices generating
400 W have been announced in recent years, which make even higher power levels
achievable using less complicated combining structures. Most of the X-band radar
systems developed in the last 57 years are based on 10 W GaAs pHEMT MMICs,
which are available from various vendors. There are applications that combine two
of these MMICs using Lange couplers or Wilkinson/Gysel combiners described in
Section 11.6 to reach higher power levels. Some other important specifications for the
T/R module, which have an impact on the HPA are:
r amplitude droop across the pulse-width which is generally specified to be less than
0.5 dB. The two main causes are voltage droop and temperature rise of the device
channel during the RF pulse;
r phase droop across the pulse-width. This is generally specified to be less than 15 .
r pulse-to-pulse phase stability. Generally specified to be less than 30/ 40 dBc and
requires a complicated test setup to measure it. This is an important specification, as
failure to meet the specification will result in a poor Doppler spectrum;
534
r in recent years, radar communities are investigating complex modulation waveforms

where not only the phase but also the envelope is changing within the pulse. This
puts stringent linearity requirements on the HPA, i.e., an HPA cannot be operated at
saturation and should have an acceptable AMPM performance.
11.5.2
EW applications
Power amplifiers find applications in jammer applications. Jammers are categorized
as stand-off /Escort jammers and self protection jammers. Traditional designs generally
incorporate high-power traveling wave tube amplifiers (TWTA) and high-gain directional
antennas. There are two approaches; one is to use high-gain directional antennas on
mechanical steering mechanisms and the second one is to use broader beamwidth lowgain fixed antenna installations. The drawback of using steerable high-gain directional
antennas is the lack of ability to track and jam multi targets, and the drawback of using
broader beamwidth low-gain fixed antennas is reduced effective radiated power (ERP).
The solution to overcome these problems simultaneously is to use a phased array antenna
system, and this configuration is favoured in more recent jammer designs. Obviously,
there needs to be a tradeoff analysis in the size of the antenna system, the overall
efficiency, and the available DC power from the platform where the jammer is going to
be installed. The operating frequency range required from the stand-off jammer (SOJ)
is generally 118 GHz and the frequency band is split into octave or broader bands, like
12 GHz, 26 GHz, and 618 GHz. Self protection jammers operate from 6 to 18 GHz.
For a typical phased array configuration to achieve 70 dBm ERP level, the array size
needs to be somewhere between 200 and 250 to guarantee 23 dB of array gain. Antenna
elements are chosen to be omni-directional, a vivaldi antenna is a typical example, to
minimize the scan loss across the azimuth and elevation coverage angles of the system,
so total phased array antenna system gain will be identical to the array gain. To achieve
70 dBm ERP level, each power amplifier needs to deliver at least 50 W RF power.
If each module is 50% efficient, then the total DC power and dissipated heat (for a
200 element array) will be 20 kW and 10 kW, respectively.
It was not possible to design high-power and efficient octave band solid-state power
amplifiers until recently, but advances in GaN pHEMT devices allows the achievement
of greater than 50 W power levels in octave bands between 16 GHz. These high-voltage
devices have breakdown voltage levels above 60 V, making it possible to operate with
up to 30 V drain supply voltages and deliver 410 W/mm-gate periphery output power.
By contrast, GaAs pHEMT devices operated from a 12 V power supply deliver typically
0.5 W/mm-gate periphery. As a result, for the same power level device sizes are an order
of magnitude smaller in GaN technology. The major advantages of GaN devices over
GaAs counterparts in practical implementations are summarized below:
r load-line impedances to be presented to the GaN pHEMT devices are an order of
magnitude higher, requiring a smaller impedance transformation ratio from the output
matching circuit;
535
Figure 11.19 12 GHz prototype power amplifier (courtesy of ASELSAN).
r Cds (output capacitance)/Pout (W) ratio is an order of magnitude smaller;

r for a given power level, since the required gate periphery is smaller the real part of
the input impedance is an order of magnitude higher and the input capacitance is an
order of magnitude smaller compared to GaAs counterparts which makes the input
matching circuit easier and broader band.
The first two advantages allow the design of 50100 W power amplifiers in octave
bands. In addition, simple microstrip lines on soft-boards can be used in the output
matching circuits, eliminating high-dielectric, low characteristic impedance components
in the package.
Two prototype circuits were developed for 12 GHz and 1.83.5 GHz jammer systems.
The devices are packaged 45 W devices from Cree Inc and the power amplifier prototypes were designed on RO4350 soft-board. The single ended circuit developed for the
12 GHz system is shown in Figure 11.19. The parallel R-C circuit seen on the left side
of the device is used to suppress low-frequency parasitic and parametric oscillations.
Input and output matching circuits provide 50 impedance interfaces. Gain, power
output at 3 dB compression, and efficiency are plotted in Figure 11.20. Gain is more
than 15 dB from 0.82.2 GHz, power output greater than 55 W across 12 GHz, and
efficiency is 55% average across the frequency band.
The balanced circuit developed for the 23.6 GHz system is given in Figure 11.21.
Input and output matching circuits provide 50 impedance interfaces. Gain, power
output at 3 dB compression and efficiency are plotted in Figure 11.22. Gain is more
than 12 dB across the band, power output greater than 65 W across 23.6 GHz, and the
average efficiency is 45% across the frequency band.
22
80
19
65
16
50
13
35
10
0.8
0.9
1.0
1.1
1.2
1.3
1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7

Frequency (GHz)
1.8
1.9
2.0
2.1
Pout, Watts & Efficiency, %
Gain (dB)
536
20
2.2
Figure 11.20 12 GHz prototype circuit performance plots (courtesy of ASELSAN), gain,
power output, efficiency.
Figure 11.21 23.6 GHz prototype power amplifier (courtesy of ASELSAN).
Gain (dB)
18.00
90.00
16.00
80.00
14.00
70.00
12.00
60.00
10.00
50.00
8.00
40.00
6.00
30.00
4.00
20.00
2.00
10.00
0.00
2.0
2.2
2.4
2.6
2.8
3.0
Frequency (GHz)
3.2
3.4
Pout, Watts & Efficiency, %
537
0.00
3.6
Figure 11.22 23.6 GHz prototype circuit performance plots (courtesy of ASELSAN), gain,
power output, efficiency.
Figure 11.23 I/J band phased array jammer antenna (courtesy of ASELSAN).
An example of an I/J band phased array jammer antenna is shown in Figure 11.23. It
has been designed for self protection. There are 16 modules per antenna and a photo of
the PA module is shown in Figure 11.24. At the output stage, two 2 W GaAs pHEMT
MMICs are combined to achieve at least 3.5 W across the frequency band using Lange
couplers (see Section 11.7.2)
538
Figure 11.24 I/J band 3.5 W module (courtesy of ASELSAN).
11.5.3
Anti-IED applications
Military forces around the world face the threat of radio controlled improvised explosive
devices (RCIED) used by terrorists to harm convoys and ground troops. A typical RCIED
is composed of a large bomb, activated by an attached wireless device. After installing
the RCIED in a main roadside, it can be activated any time by a wireless connection.
They will most likely be activated when a large military convoy or vehicles pass by
the bomb. Improvised explosive devices (IEDs) are attached to common wireless RF
receivers, such as two-way radios, cellular phones, pagers and remote controls, etc.,
allowing the terrorists to use the transmitter remotely to detonate IEDs. One of the most
common ways of countering IEDs and RCIEDs is using electronic countermeasures
(ECM), known as jammers.
A vehicle mounted IED jammer is installed in military anti-IED vehicles providing
convoy protection. Portable IED jammers, like mobile phone jammers, are designed to
prevent cell phone communication in designated areas, securing a small group of people.
The cell phone jammer transmits RF signals which block the communication between
the cell phone and the nearest cellular antenna, actively jamming cell phone frequencies
within the blocking range of the jamming device.
In order to be able to cover the possible wireless technology frequency bands, the
PAs are generally broadband, but specific GSM or some other wireless communication standard higher power and narrower band PA designs are available in the market.
Figure 11.25 shows a prototype 1 kW PA, designed to operate at HF/VHF (more than
two-octave band) frequency bands for vehicle installation. Eight identical output stages
are combined using the combining circuitry shown on the left hand side of the figure.
Figure 11.26 shows a prototype 100 W PA, designed to cover VHF/UHF frequency
bands for vehicle installation. This three-stage design has 50 dB gain with 1.5 dB
frequency flatness and is stable into infinite VSWR at all phases.
11.6
In-phase power combining techniques
11.6.1
Wilkinson power combiners

When it is necessary to deliver higher power levels to an antenna or a load, in-phase power
combiners are important components of an RF or microwave transmitter. In this case a
539
Figure 11.25 HF/VHF, 1 kW PA (courtesy of ASELSAN).
Figure 11.26 VHF/UHF, 100 W PA (courtesy of ASELSAN).
high level of isolation between the input ports is also required when identical amplitude
and equal phase signals are combined. Combiners tend to get used as the last stage in a
PA architecture, using the highest power devices available to reach even higher power
levels. The insertion loss of the combining architecture is the most important factor in
deciding the number of power devices to be combined using a Wilkinson combiner.
The simplest one is the two-way combiner, where two input ports are combined
using
/4 transmission lines at band center, with a characteristic impedance of Z 0 2 where
Z02
Z0
2Z0
Z0
Z0
Z02
Figure 11.27 Single-section Wilkinson divider/combiner.
Amplitude imbalance, dB
3
10
1.5
15
20
0.5
25
0
3 2.75 2.5 2.25 2 1.75 1.5 1.25 1 0.75 0.5 0.25
Pdiss (dB m)
2.5
Ptotal (dB m)
540
30
Figure 11.28 Effect of amplitude imbalance at the combined output. Both input signals are at the
same phase.
Z 0 is the reference impedance of the circuit. A typical single section Wilkinson power
combiner is given in Figure 11.27.
The effect of amplitude imbalance between the two input ports on the output port
(combined output) is plotted in Figure 11.28. Total output power dissipated across the
isolation resistor is shown in the lower trace referenced to the right. When two identical
input signals are applied (i.e., 0 dBm each) the output power is 3 dBm and no power is
dissipated across the isolation resistor. But if one of the signals is 1 dB less, than the total
output reduces by approximately 0.5 dB and the rest is dissipated across the isolation
resistor.
The effect of phase imbalance between the 2 input ports on the output port (combined output) is plotted in Figure 11.29. When two identical input signals are applied
(i.e., 0 dBm each) the output power is 3 dBm and no power is dissipated across the
541
10
15
20
25
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
Pdiss (dB m)
Ptotal (dB m)
Phase imbalance, degrees

3
30
90
Figure 11.29 Effect of phase imbalance at the combined output. Both input signals are at the same
amplitude total output power LH scale, power dissipated in the isolation resistor RH scale.
isolation resistor. But if one of the signals is 30 out of phase, then the total output power
is reduced by approximately 0.3 dB compared to the identical phase case and the rest is
dissipated across the isolation resistor.
The frequency bandwidth performance of a Wilkinson divider/combiner depends on
the number of sections used. It can be thought of as a matching network stepping up
the 25 impedance to 50 impedance at the combined output. So the transformation
ratio is always two and the bandwidth performance can be improved by using multi
quarter-wavelength lines with the impedance transformation ratio evenly distributed
between the quarter wavelength line impedance transformation stages. Figure 11.30
shows the obtainable bandwidths for a single section (in triangles, straight line), two
section (in squares, dotted line) and four section (thicker line) Wilkinson combiner.
Taking 1.2:1.0 VSWR as a reference, which corresponds to -20 dB return loss, bandwidth
can be improved from 30% to more than an octave by using a four-section Wilkinson
combiner.
An easy to follow design example of a three-stage 618 GHz Wilkinson Splitter is summarized in Figure 11.31. To obtain maximum bandwidth
the intermediate impedances
are set to give an equal impedance transformation ratio ( 3 2) at each stage. The intermediate impedance levels are 39.7 and 31.5 , respectively. The quarter wavelength
frequency for the transmission lines is chosen to be 12 GHz.
Figure 11.32 shows the layout of the 618 GHz Wilkinson splitter realized on a
15 mm thick alumina substrate and the performance is shown in Figure 11.33. Resistors
are realized using 50 /sq NiCr material.
542
Figure 11.30 Frequency bandwidth performance of two-way Wilkinson divider/combiner
single-section, two-section, four-section.
50 ohm
44.5 ohm
35.35 ohm
28.06 ohm
25 ohm
31.5 ohm
39.7 ohm
Figure 11.31 Design of a three-section 618 GHz Wilkinson splitter.
P1
Z1
Z2
Z3
/4
/4
/4
R1
R2
P2
R3
P3
Figure 11.32 Layout of the 618 GHz power splitter.
11.6.2
Gysel combiner
The isolation resistors of the conventional Wilkinson combiner need to be small compared to the wavelength, and they are not grounded. Gysel [18] proposed a modification
to the Wilkinson combiner in which the isolation resistor is replaced with a combination
543
10
3.2
20
3.4
30
3.6
40
3.8
50
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
Insertion Loss (dB)
Return Loss and Isolation (dB)
4
19
Frequency (GHz)
Figure 11.33 Performance of the 618 GHz splitter insertion loss, return loss, X isolation.
Z0
Z0
/4
Z1
Z0
/4
Z0
/2
Z2
/4
Z1
Z0
Z0
/4
Z0
Figure 11.34 Gysel high-power combiner.
of quarter wavelength lines and shunt connected 50 loads as shown in Figure 11.34.
In this case each isolation resistor is connected to a corresponding output port through
a transmission line. At the same time, all isolation resistors are connected to a common
floating star point by the transmission lines. Thus, the Gysel combiner has the advantage
of external isolation loads which can handle higher power levels. For a two-way Gysel
combiner the 100 isolation resistor is replaced by two 50 resistors. The transmission
544
P2
Z0
Open circuit
Z0
P2
Z0
/4
Z0 Z0 ohms
Z0
Z0
/4
Short circuit
Open circuit
Z1
Z1
/4
/4
Z2
/4
/4
Open circuit
Z2
Short circuit
P1
P1
Z0
Z0
Open circuit
Short circuit
Z2
Z1
Z2
Z1
Open circuit
Short circuit
P3
Z0
Z0
Open circuit
Z0
P3
Z0 Z0
Z0
ohms
Z0
Figure 11.35 Even mode (a) and odd mode (b) excitation of the Gysel combiner.
lines characteristic impedances are given by:
Z1 = Z0 2
Z2 = Z0 2
(11.19)
and
Z 0 = R0 = 50
Figure 11.35 shows the even and odd mode circuits of the Gysel combiner. When
the two input ports P2 and P3 are fed with even mode signals, the resultant circuitry is
equivalent to the even mode equivalent circuit of a standard Wilkinson combiner. When
the two input ports are fed with odd mode signals, identical amplitude but out of phase
the combined port, P1, through quarter wavelength
by 180 , P2 and P3 are connected to
lines with impedance levels Z 1 = Z 0 2 and two real impedances Z0 = 50 are in shunt
connection at each input port. So clearly the Gysel combiner is identical to a Wilkinson
combiner at band center.
The frequency response of a Gysel combiner is compared to a single section Wilkinson
combiner in Figure 11.36. Taking 1.2:1.0 VSWR as a reference, which corresponds to
20 dB return loss, the bandwidth of a Gysel combiner is about 10% compared to
30% bandwidth obtainable from a single section Wilkinson combiner. This bandwidth
reduction is due to the extra quarter-wavelength and half-wavelength transmission lines
used in the Gysel topology. Also, the insertion loss of a Gysel combiner is higher than a
Wilkinson combiner because of the longer transmission line connections to its inputs.
11.7
Quadrature-phase power combining balanced amplifiers

A balanced PA configuration is shown in Figure 11.37. Two identical power amplifiers
are fed from an input quadrature 3 dB hybrid, which produces two signals in phase
545
Figure 11.36 Input VSWR performance of Gysel combiner compared with a single-section
Wilkinson combiner: Gysel, Wilkinson.
QUADRATURE 3 DB HYBRIDS
Z0
3 DB
IN
IDENTICAL PA STAGES
+ 90deg
Z0
OUT
3 DB
I
Figure 11.37 Balanced PA configuration.
quadrature, and the outputs of the amplifiers are recombined using a similar structure in
reverse order. The main advantage of this configuration is that any reflections from the
amplifiers cancel at the RF input/output ports and are dissipated in the loads connected
at the isolated ports of the coupler structure. Obviously, in order for this balance to
happen, the two amplifiers needs to be identical and the two paths through the coupler
structure need to be identical in magnitude response and quadrature differential phase
response. So the match seen at the input and output ports of a balanced amplifier will
be perfect, regardless of the input/output impedances of the individual amplifiers. Before
the invention of balanced structures, people were using bulky and expensive ferrite
isolators at the input and output of single ended amplifiers with transistors having twice
the transistor periphery.
Coupled and Direct ports (dB)
Coupled and Direct ports (degrees)
Frequency (MHz)
Coupled and Direct ports (degrees)
(a)
Coupled and Direct ports (dB)
546
(b)
Frequency (MHz)
Figure 11.38 Quadrature coupler response for two different values of K. (a) Z0e = 125 , Z0o =
20 , K = 0.724 (2.8 dB), (b) Z0e = 132 , Z0o = 18.9 , K = 0.75 (2.5 dB) coupled port
insertion loss, through port insertion loss, and X insertion phase of direct and coupled ports.
Balanced amplifiers are highly effective power combiners, a single ended design will
need twice the transistor periphery to be able to deliver equivalent power levels to that
of a balanced design. The other issue is that the required impedance transformation
ratio needed in a single ended design will be twice that of a balanced structure as the
547
input/output impedances will be halved as the transistor periphery is doubled, which will
have an impact on the matching Q-factors, and consequently on the achievable frequency
bandwidth. In this context, in most designs a balanced design is preferred.
The 3 dB quadrature coupler structures are well established in RF and microwaves
and detailed design information is supplied in the literature. The most basic example is
a pair of quarterwave coupled lines, which are represented by their even and odd mode
impedances, and the electrical length is chosen to be 90 at the design frequency. A pair
of coupled lines is represented by two impedances Z0e and Z0o . Z0o is the characteristic
impedance of the two strips under odd mode excitation and Z0e is the characteristic
impedance of the lines under even mode excitation. The relationships between the even
and odd mode impedances of a parallel coupled line pair, for a given coupling value K,
are given as:
Z 02 =
Z 0e Z 0o
K =
Z 0e Z 0o
Z 0e + Z 0o
(11.20)
Figure 11.38 shows the frequency response of a quadrature coupler for two different
coupling values, K. As seen in the graphs, 90 phase difference between the two ports is
always maintained, whereas the structure is narrowband in terms of the magnitude of the
direct and coupled port signals. Figure 11.38a shows the performance when the coupling
value K is chosen as 2.8 dB and Figure 11.38b shows the performance when K is chosen
to be 2.5 dB at the band center. As K increases the achievable bandwidth appears to
increase but at the expense of greater imbalance between the direct and coupled ports.
Low values of Z0o represent very tight coupling between the two coupled lines, which
is not physically possible with edge coupling. At RF frequencies the availability of
multilayer PCB boards and via hole processing technologies enables miniature couplers
to be realized by using broadside coupled lines in stripline configurations. An alternative
is to use commercially available miniature coupler structures as separate components on
the PCB.
Generally, microwave hybrid PA designs require single-layer realizations which can
be provided by branch-line quadrature hybrids, rat-race hybrids, Wilkinson splitter
with a 90 phase lag in one arm, or Lange couplers. All the above structures can
be realized using standard PCB techniques except the interdigitated Lange coupler as
it requires very tight coupling between the lines and requires thin-film techniques to be
realized.
11.7.1
Branch-line quadrature hybrid [19]

For a fully matched case with standard 50 source and load impedances, the characteristic impedances of its transverse branches are 50 and the characteristic impedances
of its longitudinal main lines are 502 = 35.35 . Figure 11.39a shows a 3 dB branch-line
coupler for which power in P1 divides evenly between P2 and P3 with a phase differential
of 90 C. P4 is the isolated port and, unless a mismatch exists at P2 and P3, ideally no
power is delivered to this port. When identical load mismatches exist at the output ports
P1, in
Z0
P2, out
Z0
Z0/2
/4
Z0
/4
/4
Z0
/4
Z0
Z0
2.5
10
3.5
15
20
4.5
25
5
0.6
(b)
P3, out
Z0/2
0.7
0.8
0.9
1.1
1.2
1.3
Isolated port (dB)
(a)
Direct and coupled ports (dB)
548
30
1.4
Frequency (MHz)
Figure 11.39 (a) Microstrip branch-line quadrature hybrid, (b) performance S12 , S13 , S14 .
P2 and P3, then all reflected power from these two ports is dissipated in the load at the
isolated port and no power is reflected from the input port.
The frequency response of a single section branch-line hybrid coupler is shown in
Figure 11.39b, where all transmission lines are quarter-wavelength long at the band
center. As can be seen, the operational frequency bandwidth of the branch-line hybrid
is limited to 1015% due to the quarter-wave transmission lines.
When the output ports of the branch-line hybrid are different than 50 ohms, which is
usually the case with balanced PA designs, the structure can be reconfigured to do the
impedance transformation as well. In Figure 11.40, the output impedances of the hybrid
are kZ0 , where k is any positive real number and the input port is matched to Z0 , usually
50 . In this case new quarterwave line impedances forming the branch-line hybrid can
P1, in
Z0
549
P2, out
kZ0
Z2
/4
Z1
/4
/4
Z3
/4
Z0
P4
kZ0
P3, out
Z2
Figure 11.40 Impedance transforming branch-line coupler.
Conductor
Length (L)
Input Port
Conductor
Width (W)
Isolated Port
Conductor
Spacing (S)
Coupled Port
Direct Port
Figure 11.41 Lange coupler.
be calculated using an even and odd mode analysis [20].

Z1 = Z0
Z0
Z2 = k
2
Z3 = k Z0
11.7.2
(11.21)
Lange coupler
The Lange coupler is a four port, interdigitated structure developed by Dr. Julius Lange
in 1969 [21]. The couplers are widely used as power combiners and splitters in RF
amplifiers as well as in mixers and modulators. Lange couplers consist of very narrow
coupled lines of a quarter wavelength coupled in parallel to allow fringing on both sides
of the line to contribute to the coupling. Bond wires are used to connect nonadjacent
lines in parallel. The resultant coupler will have a large bandwidth of at least an octave.
Typically, the number of conductors or fingers (N) is even. The geometry for N = 4 is
shown in Figure 11.41.
The length of the fingers (L) is set by the desired center frequency (f0 ) of the filter.
The device is relatively broadband, with a flat frequency response around f0 . The finger
550
length is equal to the quarter wavelength (s ) of f0 in the substrate, i.e.

L = s 4
where
c
s =
f 0 eff
(11.22)
The effective dielectric constant is a function of the dielectric constant of the substrate
as well as its thickness (h), the conductor width (w), and conductor thickness (t). The
wavelength (s ) can also be computed as the average of the wavelengths of the odd and
even modes.
The initial analysis involves calculating the odd and even mode impedances and then
calculating the line width and spacing from:

C
1
Z 0o
2
(11.23)
Z 0e = R = (C + 1)(N 1) 1 + 1 + C 2 1 (N 1)
CdB
where N = number of coupled lines, C is the coupling coefficient given as C = 10 20 ,

and CdB is the coupling coefficient in dB.

Z 0 (N 1 + R) ((N 1)R + 1)
Z 0e Z 0o =
(11.24)
(1 + R)
where Z0 is the characteristic impedance of the coupler.
Lange couplers have been used from UHF to Q band, perhaps even higher. But as
the frequency goes up, the substrate height needs to decrease to prevent higher-order
transmission modes in microstrip. The thickness of the substrate needs to be limited to
10% of the wavelength. Thus, 0.015 alumina is good up to 25 GHz, 0.004 GaAs is
good up to 82 GHz, and 0.005 quartz is good up to 121 GHz. Reduced height means
reduced strip width, which is the ultimate limitation. At some point the strips get so
narrow that even if they do not fail the design rules, the conductor losses will start to
limit the performance.
Lange couplers on alumina are usually restricted to applications where the substrate is
at least 0.015 thick i.e., the coupler will not operate above 25 GHz. If 0.010 alumina was
used the strip widths would need to be less than 0.001 (25 m). In MMIC applications,
Lange couplers can be made on 0.004 thick substrates which will be good up to
80 GHz. If one attempted to make a Lange on 0.002 thick GaAs, then the strip widths
would need to be about five microns which would making it too lossy.
Figure 11.42 shows the measured performance of a 618 GHz Lange coupler realized
on 15 mil thick alumina substrate. In Figure 11.42a, the insertion loss between the
input port and direct/coupled ports are plotted in the lower traces scaled to the left axis,
isolation and return loss responses are plotted in the upper two traces scaled to the right
axis. In Figure 11.42b, solid lines shows the insertion loss imbalance between the direct
and coupled ports scaled to the left and the dashed line shows the phase imbalance scaled
to the right axis.
551
Frequency (GHz)
(b)
Phase diff btw direct and coupled ports (dB)
Imbalance btw direct and coupled ports (dB)
(a)
Direct and Coupled ports (dB)
Isolation and Return Loss (dB)
Frequency (GHz)
Figure 11.42 Performance of the 618 GHz Lange coupler realized on 0.015 thick alumina
substrate (r = 9.8). (a) coupled port and X direct port amplitude responses, isolation, and
return loss responses, (b) amplitude and phase imbalance between direct and coupled ports.
552
Input Balun
50 ohm
Zs, int
Input
Impedance
Matching
Output
Impedance
Matching
Zs, opt
Zload, opt
Output Balun
50 ohm
Figure 11.43 Pushpull power amplifier schematic.
11.8
Anti-phase power combining pushpull amplifiers

Fundamentally, a pushpull circuit uses a pair of separate transistors operating 180 out
of phase. If both signals in each half of the power amplifier are amplitude and phase
balanced, then an RF ground will exist at the midpoint. This approach leads to several
advantages over both single-ended and balanced designs:
1. Input and output impedances for each side are halved, also halving the required
impedance transformations.
2. Ideally, zero even-order harmonics at the output of the pushpull amplifier.
3. Twice the power output for the same impedance transformation ratio which means
achieving wider bandwidth compared to the equivalent single ended design.
4. Reduced Common Lead Inductance leading to higher gain.
The most significant disadvantages are the need for differential RF excitation and the
fact that excellent symmetry is required in both the matching circuit and the device
itself. A generic pushpull circuit configuration is shown in Figure 11.43.
Pushpull operation requires splitting the RF signal at the input, along with a reciprocal operation at the output to be able to combine the powers generated on each side.
Circuit elements that provide this function are referred to as baluns (balanced to unbalanced). The ideal balun would split the signal into two halves of equal amplitude, along
with providing a 180 differential phase shift across the frequency of operation. There
are various approaches to realize the baluns, such as conventional coil transformers,
transmission line transformers [22], and microstrip structures (Wilkinson divider; line
and ring hybrids). The method of implementation heavily depends on frequency. For
HF (up to 30 MHz) magnetically coupled coil transformers are suitable. Above these
frequencies, leakage inductance and parasitic capacitance degrades the performance
making them a poor choice. VHF and UHF circuits (30 MHz 1 GHz) most commonly
employ transmission line balun structures, built from coaxial cable or twisted pairs.
Microstrip structures such as Wilkinson dividers also offer very good performance, but
these are limited by their physical size (in the order of /2) and are therefore only
practical at higher frequencies. Substrates with high dielectric constants can mitigate
this problem to some extent.
After the balun the input and output matching networks are usually calculated by
conventional means treating each half of the transistor as if it were a single ended
553
Zout = N 2Zin / 2
Zout = N 2Zin
Zin
Zout = N 2Zin
Zin
Zin
Zout = N 2Zin / 2
nout / nin = N
Figure 11.44 Some coupled coil transformer circuits: (a) autotransformer, (b) conventional
transformer, (c) center tapped secondary.
device. The only important point to note is that the balanced (drain to drain) impedance
should be twice the unbalanced (drain to ground) impedance.
11.8.1
Coupled coil transformers

In a coupled coil transformer, the primary and secondary windings are coupled
through a suitable magnetic material. For an ideal transformer, the relationship between
impedances on the primary and secondary side is:

n in 2
(11.25)
Z in = Z out
n out
where nin and nout are the number of coupled coil turns at the primary and secondary
side, respectively.
This implies that any impedance transformations can be realized, depending on the
turns ratio. When the parasitics are negligible (i.e., up to 30 MHz) coupled coil transformers are often used where wideband resistance transformation is required. Various
winding topologies are possible, and are chosen depending on whether DC isolation
and/or balanced signals are required. Figure 11.44 shows the simplest coupled coil
configurations. The autotransformer in Figure 11.44a has a tapped continuous winding and provides a DC short between input and output. Figure 11.44b shows a more
conventional transformer with DC isolation between primary and secondary windings.
Other arrangements can allow for balanced-unbalanced operation. The center tapped
secondary transformer in Figure 11.44c is a balanced signal splitter which also provides
an N 2 /2 impedance transformation. Higher permeability ferrites are usually preferred
for improved coupling, but it should be kept in mind that high permeability cores will
saturate more easily than those with lower permeabilities. Permeability can also vary as
a function of current level, frequency, and temperature.
Two-hole balun cores and toroids are the most commonly used ferrite structures. The
choice of wire also affects performance. Thicker wire will increase the coupling, but it
will also increase the parasitic winding capacitance. In practice, all transformers suffer
from parasitic effects that cause their behavior to deviate from the ideal. The schematic
554
CW
RWP
LLEAK_P
LLEAK_S
ZIN
RWS
ZOUT
CP
LMAG
CS
RCORE
Figure 11.45 Practical transformer equivalent circuit.
l
V
50 ohm
25 ohm (0)
2V
V
25 ohm (180)
l
Figure 11.46 Guanella transmission line balun.
in Figure 11.45 shows the equivalent circuit of a transformer. The ideal transformer is
represented inside the dashed lines. Series resistances RWP and RWS are the resistances of
the primary and secondary windings. Although these are negligible at DC, the skin effect
will increase the resistance in proportion to the frequency as the frequency increases.
RCORE models the loss of energy in the ferrite material due to eddy currents and hysteresis
effects. Leakage inductances represented by LLEAK_P and LLEAK_S model the magnetic
flux generated outside the ferrite core. LMAG limits the low-frequency response of the
transformer and it has its physical origins in the finite magnetizing inductance in the
coils. As the permeability of the ferrite increases, LMAG also increases such that it can
be ignored. So for low-frequency applications higher permeability will be preferred.
At higher frequencies, the capacitive effect between windings and between the turns of
each winding will be the dominant factor limiting the performance.
11.8.2
Transmission line transformers

Figure 11.46 shows the basic building block of a transmission line transformers
the 1:1 unbalanced to balanced transformer first introduced by Guanella in 1944 [23].
Note that this provides no impedance transformation, but each side of the balanced
load has an impedance level which is half of that seen at the input. This is effectively an RF transmission line equivalent of the center-tapped transformer used at lower
frequencies.
The choice of transmission line largely depends on the characteristic impedance as
dictated by the choice of balun or transformer. Coaxial cables of fixed values are freely
555
L = /4
ZIN
Z0 = (ZIN*ZOUT)
ZOUT/2
ZOUT/2
Figure 11.47 Coaxial quarterwave tranmission line transformer.
2l
Ri
l
V
V
Ro
l
Figure 11.48 Ruthroff 1:4 unbalancedunbalanced transformer.
available, and these can be combined to make transmission lines of varying impedances.
As with most UHF/VHF transmission line transformers, Teflon insulated coaxial cable is
preferred. The power handling capability is generally limited by the maximum allowable
temperature, which is itself a function of dielectric material and cable diameter.
The simplest type of transmission line transformer is the /4 line. Since the impedance
match is dependent on the presence of a quarter wavelength standing wave, these transformers are inherently narrowband. They also require a transmission line of characteristic impedance which is the geometric mean of the input and output impedances to be
matched i.e.:

(11.26)
Z 0 = Z IN Z OUT
This can limit the practicality of this technique since many types of transmission line
are only available in a limited range of impedances. However, cables can be combined
to achieve intermediate Z0 values. As well as the impedance matching function, the /4
line can be used as a balun in the same way as above by grounding one conductor on
the unbalanced side and connecting each conductor to one half of a balanced load on
the other side. Figure 11.47 shows an implementation of this using coaxial cable.
As well as the narrowband /4 transformer, a single transmission line can be used
as an unbalanced to unbalanced (unun) transformer. This is capable of providing wideband 1:4 impedance transformation ratios by connecting it in the so called bootstrap
configuration as shown in Figure 11.48. Here, the two conductors which constitute the
transmission line are used as the primary and secondary windings in a similar way to
the conventional autotransformer. If a voltage V is present across the input, the same
voltage will be impressed across the lower conductor of the transmission line. The
556
RIN
ROUT
Zo = 2*RIN
RIN
ROUT
Figure 11.49 1:4 Unun coaxial and toroidal implementations.
3I
RL/9
RL
3V
Figure 11.50 1:9 Ruthroff unbalancedunbalanced transformer.
voltage across Ro is therefore the sum of these voltages i.e., 2 V. If the current I is to
flow through the load, it must also flow through the upper conductor. But again, since
both conductors have the same voltage across them, the currents through each must be
identical. Therefore, since Ro = 2 V/I and Ri = V/2I, then Ri = Ro /4.
Calculations show that maximum power transfer occurs for this transformer with the
optimum transmission line impedance of Z0 = 2Ri . For best performance the transmission line should be kept as short as possible. Figure 11.49 shows two practical
implementations of the 1:4 balun using coaxial cable and wire-wrapped toroid configurations. Obviously, these devices are bilateral and simply reversing the ports will provide
4:1 step-down transformations.
This technique can be extended to other transformation ratios by adding extra transmission lines. Figure 11.50 shows a 1:9 transmission line schematic alongside an implementation using coaxial cable. 1:16 transformations can be realized by adding a third
conductor pair and connecting them in the same way as the second. One of the prime
factors limiting high-frequency performance is the phase error caused by the arbitrary
length of the transformers interconnections. If these connections were made using a
transmission line of the same length, velocity factor, and impedance as the transformer
line itself, then the phase error would be eliminated. An additional advantage is that
the physical shape of the transformer is also no longer restricted by the need to bring
connecting points close together. Devices of this type are referred to as equal delay
transformers. Figure 11.51 shows how the principle is applied to the 1:4 Ruthroff [24]
unbalanced-unbalanced transformer seen before in Figure 11.48.
In pushpull circuits, impedance transformations between a balanced source and
a balanced load are also often required. By combining a number of basic building
557
Interconnecting Line
ROUT/4
ROUT
Ferrite
Figure 11.51 1:4 Equal delay Ruthroff unbalancedunbalanced transformer.
Parallel (Low Z )
Series (High Z )
V
Parallel (Low Z )
Series (High Z )
l
3l
2l
2V
3V
2l
l
l
1:4 Transformer
3l
1:9 Transformer
Figure 11.52 1:4 Balancedbalanced transformer (left) and 1:9 balancedbalanced transformer
(right).
blocks in a range of parallel/series combinations, balanced to balanced impedance ratios

of 1:n can be achieved. The diagrams in Figure 11.52 show 1:4 and 1:9 Guanella
transmission line transformers based on this principle. Like the quarter-wavelength
transformer, the optimum transmission line impedance is the geometric mean of input
and output; however, small deviations from this can be permitted if some bandwidth
degradation is acceptable. These transformers are often constructed of coaxial cable,
and it is good practice to form the cable into a suitable shape to keep the interconnects
as short as possible. The limitation of squared integer impedance ratios can be avoided
to some extent by combining the conductors in more complex arrangements, but the
benefits of doing this must be weighed against the practicality of the design and the
possible loss of bandwidth.
11.8.3
RF/microwave pushpull amplifier

Most high-power microwave LDMOS, GaAs FET, or GaN pHEMT devices consist
of two independent sides without any internal transversal connection between the two
sides. Though often called pushpull devices, the two sides can be combined in a
variety of configurations created by external components such as 180 splitters/combiner
558
zsource
25 ohm
50 ohm
25 ohm
zload
zseries
zseries
2Zp
2Zp
zseries
zseries
25 ohm
25ohm
50 ohm
Figure 11.53 Conceptual block diagram of microwave pushpull amplifier.
/4 @ band center
50 ohm coaxial line
Input (unbalanced)
50 ohm
Output (balanced)
50 ohm
Z>>50 ohm
Input (unbalanced)
50 ohm
Figure 11.54 Coaxial balun structure.
(baluns), 3 dB quadrature couplers (like branch line or Lange couplers), and in-phase
couplers (like Wilkinson couplers). Pushpull configurations are extensively used for
high-power GaAs FETs for relatively narrow band commercial applications from UHF
to S band. Figure 11.53 shows the conceptual block diagram of a microwave pushpull
amplifier.
Figure 11.54 shows a balun structure used at RF and microwave for pushpull amplifiers. One of the key requirements is to keep the balun structure sufficiently away from
the ground such that the impedance from either end of the balanced outputs to ground is
as high as possible. This structure was originally developed to feed antenna structures
where balanced dipole ends need to be fed from an unbalanced source. The advantages
of a pushpull amplifier can be summarized as follows:
r four times higher device impedance (Zin gategate and Zout draindrain) in comparison
to single-ended device impedances with the same output power, which makes it easier
to match and also obtain broader bandwidths;
r a virtual ground exists across the symmetry plane which can be used for more compact
and simpler matching structures;
r cancellation of even products and harmonics, such as f2 f1 , 2f1 , 2f2 , f1 + f2 , etc.
559
The disadvantages of a pushpull amplifier are:

r poor input and output external match due to the fact that the baluns used for pushpull
amplifiers do not eliminate the input and output power reflected by the device, unlike
in balanced configurations;
r with conventional baluns, isolation between the two sides of the part is theoretically
only 6 dB; this poor interdevice isolation can cause instability and loop oscillation
problems;
r manually made coaxial baluns are simple to make for laboratory use, but in production
they require considerable labor that makes mass production expensive, and repeatability of the performance is not trivial. Surface mount baluns are available but add
cost and tend to occupy more real estate than equivalent quadrature couplers.
Another option for a microwave PA designer is the microstrip rat-race coupler shown
in Figure 11.55. This is a planar structure and does not suffer from the same production,
precision, and performance repeatability problems as the coaxial balun counterpart.
However, it should be noted that rat-race ports are all at the Z0 (50 ) level, making the
balanced impedance 2Z0 ; in this respect the rat race is not a true balun. Thus, the rat-race
coupler does not provide the impedance transformation properties of a true coaxial balun
and it has a narrower bandwidth, but the bandwidth is still large enough to satisfy the
needs of various wireless power amplifiers.
11.9
Doherty combining
An ideal Class-B amplifier schematic is given in Figure 11.56. The devices Vgs is
biased to its pinch-off value and the RF voltage magnitude is large enough to drive the
gatesource junction such that the device delivers maximum drain current at the output
terminals. There is a high-Q resonator tuned to f0 so the impedance presented to the
drain terminals of the device is perfectly real at f0 and 0 at all harmonics. The load
resistor is chosen carefully to maximize the power output from the device. The high-Q
resonator allows all harmonic currents to flow through the device drain-source terminals,
but allows only the fundamental voltage to exist across the device which results in a
sinusoidal voltage and a half sinusoid current waveform.
The peak current is Imax so the amplitude of the fundamental frequency component of
the drain current is Imax /2. The voltage waveform swings from 0 to 2Vdc , so the optimum
load impedance presented to the device terminals is:
2Vdc
Imax
(11.27)
Vdc Imax
4
(11.28)
Ropt =
The RF output power is given by:
PRF =
560
Isolated
port
Output
Port 1
l /4
l /4
Input
port
l /4
Output
Port 2
3l /4
(a)
(b)
Figure 11.55 (a) Rat-race coupler, (b) performance of rat-race coupler.
and because the DC value of the half sinusoid current waveform is Imax / , the DC
supply power is given by:
PDC =
VDC Imax
(11.29)
which gives a drain efficiency of:

=
or 78.5%.
PRF
=
PDC
4
11.30
561
Let us now consider what happens when the input power level is backed off.
Figure 11.56 shows the resulting waveforms when the input RF voltage swing is halved
(power input is 6 dB backed off ). In this case the output current and output voltage
swing magnitude scales down by the same amount. So in the general case, assuming
that the gate-source input voltage swing is reduced by a factor p, then the fundamental
component of the output current will be:
I1 =
Imax
2p
(11.31)
and the output voltage swing will be given by:

V1 =
Imax
Imax 2VDC
VDC
=
Ropt =
2p
2 p Imax
p
(11.32)
Hence, the RF output power, DC supply power, and the resulting efficiency will be:
VDC Imax
4 p2
VDC Imax
PDC =
p
1
=
4 p
PRF =
11.33
For example, a 6 dB reduction in RF input power level corresponds to p = 2 and the

efficiency drops from /4 to /8 (from 78.5% to 39.3%). This is where the debate
starts between the RF power amplifier designers and the telecommunications society.
As the available frequency spectrum gets narrower there is a requirement to be able to
accommodate higher data rates in smaller frequency bandwidths. In recent years new
spectrum-efficient modulation techniques have been invented with the widespread use
of available wireless technologies. Nowadays the information is not only stored in the
phase but also in the envelope of the RF carrier signals. QPSK, QAM, and OFDM
modulation schemes are a few of the modulation techniques developed so far. The
two main requirements from the power amplifiers are efficiency and linearity. Linearity
means small EVM in the modulation domain and low adjacent power levels. In a simple
Class-B amplifier the only solution to sustain linearity under these complex modulation
schemes is to back-off the signal, where the required back-off level depends on the
amount of PAR level. This will have a negative impact on the average efficiency of
a Class-B power amplifier as the efficiency degrades by the square root of the power
back-off level. In order to get a better understanding of the requirements of a power
amplifier which needs to be designed for a WIMAX (802.16e) basestation, lets have a
look at a couple of basic parameters: Pout, avg = 2W, EVM<2% and ACPR</45 dBc (a
typical requirement from the basic PA block). In 802.16, the modulation is OFDM with
200 subcarriers and each subcarrier is 64QAM modulated. Looking at the literature, to
meet the linearity, the PA needs to be backed off by about 12 dB (p = 4). So the saturated
output power (generally achieved around 2 to 3 dB saturation) will be 32 W and the
average efficiency will drop from 78.5% to 19.2%. A basic idea at this point will be to
dynamically change the load impedance as the envelope power changes such that the
Gate Voltage
Vds
2
Id
+ DC Block
Vds
1
+
Vin
Vo
Hi-Q Resonator
@ fo
RL
6 dB backed-off
+
Vout
Vp
3
ZL=RL+j0 @ fo
ZL=0
@ (2fo, 3fo,...)
Vgs
0.5
Drain Current
1
Time (ns)
1.5
Drain Voltage
Imax
6 dB backed-off
1
Vds
Imax/2
0.5
1
Time (ns)
Figure 11.56 Ideal class-B PA and its waveforms.
1.5
1
2
0.5
1
Time (ns)
1.5
563
full rail-to-rail voltage swing at the output is maintained, and the maximum efficiency
can still be preserved. This is the principle of the Doherty amplifier [25]. If the load
impedance could be scaled to pRopt , then:
R p = Ropt p =
2VDC
p
Imax
VDC Imax
4p
VDC Imax
PDC =
p
=
4
PRF =
(11.34)
The efficiency can be seen to remain constant at 78.5%. In fact, the solution is not that
simple because even if such a challenge can be solved, the amplifier will be nonlinear. As
seen from the above equations, when the input power level is scaled down by p2 the output
power drops by only p. Leaving the linearity aside for a moment, the main problem is
how to be able to dynamically adjust the load resistance to follow the amplitude changes
in the envelope modulation of an RF signal. We require the load impedance to increase
as the input signal to the amplifier decreases to maintain constant efficiency.
The key issue we are dealing with when a signal has a varying envelope with time is
that the full power capability of the PA is only needed at the envelope peaks, and when
the envelope dips to a lower amplitude the PA capabilities are wasted to a greater extent.
Another possibility not to waste the PA capability is to alter the DC supply voltage
linked to the envelope variations. This falls into a bias adaptation category, which can
be used for both efficiency restoration and linearity. Yet another possibility would be
to modify the effective gate periphery of the device, but it is not a viable choice for
a single packaged device as normally all the internal cells are wired together and this
technique can only be considered if a distributed PA topology is used and cell combining
is designed in a way to allow this technique to be applied.
In 1936 Doherty devised a method of dynamically adjusting the load impedance
using two separate amplifiers, one called the main amplifier and the other called the
auxiliary amplifier. The original Doherty amplifier was concerned with very high-power
tube amplifiers generating tens of kilowatts for high-frequency broadcast stations. The
Doherty amplifier in its basic form looks like an active load-pull technique. The main
principle is that the effective impedance of a load can be modified by applying some
current from an external phase-coherent source. To get more insight into the concept we
better look at the load-pull concept first.
In Figure 11.57, current source 1 sees a load resistance of R if current source 2 is
set to give zero current. But if current source 2 starts delivering a current I2 , then the
voltage developed across R will be:
V = R(I1 + I2 )
(11.35)
564
l1
l2
+
Current
source 1
Current
source 2
Figure 11.57 Active loadpull schematic.
So the effective impedances seen at the terminals of current source 1 and current source
2 will be:

V
I 1 + I2
V
I 1 + I2
and R2 =
(11.36)
R1 =
=R
=R
I1
I1
I2
I2
For example, R1 can be made larger than R if current source 2 delivers phase coherent
current, and can be made smaller if current source 2 delivers antiphase current. As a
result, if the two current sources are assumed to be two separate transistors, with phase
coherent input drives, then the effective impedance presented to one of the devices can
be modified by the amount of current delivered from the other device. Figure 11.58
shows the RF implementation of Figure 11.57. The two current generators represent the
transistors; the left one being termed the main amplifier and the right one the auxiliary
or peaking amplifier. The main amplifier is operational over the entire range of voltages
applied to its gate terminal whereas the auxiliary amplifier only turns on above a certain
threshold of applied RF input voltage, which in Figure 11.58 is assumed to be at half
the maximum voltage applied to the main amplifier i.e., at 6 dB back-off, although other
values can be chosen. Also, it is assumed in the following that identical transistors are
used for both the main and auxiliary amplifiers, although this is not always the case.
From equation (11.36) it can be seen that the load impedance seen by the main amplifier
would increase as the auxiliary amplifier turns on whereas we require it to decrease so
an impedance inverter is inserted between the load and the main amplifier as shown in
Figure 11.58.
It can be shown [25] that the RF drain voltage is constant in region 2 in the main
amplifier at the frequency at which the transmission line is /4, and so the main amplifier
maintains constant efficiency of 78.5% over the entire 6 dB back-off range from full
power. While the main amplifier maintains constant efficiency, the auxiliary amplifier
only operates at maximum efficiency at full output power and below that its efficiency
follows that of a normal class B amplifier, assuming a class B amplifier is used for the
ZmT
Zm
565
Zx
ZT, 90deg@fo
Vo = Vx
Vm
Ropt /2
laux = lx
lmain = lm
Fundamental
frequency
current
lmax/2
lm
lmax/4
lx
Vmax/2
Region 1
Vmax
Region 2
Figure 11.58 Basic representation of a Doherty combiner.
auxiliary amplifier which is not always the case. It can be shown [25] that the overall
Doherty amplifier efficiency is given by

vin 2
Vmax

=
vin
2
1
3
Vmax
(11.37)
in
As seen in equation (11.37), efficiency peaks are located at Vvmax
= 1/2 and 1, corresponding to the-6 dB point and full power point, respectively. The efficiency makes a dip
Main and Auxiliary PA voltages (left) and currents (right)

0.35
14
13
0.5
Main PA
voltage
11
0.25
10
Aux PA
voltage
0.2
8
7
0.15
6
5
Main PA
current
0.1
3
Aux PA
current
0.05
Current across device terminals (A)
12
Voltage across device terminals (V)
566
1
0
0
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.5
0.6
0.7
0.8
0.9
0
1.0
vin/Vmax
Figure 11.59 Main and auxiliary devices voltages and currents.
between these two points and the minimum can be found by equating the first derivative
of the equation (11.37) to zero, i.e.

2
vin

=0
(11.38)
=
which gives
vin
Vmax
3
Vmax
Substituting equation (11.38) into equation (11.37 gives a minimum efficiency of 69.8%
in region 2 as shown in Figure 11.60.
As noted earlier, the output power from the main amplifier changes linearly with
input RF voltage rather than with input power and hence is nonlinear. However, not only
does the auxiliary amplifier maintain constant efficiency from the main amplifier, it also
overcomes this nonlinearity issue. It can be shown that the total RF output power from a
Doherty amplifier has a linear dependence on the RF input power when the contribution
from the auxiliary amplifier is taken into account a remarkable result.
Figure 11.59 shows the main and auxiliary amplifier voltages and currents for an
ideal device with Imax = 500 mA and operating from 12 V DC supply voltage. Ropt
is calculated to be 48 . The fundamental frequency component currents through the
devices are drawn in dashed lines and scaled to the right y-axis. The terminal voltages
are shown in solid lines and scaled to the left y-axis. The main amplifier terminal voltage
reaches Vds when vin /Vmax = 0.5, which corresponds to -6 dB, and stays there for higher
values of vin /Vmax . But since the main amplifier current continues increasing, the main
side continues to contribute to the total output power.
567
11.10 Conclusions
3.5
84.0%
efficiency
72.0%
2.5
60.0%
48.0%
Total power
Main PA power
1.5
36.0%
efficiency
Pout (W)
24.0%
0.5
12.0%
Aux PA power
0
0.0
0.1
(10 dB)
0.2
0.3
6 dB
0.4
0.5
0.6
0.7
0.8
0.9
0.0%
1.0
(Vin/Vmax)^2
Figure 11.60 Power output and efficiency of the Doherty amplifier.
Figure 11.60 shows the RF power contributions from both the main and auxiliary
amplifiers as a function of (vin /Vmax )2 , i.e., power input to the devices. The main,
auxiliary, and total RF output powers are plotted in solid lines with square, triangle and
diamond markers, respectively, and all scaled to the left y-axis. Efficiency is plotted in
dashed lines and scaled to the right y-axis. The minimum value of the efficiency, between
0 dB and -6 dB points, is 69.8% and occurs at vin /Vmax = 2/3.
11.10
Conclusions
Power amplifiers are usually the last active component in the RF chain and their performance has a significant impact on the overall system in terms of performance and cost. In
particular the output power capability, the efficiency and the linearity are contradicting
amplifier requirements. These are the primary parameters, which need to be traded off.
In addition application specific design parameters, such as the PAR of the signals, the
average efficiency, the dynamic range and/or the operational bandwidths need to be considered when deciding for the optimum amplifier architecture for a specific application.
Starting from the system requirements for a typical 3G basestation an optimized power
amplifier design with digital baseband predistortion has been discussed and measured
result presented. Utilizing a baseband predistortion scheme, which compensates for
memory effects, the overall amplifier performance can be enhanced by up to a factor of
two compared to the non predistorted case. Further several designs of power amplifiers
568
for phased array radar, jammer and other military applications are discussed. In particular the system aspects and their impact on the amplifier design are highlighted. In many
cases the required output power for a given system cannot be obtained from a single
transistor, therefore dedicated combining techniques have to be utilized. The advantages,
the major draw backs and comprehensive design details are discussed for the in-phase,
the balanced and the pushpull amplifier configurations. Finally the design guidelines
for the more sophisticated Doherty combining technique, which significantly enhances
the efficiency dynamic range of class B power amplifiers, is derived and presented.
Acknowledgments
A significant number of professionals have been contributing to this chapter. In particular
we would like to mention Dirk Wiegner and Thomas Bohn from Alcatel Lucent for their
contribution. In addition some of the material in this chapter was adopted from the EU
funded Network of Excellence TARGET (Top Amplifier Research Groups in a European
Team). We would like to thank the TARGET team, in particular Gottfried Magerl and
Martin ODroma for their support. Finally we also would like to thank Aselsan A.S.
(www.aselsan.com.tr) for providing the application pictures.
References
1. F. H. Raab, Average efficiency of power amplifiers, Proceedings of the RF Technology Expo
1986, Anaheim, CA, Jan. 1986, pp. 474486.
2. F. H. Raab, P. Asbeck, S. Cripps, P. B. Kenington, Z. B. Popovic, N. Pothecary, J. F. Sevic,
and N. O. Sokal, RF and microwave power amplifier and transmitter technologies part 1,
High Frequency Electron, pp. 2236, May 2003.
3. P. Reynaert and M. Steyaert, RF Power Amplifiers for Mobile Communications, Springer
2006, pp. 2526.
4. J. Armstrong, Peak-to-average power reduction for OFDM by repeated clipping and frequency domain filtering, IEE El. Lett., vol. 38, no. 5, pp. 246247, Feb. 2002.
5. A. Saul, Comparison between recursive clipping and active constellation extension for peak
reduction in OFDM systems, Proceedings of the International Symposium on Wireless
Personal Multimedia Communications, Yokusuka, Japan, Oct. 2003.
6. K. Sathananthan and C. Tellambura, Coding to reduce both PAR and PICR of an OFDM
signal, Commun. Lett., IEEE vol. 6, issue 8, Aug. 2002.
7. K. G. Paterson, Generalized ReedMuller codes and power control in OFDM modulation,
IEEE Trans. Inf. Theory, vol. 6, no. 1, pp. 104120, Jan. 2000.
8. J. A. Davis, J. Jedwab, Peak-to-mean power control in OFDM, Golay complementary
sequences, and Reed-Muller codes, IEEE Trans. Inf. Theory, vol. 45, no. 7, pp. 23972417,
Nov. 1999.
9. Byoung-Jo, C. and Hanzo, L., Crest factors of complementary-sequence-based multicode
MCCDMA signals, IEEE Trans. Wireless Commun., vol. 2, no. 6, pp. 11141119, 2003.
10. W. H. Doherty, A new high efficiency power amplifer for modulated waves, Proc. IRE
vol. 24, pp. 11631182, Sept. 1936.
References
569
11. L. R. Kahn, Single sideband transmission by envelope elimination and restoration, Proc.
IRE, vol. 40, 803806, July 1952.
12. H. Chireix, High power outphasing modulation, Proc. IRE, vol. 23, no. 11, pp. 13701392,
1935.
13. F. H. Raab, P. Asbeck, S. Cripps, P. B. Kenington, Z. B. Popovic, N. Pothecary, J. F. Sevic,
N. O. Sokal, RF and microwave power amplifier and transmitter technologies part 4, High
Frequency Electron., pp. 3849, Nov. 2003.
14. 3GPP TS 25.104 V8.4.0 (200809) specification [Online]. Available at http://www.3gpp.org
15. 3GPP TS 25.141 V8.6.0 (200903 specification [Online]. Available at http://www.3gpp.org
16. S. C. Cripps, Advanced Techniques in RF Power Amplifier Design, Artech House, 2002.
17. D. Wiegner, G. Luz, P. Juschke, R. Machinal, T. Merk, U. Seyfried, W. Templ, A. Pascht,
R. Quay, and F. Van Raay, AlGaN/GaN-based power amplifiers for mobile radio applications:
a review from the system suppliers perspective, Int. J. Microw. Wireless Technol., vol. 2,
no. 1, pp. 95104, 2010.
18. U.H. Gysel, A new N-way power divider/combiner suitable for high Power applications,
IEEE MTT-S Int. Symp. Dig., 1975, pp. 116118.
19. R. Levy and L. Lind, Synthesis of symmetrical branch-guide directional couplers, IEEE
Trans. Microw. Theory Tech., vol. MTT-16, pp. 8089, Feb. 1968.
20. R. K. Gupta, S. E. Anderson, and W. J. Getsinger, Impedance-transforming 3 dB 90
Hybrids, IEEE Trans. Microw. Theory Tech., vol. MTT-35, pp. 13031307, Dec. 1987.
21. J. Lange, Interdigitated stripline quadrature hybrid, IEEE Trans. Microw. Theory Tech.,
vol. 17, pp. 11501151, 1969.
22. J. Sevick, Transmission line transformers, Newington, CT, USA, American Radio Relay
League, 1987.
23. G., Guanella, Novel matching systems for high frequencies, BrownBoveri Rev., vol. 31,
Sept. 1944, pp. 327329.
24. C. L. Ruthroff, Some broad-band transformers, Proc. IRE, vol. 47, Aug. 1959, pp. 1337
1342.
25. S. C., Cripps, RF Power Amplifiers for Wireless Communications, Artech House, Norwood,
MA, 2006, pp. 290298.
12
Michael Hiebel
Rohde and Schwarz GmbH & Co. KG.
12.1
Introduction
The measurement results obtained in this chapter are the major factors that justify the
price of an RF amplifier. The first test results of a new prototype are used for optimization
purposes. Once the product is released, production-line testing with a manageable test
depth takes place. Important properties are tested on each sample during final productionline testing.
Inaccurate testing can lead to additional cost-intensive design cycles or negatively
affect the relationship between the manufacturer and customer. It may even lead to legal
consequences. Accurate RF testing is a complex topic, and this chapter can only provide
an overview. The information provided in this chapter was prepared with utmost care
but it cannot be assumed to be complete or free of errors. This chapter is meant to
be academic in nature; it cannot replace engineering or other professional services. The
power levels covered in this book make it necessary to consider national and international
safety regulations, e.g., for nonionizing radiation. The reader is advised to consult the
applicable versions of the regulations.
12.2
Power measurements
Due to their modest price, power sensors are the first choice for built-in monitoring
systems or for realizing automatic gain control (AGC). Because of their simple design,
power sensors can be built to be more stable than instruments such as spectrum analyzers, which involve approximately 25 to 150 analog components in their RF path. On the
other hand, power sensors are subject to some restrictions due to their wideband implementation, their absence of phase information, and their comparatively slow response
time.
12.2.1
Typical power sensor principles

A power sensors main task is to convert the applied RF power to a measurable DC
signal. Three principles can be distinguished:
Diode sensors
One or two semiconductor diodes can be combined to form a circuit that works like a rectifier.
Zero-bias Schottky barrier diodes with low threshold voltage are customarily used to build these
V1
RF Input
P
R5
R4
R3
V2
R1
571
R6
Vout
R2
C1 C2
Termination
(50 )
C3
Rectifier Charging Decoupling

capacitors
Figure 12.1 Simplified circuit diagram of a diode sensor [1].
diode sensors (see Figure 12.1). They exhibit high sensitivity down to 10 10 W but cannot be
used at very low frequencies. The frequency range is always limited by the charging capacitors
which, in conjunction with the DC resistance of the diodes, form a highpass filter for the trapped
RF voltage.
Thermal sensors
Thermo-measurement cells are typically placed on a thin silicon substrate (see Figure 12.2). They
use a thin layer of tantalum nitride or chromium nickel to convert the RF power into heat. The
heat, in turn, is transformed into a very low DC voltage of just a few microvolts. The sensitivity
of these thermal sensors is limited to about 106 W.
Thermistor sensors
The bolometer principle is based on thermistors and barretters like the thermistor power meter
shown in Figure 12.3. Two thermistors with a high negative temperature coefficient combine the
functions of termination and temperature sensor. They simultaneously absorb the RF power to be
measured and a DC power. In a bridge circuit, the DC resistance is measured and kept constant by
varying the DC power. Any increase of the RF power is thus always compensated by an equivalent
reduction of the DC power and vice versa. The DC power can easily be measured.
Each principle exhibits typical advantages and disadvantages, which are summarized in
Table 12.1. Diode sensors are often equipped with an internal attenuator pad to improve
their matching and to fill the gap between pure diode sensors and thermal sensors.
Power sensors can be used to verify modulated signals (see Figure 12.4):
1. Diode sensors can be optimized for a short response time to detect the envelope power
Pe (t) of a modulated signal. The sensor averages the power over only a few periods
of the carrier. It is therefore possible to detect changes in the envelope power.
2. Fast diode sensors can be combined with a peak hold circuit. The maximum envelope
power is then detected. It is referred to as the peak envelop power (PEP) of, for
example, a TV sync pulse or a TDMA radio signal.
3. Thermal power sensors have a slow response time but they feature a direct relationship
between RF power and output voltage. Therefore they indicate the average power Pavg
of both CW and modulated signals.
572
Output
1 mm
11
10
2
7
6
Input
3
1
9
Figure 12.2 Sectional view of measurement cell with silicon substrate (1), membrane (2), RF feed
layer (3), termination (4), thermocouple (5), metal contact (6), highly doped silicon (7), cold
junction (8), insulating layer (9), metallized ground (10), bump (11) [1].
Coaxial
RF connector
Vdif
IRF
IDC
Vref
Figure 12.3 Principle of a thermistor power meter [1].
Diode sensors operate over a wide input power range. Within this range, two different
regions can be identified:
1. The square-law region is reserved for very low power levels. The current-voltage
characteristic of the diodes exhibits a dominant square term which causes rms
573
Table 12.1 Comparison of typical power sensors
Frequency range
sensors are
offered
Typical frequency
range examples
Sensitivity
Dynamic range
Precision
Response time
Input match
Peak envelope
power
measurement
P
PEP
Diode sensor
Diode sensor
including an
attenuator
100 kHz
to 220 GHz
100 kHz
to 8 GHz
10 MHz
to 18 GHz
20 dBm
to 70 dBm
50 dB
1 ms
6 dB to 10 dB
can be used
Thermal
sensor
Bolometer/
thermistor
100 kHz
to 67 GHz
DC to 67 GHz
DC to 2 THz
100 kHz
to 8 GHz
10 MHz
to 18 GHz
+50 dBm
to 40 dBm
40 dB
+
1 ms
>30 dB
can be used
DC to 40 GHz
DC to 18 GHz
75 GHz
to 2 THz
+20 dBm
to 30 dBm
40 dB
++
0.1 s to 1 s
>25 dB
cannot be used
+20 dBm
to 30 dBm
20 dB
+++
1 s to 100 s
>25 dB
cannot be used
Pe(t)
Pp
Pavg
0
tp
t
T
Figure 12.4 Typical properties of a (pulse) modulated signal [1].
rectification. The DC voltage of the detector circuit is approximately proportional

to the input power. CW and modulated signals are converted according to their
power. The voltage obtained is about 1010 V to 105 V.
2. With increased power levels, the square-law region will be exceeded. Highly stable,
noise-free measurements are possible due to output voltages of approximately 10 mV
to a few volts. Compared to the square-law region, the sensor becomes very fast but
measures the RF voltage instead of the RF power. It behaves like a diode rectifier,
weighting the peak of the RF voltage, which is approximately proportional to the
peak envelope power of the RF. Nevertheless, todays sensors can be calibrated so
that their output voltage is interpreted as an (average) power level, but this is based
on the assumption that the signal to be measured is a pure unmodulated CW signal.
574
Table 12.2 Power sensor side effects and compensation techniques

Effect
Compensation technique
Drift of zero value

Thermal drift of temperature-dependent
parameters
Aging of sensitivity
Calibration factor K( f )
Power linearity at 23 C
Noise
Mismatch effect
Connector repeatability
Zeroing
Built-in temperature sensor and sensor-specific
data of temperature effects
Reference oscillator of the power meter
Sensor-specific data supplied with sensor
Sensor-specific data supplied with sensor
Averaging, video filter
** Compensation usually not done! **
** Compensation not possible! **
Power sensors are of a broadband design. They therefore exhibit a limited dynamic range
of typically 30 dB to about 50 dB depending on the type of sensor. However, a high
dynamic range up to 90 dB can be achieved by implementing the following techniques:
1. Average several measurement values by using digital signal processing (DSP).
2. Introduce a video filter at the DC part of the sensor, which is actually implemented
by a DSP.
3. Use a chopper amplifier within the DC part to overcome the zero drift of the signal
chain.
4. Combine several detectors with different sensitivities in a single power sensor. A
large dynamic range for modulated signals is obtained by operating each detector
exclusively in its square-law region, and by using only the optimally driven detector
for the measurement.
12.2.2
Typical sources of measurement uncertainties

Power sensors are accompanied by various side effects (Table 12.2). To increase measurement accuracy, techniques for compensating for these effects are available.
Zeroing and compensation using a reference oscillator can be performed by the operator on site. All of the other compensation techniques require sensor-specific data (e.g.,
stored in an EEPROM) that have to be measured in a traceable, commonly accepted
manner by the sensor manufacturer or at an accredited calibration service. The compensation techniques listed in Table 12.2 leave some residual uncertainties, e.g., due to
the uncertainty of the sensor-specific data. Unfortunately, the mismatch effect usually is
not compensated for even though it is the dominant effect in the residual measurement
uncertainty. Therefore, it deserves a closer look.
The port that the power sensor is connected to and all RF circuitry in front of the
power sensors reference plane can be considered to be an equivalent generator. The
measurement task is to quantify the nominal source PZ0 . It is the power that the equivalent
generator would deliver if terminated by the reference impedance Z0 (e.g., 50 or
75 ). Ideally, the power sensor would exhibit this impedance.
575
Pd
Pi
Pr
G
Equivalent
generator
L
L
Power
sensor
Figure 12.5 Power flow between equivalent generator and power sensor.
However, the actual situation is more complicated, as shown in Figure 12.5. The
power sensors impedance ZL is not exactly equivalent to the reference impedance Z0 .
Therefore, it exhibits a reflection coefficient L = 0, where
L =
Z L Z0
Z L + Z0
(12.1)
A portion of the power Pi incident to the power sensor is reflected as power Pr and travels
back toward the generator. The power Pd dissipated by the power sensor remains as:
Pd = Pi Pr = Pi (1 | L |2 ).
(12.2)
A typical equivalent generator will have a source impedance ZG somewhat different

from Z0 , and it will therefore exhibit a reflection coefficient of G = 0.
G =
ZG Z0
ZG + Z0
(12.3)
Consequently, the power Pr traveling back toward the generator will not totally be
absorbed by the equivalent generator. The electromagnetic (EM) fields related to the
powers Pr and PZ0 will superimpose with one another. Assuming a real-valued characteristic impedance Z0 this can be described by the powers Pr and PZ0 instead of using
the relevant wave quantities introduced later in Section 12.4.1. Assuming L < 1 and
G < 1, this process can be described as follows:
Pi = PZ 0
1
|1 G L |2
(12.4)
Not all the power dissipated as Pd will be converted to the measured power Pm . A factor
called effective efficiency e has to be introduced:
Pm = e Pd
(12.5)
Using equations (12.2) to (12.5), the relation between the measured power Pm and the
nominal source power PZ0 is calculated as follows:
Pm = e (1 | L |2 )
1
PZ 0
|1 G L |2
(12.6)
576
The first factor e (1 | L |2 ) is the calibration factor K( f ). It is based on the sensors

inherent properties and is independent of the equivalent generator. It is determined as a
function of frequency using an ideal generator G = 0 with known nominal source power
PZ0 and known CW frequency f. In practice, a calibration system formed from traceable
components such as a precision power sensor (traveling standard), a precision power
splitter and a generator involving an automatic level control (ALC) is used. Once factor
K( f ) is known, the following relation between measured power Pm and the nominal
source power PZ0 applies.
PZ 0 =
1
|1 G L |2 Pm
K( f )
(12.7)
Most modern power sensors provide phase and magnitude information of L ( f ) as

premeasured data that are referenced to the power sensors reference plane. If the complex
coefficient G of the equivalent generator is known, then correction for the factor
|1 G L |2 is possible. This technique is called gamma correction of the power meter.
However, the phase of the generators reflection coefficient is often unknown and it will
be changed due to adapters and other things introduced between the generator and power
sensor. Thus, it is only possible to determine the uncertainty that is introduced by the
factor |1 G L |2 using the magnitudes | G | and | L | and the following relation:
(1 |G | | L |)2
PZ 0
K (1 + |G | | L |)2
Pm
(12.8)
A power sensor cannot accurately measure the nominal power PZ0 of a mismatched
source unless it is ideally matched itself. In other words, the magnitude | L | is a very
important quality criterion of a power sensor.
12.2.3
High-power RF measurements and directional power

Measurements
One approach to connecting a power sensor to a high-power RF source is to use an
attenuator to adapt the level between RF source and sensor. The following is an example
of how to measure a 60 W output power of a GSM base station amplifier. The attenuator
(Figure 12.6) consists of several stages for distributing the power dissipation between
the stages in nearly equal amounts of approximately 20 W. The last stage has the most
attenuation (d3 = 15 dB). In contrast to other stages, it is designed as a -circuit
because it is more convenient than the T-circuit if an attenuation value di above 10 dB is
required.
This attenuator design has a dedicated input and output port. Interchanging these
ports would dramatically alter the power distribution between stages. The stage with the
15 dB attenuation would then have to cope with 58 W of dissipated power and burn-out.
Although attenuators are reciprocal devices (S21 = S12 ), most high-power attenuators
can only handle a fraction of their nominal power rating when being operated in the
reverse direction!
577
Table 12.3 Multistage implementation of a high-power 20 dB attenuator
Stage
Attenuation
di
Power
dissipation
Stage output
power
1st
2nd
3rd
Cumulated values
2 dB
3 dB
15 dB
20 dB
22.14 W
18.93 W
18.33 W
59.40 W
37.86 W
18.93 W
0.60 W (28 dBm)
R1
R1
Input
R3
R3
R4
R2
1st Stage
G
Equivalent
generator
R5
2nd Stage
S11
Z0
R6
S21
Output
R5
3rd Stage
S22
S12
High-power
attenuator
Z0
Power
sensor
Figure 12.6 Implementation of the high-power attenuator.
Assuming a source/load impedance of Z0 = 50 and ideal matching S11 = S22 = 0,

resistors R1 to R6 in Figure 12.6 can be calculated as follows:
R1 = Z 0
1 10d1 /20dB
1 0.794
= 5.73
= 50
d
/20dB
1
1 + 10
1 + 0.794
R2 = Z 0
2 10d1 /20dB
2 0.794
= 215.24

2 = 50
d
/20dB
1 0.63
1 10 1
(12.10)
R3 = Z 0
1 10d2 /20dB
1 0.708
= 50
= 8.55
d
/20dB
2
1 + 10
1 + 0.708
(12.11)
R4 = Z 0
2 10d2 /20dB
2 0.708
= 141.93
2 = 50

d
/20dB
1 0.50
2
1 10
(12.12)
1 + 10d3 /20dB
1 + 0.178
= 50
= 71.63
1 10d3 /20dB
1 0.178
2

1 10d3 /20dB
1 0.032
= 136.14
= 50
R6 = Z 0
d
/20dB
3
2 10
1 0.178
R5 = Z 0
(12.9)
(12.13)
(12.14)
578
Transmission lines between individual stages can be used to distribute the attenuators
on the heat sink. The characteristic impedance of these interconnections should be Z0 .
In contrast, connections within a single stage should be as short as possible to avoid
any unwanted impedance transformation. The mechanical dimension of a single stage is
the limiting factor on its maximum frequency. A compromise between RF performance
and thermal requirements must be found. The power dissipation of a single stage is
shared between its resistors. Exactly how this is done depends on the attenuation value
and the source/load impedance. The worst-case scenario needs to be considered: a
source impedance of 0 (equal to doubled input voltage) and simultaneously a load
impedance of 0 or (depending on the resistor to be considered). However, not
all commercially available attenuators can be assumed to comply with this worst-case
dimensioning.
Therefore, source and load mismatch must be kept within specification when applying
the maximum rated power to an attenuator. Self-heating of the attenuator may cause a
temperature drift if improper resistor material is used. An attenuator input reflection
coefficient S11 very close to 0 is a further prerequisite for low measurement uncertainty.
Its role can be compared to L of equation (12.8). The attenuators output reflection
coefficient S22 is not as critical if the power sensor is well matched and the attenuation S21
is somewhat greater than 15 dB. The frequency response of S21 ( f ) can be measured by a
network analyzer. But the small-signal values typically obtained from such measurements
are not valid for high-power operation. A compromise to partially mimic the high-power
scenario is to use a DC-bias that provides the necessary power to the attenuator under
test and to simultaneously measure the frequency response using the network analyzer.
Based on these measurements a calibration factor K( f, Pm ) dependent on the frequency
and measured power can be calculated. High-power measurements with an attenuator
have some drawbacks:
1. The measurement range is limited to approximately 1 kW, while liquid-cooled dummy
loads are available up to approximately 300 kW.
2. No in-circuit test using the original operating load is possible.
3. Monitoring mismatch to detect critical load situations is not possible.
This is why directional power sensors have been developed. Versions with a measurement range up to several kW are available. As shown in Figure 12.7, these sensors
are connected between source and load to measure the power flow in both directions.
The built-in high-power dual-directional coupler provides a small fraction of incident
power Pi and reflected power Pr to separate power sensors. A typical directional power
sensor exhibits an insertion loss of less than 0.5 dB between its RF connectors. For
frequencies below 100 MHz, a more compact lumped-coupler design by Buschbeck
[2] or further developments [3] are mostly used. VSWR bridges are not recommended
because of their significant insertion loss of 6 dB. Due to the coupling effect, directional
power sensors are limited in bandwidth, covering a range of one octave to about two
decades.
579
Pr
Pi
G
Directional
coupler
Generator
Dummy
load or
antenna
Secondaryline terminations and

frequencyresponse compensation
Rectifier
V~Pi To power meter
V~Pr
Figure 12.7 Application of a directional power sensor [1].
A directional power meter (also called power reflection meter) is used to operate
the power directional sensor. It involves automatic functionality for calculating the
magnitude | L | of the load reflection coefficient from formula (12.2). It can also convert
this value to the voltage standing wave ratio VSWR.
VSWR =
1 + | L |
1 | L |
(12.15)
The mismatch uncertainty of terminating power sensors (see Section 12.2.2) can be
overcome. The reflection coefficient at the RF ports of the directional power sensor
and its insertion loss are usually negligible. But there are two effects introduced by the
directional coupler:
1. The electrical length at the reference plane where the directional power sensor is
inserted will change. As a consequence, the phase relations compared to the operating
conditions without the sensor will not be the same. This can lead to significant power
changes if the generator and load are mismatched. Built-in couplers that remain in
the circuit are one solution.
2. The couplers capability to separate incident and reflected power is limited by its
directivity D (for details, see Section 12.3.2).
12.2.4
Power measurements using a spectrum analyzer

Spectrum analyzers measure the power density spectrum. Integrating the power density
spectrum over a specific frequency range can be done to identify the power present in
this range. The following properties of spectrum analyzers are significant:
580
1. The measurement is performed based on a heterodyne concept with a selectable

resolution bandwidth (e.g., 1 Hz to 40 MHz). As a consequence, the dynamic range
is far beyond that of power sensors.
2. Spectrum analyzers are able to unambiguously correlate a specific receive power to
a specific frequency. Techniques such as a high first IF or a tracking filter for higher
frequencies are involved here. But the use of additional harmonic mixers to extend
the frequency range leads to image reception and spurious responses.
3. Spectrum analyzers exhibit a quasi-continuous, or seamless, sweep. They are designed
so that the power displayed as a measurement point involves the power spectral density
toward its adjacent points. This makes them different from the receivers of vector
network analyzers and prevents the user from overlooking spectral components
hidden between the measurement points.
4. Supplementing the spectrum analyzer with a precision power splitter and a power
sensor helps to yield the advantages of both instruments. This can, for example, lead
to a measurement uncertainty of <0.1 dB even at low levels.
Spectrum analyzers can be implemented in other ways such as the following, but dynamic
range will be reduced as a result:
1. A direct receiving concept consisting of a tunable bandpass filter, a preamplifier and
a detector.
2. For low frequencies, an FFT analyzer working like a digital oscilloscope but with
an integrated FFT algorithm that computes the power spectral density from a set of
recorded time domain samples can be used.
12.3
S-parameter measurements
In the microwave range, neither current nor its phase shift can be accurately measured.
Fortunately, wave quantities and S-parameters are widely accepted and can be measured
very precisely as described in this section.
12.3.1
The concept of S-parameters

The wave quantities, sometimes referred to as (normalized) voltage waves, are assigned
the measurement unit of square root of watt. A distinction is made between three different
wave quantities on a two-port device (see Figure 12.8):
r incident wave a1 (propagating from the source toward the DUT);
r reflected wave b1 (reflected at the DUT traveling back to the source);
r transmitted wave b2 (propagating from the DUTs output to a load),
If the two-port device is operated in reverse direction, a2 becomes the incident wave and
b2 the reflected wave and b1 the transmitted. If the DUT is a one-port device, there is no
transmitted wave.
581
b2
a1
s21
G
s11
Generator
a2
b1
Perfect
match
Two-port DUT
Pi
Pt
Pr
Two-port DUT
Figure 12.8 A two-port DUT operated in forward direction.
The incident power Pi , the reflected power Pr and the transmitted power Pt in
Figure 12.8 can be calculated from the corresponding complex wave quantities
Pi = |a1 |2
(12.16)
Pr = |b1 |2
(12.17)
Pt = |b2 |2
(12.18)
The following discussion in Sections 12.3 and 12.4 is based on a small signal description
assuming a linear circuit model. Therefore, a linear relation between wave quantities
can be assumed. The complex scattering parameters (S-parameters) s11 , s12 , s21 , and s22
are defined as the ratios of the respective wave quantities assuming that only one of the
ports is stimulated (according to the operation direction) and all others are terminated
by a perfect match (i.e., am = 0).

bi
sik =
ak am = 0 m = k
(12.19)
In contrast to Figure 12.8, real-world circuits do not exhibit a perfectly matched environment, therefore operation in forward and reverse direction appears simultaneously. This
can be described by a superposition of both single directions, leading to the following
matrix equation.
b1
b2
s
= 11
s21
s12
s22
a1
a2

(12.20)
For one-port devices, formula (12.20) simplifies to the complex product

b = L a
using the reflection factor L introduced in equation (12.1).
(12.21)
582
G
Generator
s31
a1
2
b2
s22
a2
a DUT
3
Power
meter
Power
sensor
DUT
b3
b DUT DUT
Directional
element
Figure 12.9 Scalar reflection measurement.
12.3.2
Scalar network analyzers and their limitations

Directional elements exhibit dedicated transmission directions and decoupled signal
paths. As shown in Figure 12.9, they can be used to perform scalar reflection measurements. The directional element in Figure 12.9 is fed at its input port 1 by a generator
and connected to a power sensor at its isolated port 3. Its port 2 is connected to a DUT
that is either a one-port device or a two-port device which should be terminated by a
match.
The magnitudes of the incident wave |a1 | and of wave |b3 | can be calculated from
the generators power setting and from the power meters indication, respectively, using
formulas (12.16) and (12.17). Following the signal path from the generator to the power
meter, three observations can be made:
1. The directional element functions as a roundabout, forwarding a1 to b2.
2. The DUT reflects a portion of its incident wave aDUT (= b2 ) as bDUT (= a2 ).
3. The directional element again functions as a roundabout, forwarding a2 to b3.
The measured value |M|, which is limited to the magnitude information due to the
scalar setup, is defined as
|M| =
|b3 |
|a1 |
(12.22)
For steps (1) and (3) above, transmission coefficients s21 and s32 of the directional
element must be considered. These coefficients form a complex quantity called reflection
trackingR = s21 s32 . Using R, a very simplified relation between the unknown reflection
coefficient DUT and the measured value M can be stated.
M = R DUT
(12.23)
Due to the scalar setup, only the magnitude information |R| is accessible. Therefore, the
DUT is replaced by an open standard ( DUT +1) and the measured value |M| is stored
as |R|. Formula (12.23) is then resolved for |DUT |, yielding:
| DU T | = |M| / |R|
(12.24)
583
3 dB
3 dB
6 dB
9 dB
12 dB
15 dB
18 dB
21 dB
1 GHz 1.5 GHz
2 GHz
2.5 GHz
3 GHz
3.5 GHz 4 GHz
Figure 12.10 A scalar measurement of a short standard after reflection normalization.
This method is also called reflection normalization. It was applied in Figure 12.10, and a
short standard ( L 1) was selected as the DUT. Obviously, a ripple of approximately
1.8 dB occurs at the trace, which differs from the operators expected constant value
of approximately 0 dB corresponding to | L | 1.
This occurred because the directional element does not provide a perfect match
s22 = 0 at its port 2 (see dashed signal path s22 in Figure 12.9). The quantity s22 is
commonly referred to as test port match S. To obtain the trace of Figure 12.10, a
directional element with a test port match of S = 0.2 was used. In conjunction with
highly reflective DUTs like the open or short standard, the test port match S causes
multiple reflections between the device and the directional element. This effect is not
covered by reflection tracking. Equation (12.23) must be expanded as follows:
M = R
DUT
1 S DUT
(12.25)
Although the operator may only be interested in the magnitude information | DUT |,
complex numbers for R, S, and M are necessary in order to resolve formula (12.25) for
| DUT |. This cannot be achieved by using a scalar setup. Therefore, a test port match
S = 0 cannot be compensated for in this context.
Another parasitic effect in Figure 12.9 is that the decoupled signal path from port 1
to 3 is not completely isolated (dashed S-parameter s31 ). This means that the measurement functionality is bypassed with s31 . To compare this to the desired behavior of the
directional element, a ratio known as directivity D is introduced.
D=
s31
R
(12.26)
Directivity
Test port match
30
dB
20
dB
4
40
dB
3
10
dB
50
dB
14
dB
1 2
0
d
26 d B
B
dB
26 dB
B
20 d B
d
4
1
10
Measurement uncertainty (dB)
584
50
dB
10
20
Measured return loss (dB)
dB
dB
dB
40
30
20
30
40
Figure 12.11 Measurement uncertainty as a function of directivity, test port match, and measured
value [4].
With the directivity D formula (12.25) can be expanded to

M = R
DUT
D+
1 S DUT

(12.27)
The superposition of the directivity D can be resolved only if the directivity and other
values are vectorially known (as complex numbers) which is not provided by a scalar
setup. If a match standard with reflection coefficient | M | |D| is connected as the DUT
and R 1 is assumed, the magnitude information of the directivity will be measured as
|M| = |D|.
Within the scalar setup, magnitude values of directivity D and test port match S are
used in order to estimate the measurement uncertainty. The test port match limits the
measurement accuracy for high-reflection DUTs, whereas the directivity D limits the
measurement accuracy for well-matched devices. To keep the measurement uncertainty
within a practicable range, D should be 10 dB better than the measured value M.
Assuming a live example with a measurement value |M| of 20 dB, a directivity |D| of
30 dB and a test port match |S| of 10 dB, the operator uses Figure 12.11 to state the
expected range of the value | DUT | as 17.6 dB to 23.3 dB (calculated from 20 dB
2.4 dB = 17.6 dB and 20 dB + 3.3 dB = 23.3 dB). As a second example, if the measured
value is |M| = 2 dB, Figure 12.11 would then lead to | DUT | from 0 dB to 3.6 dB
(calculated from 2.0 dB 2.0 dB = 0 dB and 2.0 dB + 1.6 dB = 3.6 dB).
585
Table 12.4 Typical implementations of the directional element
Implementation
Frequency range
VSWR bridge
23 decades of
40 kHz to 4 GHz
wideband 1 GHz to
40 GHz
Planar directional
microstrip
coupler
Asymmetric
coaxial to strip
line coupler
Wave guide
directional
coupler
Lumped-element
coupler
Circulator
less than one octave

of 400 MHz to
18 GHz
of 350 MHz to
500 GHz
of 50 MHz 1 GHz
of 500 MHz to
40 GHz
Insertion Coupling
loss s21
loss s32
(typ.)
(typ.)
Test port
match S
(typ.)
Directivity Max. power

D (typ.)
rating (typ.)
6 dB
>20 dB
>38 dB
0.5 W
<0.5 dB 10 dB to
30 dB
>16 dB
>18 dB
1 W to 10 W
<0.3 dB 20 dB to
40 dB
>15 dB
>10 dB
several kW
<0.5 dB 10 dB to
60 dB
>28 dB
30 dB
<3 dB
>16 dB
>16 dB
50 W to 100 kW
depending on
frequency
1 W to 10 W
>16 dB
20 dB
2 W to 100 kW
6 dB
3 dB to
25 dB
<0.5 dB <0.5
Table 12.4 provides a typical frequency range, test port match S and directivity D for
several directional elements. The values stated as insertion loss and coupling loss can
be added together to yield the reflection tracking R. A coupling of 3 dB is possible for
most of the devices but, as shown with the lumped-element coupler, it would lead to an
insertion loss of 3 dB or more, which is not acceptable when performing power amplifier
testing.
To perform scalar transmission measurements, a signal generator is connected to the
input of the DUT and the power sensor is connected at its output. Usually, transmission
normalization is carried out using a through-connection instead of the DUT and by storing the measured power as a reference value and normalizing all further measurements to
this value. If the generator output match (source match 1 ) or the matching of the power
sensor (load match 2 ) is not sufficient or if the DUT exhibits reflection coefficients
s11 or s22 with a magnitude close to 1, multiple reflections at the DUTs input or the
output will occur. This is described by the following formula, where M represents the
measurement result of the transmission coefficient s21 .

1 1 2

|s21 |
(12.28)
|M| =
(1 1 s11 ) (1 2 s22 ) s12 s21 1 2
To compensate for the effect of 1 = 0 and 2 = 0, both quantities and all S-parameters
of the DUT have to be known vectorially. But this information can not be provided by a
scalar measurement setup. The only possibility to improve the measurement uncertainty
is to keep the reflection factors 1 and 2 as small as possible (e.g., by adding attenuator
pads or circulators to the measurement setup). Equation (12.28) can be used to estimate
the worst-case measurement uncertainty.
586
Typical pseudo response

20
Measurement result using a setup with power sensors
40
60
80
100
Measurement result using a vector network analyzer

or a spectrum analyzer with a (tracking) generator
120
Start 2 GHz
Stop 6 GHz
Figure 12.12 A high-rejecting bandpass filter measured in different ways.
Typically, reflection measurement values are not below 40 dB because of unavoidable

parasitic reflections. However, transmission measurements range from approximately
+40 dB (amplifier) to 130 dB (total isolation with leakage of shielding). This dynamic
requirement cannot be covered by a power sensor. If a simple bandpass filter is to be
tested, a power sensors dynamic range of approximately 40 dB may just be sufficient.
But all signal generators exhibit spurious and harmonic products in their output signal.
Typical suppression values for these unwanted spectral components are 20 dBc to
50 dBc depending on the spectral component and the generator. If the generator is
operating above the upper corner frequency of the bandpass filter (DUT), a subharmonic
component of the generator can find its way through the filter (DUT) and cause the
power sensor to measure a pseudo response such as shown in Figure 12.12. This is
usually not acceptable because the DUT may be examined for unwanted side lobes
of its transmission behavior, which would result in a similar effect on the trace. The
considerations can be extended to harmonic components of the generator and a generator
operation below the lower corner frequency of the DUT (not shown in Figure 12.12).
A spectrum analyzer, due to its narrow-band reception, can be used to avoid these
problems. A very compact solution is a spectrum analyzer with a built-in tracking
generator especially designed for these needs. It can be supplemented by a directional
element to do reflection measurements as well. But the setup has to be disconnected and
reassembled several times to measure all four S-parameters, and the drawbacks stated for
scalar measurements by equations (12.27) and (12.28) still remain. To overcome these
problems a vector network analyzer (VNA) is required even if only the S-parameters
magnitude information is of interest.
12.3.3
Vector network analyzers

Measuring not only the magnitude of S-parameters but also their phase offers several benefits such as applying system error correction, the usage of embedding and
587
Receiver
attenuator
Measurement channel b1
Reference channel
a1
Test
port 1
LO
Stimulus generator
Generator
attenuators
DUT
Test
port 2
Reference channel
a2
Measurement channel b2
Generator and receivers
Receiver
attenuator
Test set
Figure 12.13 A bidirectional two-port VNA.
de-embedding, representation in the Smith chart, calculation of group delay, time domain
transformation and others.
The fundamental blocks of a conventional VNA are shown in Figure 12.13. Depending
on the measurement direction, the stimulus generator is either routed toward port 1 or 2.
The incident wave is tapped to generate a reference channel (e.g., by a power splitter).
At the test ports, the separation of incident and reflected wave is done by a directional
element (see Section 12.3.2). This complete part of the instrument is called the test set.
Its implementation depends on the frequency range (coupler versus VSWR bridge), the
reference impedance to be used (50 , 75 , or others), and the possibility to handle
signals with superimposed DC (active test set) or no DC (passive test set). Measurements
performed include frequency sweep, power sweep, or time sweep (CW stimulus).
To implement a coherent down-conversion, a common local oscillator (LO) is distributed to all receivers (see Figure 12.13). This means that all the measured wave
quantities will have added a common phase shift which is caused by the phase difference
between the LO- and RF-generator. When the VNA calculates the raw S-parameters, the
common phase shift cancels out, as can be seen from equation (12.19). With standard
S-parameter measurements, only one port is fed by the stimulus generator. It is then
called the active test port while the other test ports are kept passive (ideally sending
no incident wave to the DUT). Assuming that port 1 is the active port, formula (12.19)
would lead to the raw S-parameters s11 and s21 . After this partial measurement (forward
measurement) is finished, the source switch is changed and the other port becomes the
active port. This reverse measurement reveals the S-parameters s22 and s12 .
Optional receiver step attenuators (Figure 12.13 dashed) can be used to extend
the instruments 1 dB compression point, so that precise measurements can be done
up to typically +27 dBm power level (e.g., measurements of medium-power amplifiers). The optional generator step attenuators (Figure 12.13 dashed) extend the output
588
aG2
Error two-port G
e10
bG1 a1
Reference plane
s21
b2 aH1
Error two-port H
e32
bH2
DUT
e00
e11
bG2
s11
e01
e22
s22
e33
aH2
a2 bH1
aG1 b1
s12
e23
Error network
Ideal vector network analyzer
Figure 12.14 The seven-term error model [4].
power range down to about 120 dBm, e.g., to analyze low-noise amplifiers. Modern VNA architectures involve more than just a single stimulus generator so that
advanced measurements such as hot S-parameters are possible (for details, see Section 12.5.5). The source switch is able to route more than just one port. These modern
VNAs came with four, six or eight ports. In certain applications (e.g., hand-held instruments) the opposite goal, a simplified VNA architecture, is desired. As a consequence,
reduced performance must be accepted (some of the important drawbacks are stated in
brackets):
r a VNA with only one common reference channel, obtained between stimulus generator
and the source switch. (seven-term calibration cannot be used);
r a unidirectional VNA that has only one active port, whereas the other ports do not
exhibit any directional elements or reference receivers. (The load mismatch at the
passive ports can generally not be corrected by means of system error correction.);
r a multiport configuration that is built by a two port VNA and a switching matrix
to interface to a multiport DUT with N > 2 ports. (Extended sweep time, reduced
performance for dynamic range, directivity and test port match).
A detailed discussion on VNA architectures can be found, for example, in reference
[4] p. 22.
12.3.4
Introduction to system error correction

Within the context of VNAs, systematic errors can be compensated for. Besides the
parasitic effects of R, S, and D of the directional element discussed in Section 12.3.2,
this technique also covers systematic errors introduced by the receivers and other parts
of the VNA. To point out this extended coverage, R, S, and D are dropped and the
error terms e00 , e01 , . . . , e33 have been introduced. They form an error model (see
Figure 12.14). The real-world VNA can be separated into an ideal VNA and an error
network.
589
The topology of the error network varies: the three-term model only applies to oneport measurements (no error two-port H). The seven-term term model can only be
applied if each test port has its own reference channel (state-of-the-art). It exhibits
eight error terms eij . One of these parameters (which should not be equal to zero) can
be used to normalize all the parameters (here, e32 is used and, therefore, e32 = 1).
This means that the seven-term error model contains seven independent error terms,
hence its name. A suitable calibration technique must be performed to determine the
error terms. Afterwards, system error correction will compensate for the error twoports G and H. The seven-term error model applies to many calibration techniques. The
calibration technique defines the standards (see Table 12.5) that must be used to perform
the calibration.
During calibration the VNA measures the complex S-parameters of the calibration
standards and compares them to the complex characteristic data provided with the standards. Finally this yields the complex values of the error terms. These terms are sometimes called the VNAs raw system data. Table 12.6 provides a glimpse of some typical
raw system data. Its last two columns list the reference to the 7-term model. Applying
system error correction means that the error two-ports G and H are removed from the
measurement results and the S-parameters become referred to the reference plane. Due
to unavoidable uncertainties, residual systematic errors (referred to as effective system
data) will remain (for details, see Section 12.3.8).
It is useful to name the calibration techniques based on the first character of the standards involved and to unambiguously define the sequence of these characters. Through
tradition other names have crept in (see row titled Other names in the following
overview).
12.3.5
Calibration with different connector types

Numerous coaxial connectors and waveguide flanges of all kinds are available featuring individual benefits. An overview of typical coaxial connectors is provided by
Figure 12.15 and Table 12.8; more details can be found in reference [5].
A power amplifier may use diverse connector types on its RF ports (e.g., port 1 SMA
and port 2 N connector). This type of DUT is often called a noninsertable device. A
calibration strategy is required that deals with this situation:
Strategy 1: adapter inserted after calibration

One approach that can often be seen but offers reduced precision is one in which the
adapter is inserted after calibration and approximately compensated for by its insertion
length. In our example, it means that calibration takes place at two SMA compatible
test ports 1 and 2 (see Table 12.8 for compatibility). However, there are no SMA
calibration kits available, just a PC3.5 calibration kit that has the same reference plane
and is mechanically compatible and can therefore be used. After calibration has been
completed, a suitable adapter from N to SMA is inserted. The adapters insertion length
is the electrical distance between its two reference planes. In other words, it is the
length that has been introduced by the adapter. Its phase shift can be compensated
590
Table 12.5 Typical calibration standards

Standard
Char
Explanation and parametric description
Short standard
Open standard
Match standard
Sliding match
Through
Unknown
through
Reflect
Line standard
Symmetrical
network
Attenuator
Using coaxial and waveguide technique, this standard can be built with nearly ideal
total reflection || = 1. Its reflection coefficient is thus dependent only on its
length offset l. Standards featuring a frequency range >24 GHz may come up
with polynomial coefficients L0 , L1 , L2 , and L3 for characterizing their parasitic
inductance.
This standard exhibits a length offset l and parasitic fringing capacitances, which
are characterized by a set of polynomial coefficients (C0 , C1 , C2 , and C3 ). The
open standard cannot be realized in waveguide systems. It is then usually
replaced by an offset short.
This precise broadband impedance is matched to the system impedance. In the past,
it was commonly assumed to be ideal ( = 0) and was not modeled. If it is
supplemented with characteristic data then the precision can be raised close to
that achieved by a sliding match.
An air line with specified characteristic impedance can be manufactured more
accurately than a broadband match. A cylindrical ferrite rod that is introduced
into the air line absorbs a large portion of the magnetic energy starting from a
minimum frequency of approximately 2 GHz. If the ferrite rod is moved along
the line, the length offset and therefore the phase changes but the magnitude
remains nearly constant. Operators typically orient themselves on the marks on
the sliding match. The corresponding reflection coefficients lie on a circle around
the air lines characteristic impedance.
The through is a two-port standard that allows a suitable low-loss connection of
both test ports. It is characterized by its delay or electrical length, its loss and its
characteristic impedance. In some cases (e.g., sexless connector system), a direct
connection of test ports with electrical length 0 mm is permissible.
Any two-port whose S-parameters fulfill the reciprocity condition (s21 = s12 ) can
serve as an unknown through.
This one-port has a reflection coefficient of || > 0. The exact reflection value is
not needed. However it must be identical at both test ports. To characterize the
standard, its behavior at low frequencies is classified as more capacitive
(Im{}< 0) or more inductive (Im{}< 0). The electrical length is relevant if it
alters the classification at higher frequencies.
In coaxial systems, this two-port standard is implemented as an air line. Its
characteristic impedance has to be well matched to the system impedance. The
difference in electric length between through and the line standard must not be
equal to an integer multiple of half of the wavelength. Start versus stop
frequency is therefore restricted to 1:8. This can be overcome by using multiple
lines and a fixed match for lower frequencies.
This two-port has symmetrical reflection coefficients s11 = s22 = 0 and any
transmission coefficient, even 0 or 1. Similar to the reflect standards, a
classification for more capacitive or more inductive is necessary.
This two-port standard has to be well matched on both sides. Unlike the through, it
should have an unknown insertion loss which is in the range 10 dB to 55 dB.
591
Table 12.6 Typical raw and effective system data of a VNA
System data
Raw system Effective

data
system data
Forward
measurement
Reverse
measurement
Reflection tracking
Directivity
Source match
Transmission tracking
Load match
2 dB
29 dB
22 dB
2 dB
22 dB
e10 e01
e00
e11
e10 e32
e22
e23 e32
e33
e22
e01 e23
e11
0.04 dB
46 dB
39 dB
0.06 dB
44 dB
Note that directivity e00 , e33 in this table and directivity D in Section 12.3.2 are
defined differently. D = e00 (e10 e01 ) or D = e33 /(e23 e32 ). The error terms e00 and
e33 are similar to s31 of Figure 12.9.
(a)
(b)
(c)
(d)
(e)
(f)
Figure 12.15 Typical coaxial RF connector types (for a, b, c, . . . , see Table 12.8).
for by an offset length assigned to test port 2. The offset length has to be increased
because of dielectric inner conductor support or discontinuities between the inner and
outer conductor. An alternative is to mount an N-type short standard on the open end
of the adapter to use the auto length functionality of the VNA to obtain an estimated
overall length. Taking into account the offset length of the N-type short, the adapters
insertion length can be calculated and the length offset can be modified accordingly.
Nevertheless, strategy 1 does not compensate for the frequency-dependent attenuation
of the adapter and is therefore limited in frequency range. The s11 and s22 of the adapter
have a significant influence on the test port match and the directivity obtained (for a
similar discussion, see s11 and s22 of the attenuator used in Section 12.3.7). If available,
a high-quality adapter from a calibration kit should be chosen.
Strategy 2: UOSM calibration with mixed test port types

The adapter is mounted prior to calibration, and calibration will therefore compensate
for it. A suitable calibration kit is required for each of the connector types involved.
The calibration kit must include, at a minimum, the standards that are needed for oneport calibration. In addition to the adapter that has been mounted at test port 2, a
second adapter to be used only during calibration is required. The purpose of the second
adapter is to establish the unknown through. This adapter does not have to feature good
matching. It merely has to satisfy the reciprocity condition (s21 = s12 ). To ensure proper
results, the second adapters insertion loss should not exceed 20 dB. Strategy 2 even
592
Table 12.7 Properties of the various calibration techniques [4]

Calibration Technique
Other names
Error model
DUT type
Suitable for transmission
measurements
No band limitation due to
singularities
Indirect plausibility check
Partially unknown standards
Consideration of DUT depended
cross talk
Usage of standards with different
gender
Suitable for noninsertable DUTs
Possible usage of sliding match
Well-suited for on-wafer
measurements
Effective directivity attained
Number of receivers in N-port VNA
Minimum number of calibration
standards
Contacts3 in two port VNA
OSM
SOL,OSL
3-term
one-port
TOM
TRM TRL
OLT
LRM1 LRL1
7-term
two-port or multiport
TNA
TAN
UOSM TOSM
SOLR SOLT
12-term
+
N+1
3
+
2N
3
+
2N
3
+++
2N
3
+
2N
3
+
2N
4
+
N+1
4
The through (which may exhibit a length l = 0) is replaced by a line standard l > 0.
Assuming that the standards produce symmetrical reflections.
3
The number of contacts is used to assess the amount of work involved in the calibration procedure. By
contact, we mean setting up an electrical connection. For example, mounting a one-port standard requires one
contact. Mounting a two-port standard requires two contacts.
1
2
works with frequencies above 40 GHz (if the connectors involved are suitable for these
frequencies) or with adapters between media (e.g., coaxial to waveguide or coaxial to
coplanar), which usually exhibit greater frequency-dependent behavior than intercoaxial
adapters. Strategy 2 can even be used to characterize the unknown through and to
store its S-parameters. Once characterized, the second adapter can be used in strategy
4 or 5.
Strategy 3: adapter removal technique

The UOSM calibration technique is based on a seven-term error model. Vector network
analyzers that exhibit a reduced architecture with a common reference channel cannot be
described by the seven-term error model. A calibration technique based on the 12-term
model and referred to as the adapter removal technique has to be used instead of strategy
2 (details may be found in operating manuals of older VNAs that have been based on a
three-receiver architecture).
593
Table 12.8 Typical coaxial RF connector types and their properties
Connector type
Figure
fmax GHz
Z
Mechanically
compatible with
Ttyp 2
Nm
7/16 DIN
14 mm
7.5 GHz
8.5 GHz
50
50
25.0
4.0
b
c
7 mm
SMA
PC 3.5
2.92 mm (K)1
2.4 mm
1.85 mm (V)1
1.00 mm
d
e
50
75
50
75
50
50
50
50
50
50
50
BNC
18 GHz
4 GHz
4 GHz
1 GHz
18 GHz
18 GHz
34 GHz
40 GHz
50 GHz
67 GHz
110 GHz
1
2
3.5 mm; K
SMA; K
SMA; 3.5 mm
1.85 mm
2.4 mm
1.36
1.36
0.56
0.90
0.80
0.90
0.90
0.45
Note
high power
high power
sexless
medium
power
bayonet
coupling
sexless
The names K Connector, V Connector are trademarks of Wiltron/Anritsu Corporation.

The torque Ttyp can vary between manufacturers.
Strategy 4: de-embedding the adapter

As in strategy 1, the adapter is mounted on test port 2 after calibration. In strategy 4,
however, all four S-parameters of the adapter are available as a function of frequency
and entered into the VNA (e.g., by data file). A technique called de-embedding is
applied to port 2. This technique is internally based on a transmission matrix calculus.
It compensates the adapter in a more precise way than is done in strategy 1. Within
the relevant frequency range, the transmission characteristic of the adapter should not
exhibit any zeros or any attenuation values above 20 dB. This is due to signal-to-noise
aspects. The advantage of strategy 4 is that once the through is characterized, no second
calibration kit (N-connector in the example here) is necessary. Plus, the user may choose
any calibration technique preferred (e.g., the one-path, two-port technique suggested
in Section 12.3.7). But the VNA is not informed if the adapted port is connected to a
dispersive media (e.g., waveguide), which would be necessary in some cases.
12.3.6
Calibration with PCBs, test fixtures, and wafer probers

With printed circuit boards (PCB), an adaptation of their microstrip design to the coaxial
connectors of the VNA is necessary. This can be achieved by using SMA connectors
and a test PCB as shown in Figure 12.16 left. This test board carries all calibration
standards necessary to perform several calibration techniques and two bays for inserting
one-port or two-port DUTs. The fringing capacities at the open end of the microstrip
line and the parasitic inductances introduced by the ground vias of the short and match
standard have to be calculated by an EM solver or using [6, 7]. The microstrip lines are
594
l
Cross section with fringing capacitances
Open
Via
Short
Via + 100
Match
Equivalent circuit without DUT
Via + 100
One-port
DUT
Through
Cross section with Two-port DUT

2l
Two-port DUT
Ground (Amplifier)
DUT
(Bias)
l
Two-port DUT with capacitances
Line standard
2l
Figure 12.16 Test PCB carrying microstrip calibration standards and DUTs bays.
designed to have a characteristic impedance of 50 . A minimum distance of l = 20

mm to 50 mm (depending on the wavelength) must be maintained on the PCB between
the coaxial connector and the reference plane so that the higher modes that arise at the
transition from the coaxial system to the PCB can fade away. If all of the standards
are implemented with the same distance l and if the through-connection is made by a
length of 2l, a length offset of 0 mm can be specified in the characteristic data of the
standards. In this case, the bays of the DUTs must have exactly the same distances l from
the SMA connectors in order to locate the reference plane at the components edge. For
frequencies above 6 GHz, the TRL calibration technique is strongly recommended. The
line standard can be characterized by its additional length x. To overcome the frequency
restriction that comes with the value of x (see Table 12.5 row line standard), the match
can be included in the TRL calibration to allow an extension down to 0 Hz.
One-port devices can be measured in the one-port or two-port bay. In the first case,
the parasitic inductance of the ground via may be relevant. Fringing capacities and
parasitic inductance are dependent on the PCB material and via diameter, respectively.
For universal use in electronic design automation tools, a characterization without these
influences is required. The following guidelines are therefore recommended:
595
1. Low-impedance one-port devices can be measured in the one-port bay as fringing

capacitances will not have any significant influence, which means that it is sufficient
to de-embed just the parasitic inductance of the via. In this special case, the location
of the DUT and parasitic inductance can be assumed to be interchangeable (necessary
for one-port de-embedding).
2. High-impedance, one-port devices and all two-port DUTs have to be measured in the
two-port bay. Before mounting, the DUT measurements on the four S-parameters of
the empty bay have to be carried out and the values of the parasitic capacitors and
resistors have to be calculated (see Figure 12.16, right-hand side). After measurement,
the parasitic component values have to be de-embedded.
Substrates like Al2 O3 are very brittle, therefore connectors cannot directly be mounted
on to them. A test fixture employed for these requires a reproducible contacting of the
microstrip, coplanar or grounded coplanar waveguide. A test fixture typically has two
clamping jaws that are placed on the front sides of the substrate. One of the jaws can
be adjusted in both horizontal directions. This makes it possible to adapt the test fixture
to different substrate sizes and also to handle diagonally arranged contact interfaces.
The jaws consist of two strip-shaped ground contacts that squeeze the substrate. In
the upper ground contact, an inner conductor is opened up to adapt to a coaxial line
system. During calibration, different substrates with different standards are used. To
ensure correct results, care must be taken to ensure that the inner conductor contacts
the substrate at the proper position. Test fixtures generally have a mechanically rugged
design, but their inner conductors do require careful handling. The TNA calibration
technique is particularly well-suited for measurements using a test fixture. The primary benefit of this calibration technique lies in the minimum requirements that are
placed on the properties of the standards. A microstrip calibration kit includes a straight
50 microstrip section with length 2l that is characterized as a through with length
0 so that l becomes the distance of the reference plane on both sides of the substrate.
It also requires a symmetric network standard that can either be an empty substrate or
the test fixture left opened without any substrate, and an attenuator standard which can
be manufactured with extreme precision on substrates using thin-film technology with
laser-trimmed resistors.
To obtain the best possible interface to the coaxial system, a suitable ground connection
must be provided at the transition to the substrate. In the case of on-wafer measurements,
the circuits are not accessible from their backside; they are only accessible via their top
side. To ensure a suitable ground connection at the contact point, coplanar waveguide
(CPW) ground (G), signal (S), and ground (G) contacts are situated on the top of the
wafer and have dimensions of less than 0.1 mm. A special micromechanical manipulator,
referred to as a wafer prober, is necessary to contact the GSG pads. Characterized
calibration standards are defined on a substrate known as an impedance standard substrate
(ISS). The TRL calibration technique is awkward with wafer probers because of the
multiple line spacing necessary to establish the through (T) and line (L) standard so the
TRM calibration technique is preferred. The match standard necessary can be provided
by laser-trimmed small resistors and modeled as a constant resistance with a series
596
VNA
Booster
amplifier
Receiver and generator section of the VNA
Test
port 1
Test
port 1
Test
port 1
Reference
plane 1
to b1 channel
Reference
plane 1
Reference
plane 1
SA22
S12
R
Power
sensor
Reference
plane 2
Reference
plane 2
S21
Reference
plane 2
S22
to b2 channel
e33
to b2 channel
Test
port 2
Test
port 2
Test
port 2
Configuration with
reduced precision
Optimized high-power
configuration
Optimized high-power
configuration with
boosted source
Figure 12.17 High-power setup with and without significantly reduced precision.
reactance. The through can be very short so that its matching is not a critical issue. The
reflect standard need have no known properties and can be implemented with the probes
in the air.
12.3.7
Calibration consideration for high-power setups

With DUTs such as power amplifiers, the output power of the DUT may exceed the
linear input range of the VNA. As an example, the test port input power should be kept
below 0.2 W so as not to exceed the linear range of the VNA. Suppose the amplifier
had an output power of 20 W, then a 20 dB attenuator pad between the amplifier output
and test port 2 would be just sufficient enough to prevent any overdrive. However, this
attenuator would have significant disadvantages as described below.
The amplifier and attenuator can be described by their S-parameter matrix SA and
S , respectively. The VNAs test port 2 is characterized using directivity D, test port
match S and reflection tracking R. The reference plane of the measurement should be
located at the input and output of the amplifier. This means that it is located prior to the
attenuator and that the attenuator becomes part of the test set (see Figure 12.17, left).
This combined test set at port 2 is described using directivity D , test port match S and
reflection tracking R .
During reflection measurements at port 2, the signal passes the reflection tracking
(R), the 20 dB attenuator two times (s 12 = s 21 ), and the output reflection coefficient
sA22 of the DUT (see Figure 12.17, left). The reflection tracking R is thus altered by the
attenuator to
R = s2 21 R.
(12.29)
597
The test port match S revealed to the amplifier is dominated by the reflection coefficient
s 11 of the attenuator because of its high attenuation (20 dB) i.e.,
S = s11
(12.30)
The parasitic crosstalk e33 = R D is a bypass to the measurement functionality of the

directional element. In this case, an additional crosstalk path is formed by R s 22 ,
thus contributing to the overall crosstalk. Obtaining the directivity D requires taking
the quotient of the overall crosstalk R D + R s 22 and the reflection tracking R from
formula (12.29). Thus,
D =
R D + R s 11
D + s 11
=
2
R s 21
s2 21
(12.31)
Using typical system raw data as stated in Table 12.6, and assuming an attenuator with
a return loss of 20 dB and an insertion loss of 20 dB, the raw directivity is degraded by
33 dB which is the most unwanted effect of this setup. It is hardly possible to compensate
this using a calibration technique because of influences like thermal drift, connector
repeatability and phase stability of the cabling. There are two workarounds that can
help.
1. If the output match of the amplifier neednt be measured, then choose the one-path
two-port calibration technique. It is a combination of a complete one-port calibration
on test port 1 and transmission normalization. It is a unidirectional error correction
which means that the same test port (test port 1 in this case) is always operated as
active port. It does not correct any reflection at test port 2 and it does not correct
for any multiple reflections caused by the attenuator. Therefore the attenuator should
exhibit a return loss better than 25 dB in this case.
2. If information regarding the output reflection coefficient sA22 of the amplifier is
needed, then choose a setup with an external directional element (see Figure 12.17
middle). The reference channel can be tapped inside the VNA as before, but the
directive element is placed directly behind the power amplifier in order not to risk
any degradation of directivity. An introduction on how to design the necessary highpower coupler can be found in reference [8]. Because it is only needed for the
small operating frequency range of the amplifier, a circulator is often preferred
instead of the coupler. Before the signal is fed into the VNA via an external receiver
input, level adjustment has to be done using a second attenuator. In some respects
the configuration can be compared to Figure 12.13 if the receiver and generator
attenuators (dashed) are present, but the components of Figure 12.13 are designed
for medium-power measurements.
Power amplifiers typically require significant RF input power, more than can usually be
provided by a VNA. A booster amplifier (see Figure 12.17 right) can be used to raise
the source level. To make sA11 measurements, an external coupler is required for the
measurement of channel b1 . If the linearity of the booster amplifier is not sufficient or
if it exhibits drift effects then the reference channel a1 should also be monitored by an
598
external coupler. This coupler (not shown in Figure 12.17) has to be located between
the booster amplifier and the b1 -coupler. To control the actual input power to the DUT, a
power calibration at reference plane 1 (using a power sensor) is strongly recommended.
Afterwards, one of the calibration techniques described above has to be applied.
12.3.8
Residual errors and measurement uncertainties

Every measurement result is subject to some uncertainty that characterizes the expected
deviation of the measured value from the true value. According to reference [9], a distinction must be made between two types of uncertainty: Type A is caused by random
measurement errors, while type B is generated by systematic errors and can be compensated for as shown in Sections 12.3.4 to section 12.3.7. Uncertainties of type A cannot
be compensated for, but instruments are designed to keep them at a minimum. The
following guidelines should be observed to minimize type A uncertainties:
1. A warm-up time should be observed to ensure that the equipment is operated in
thermal equilibrium. Once the equipment has warmed up, an environment with a
stable temperature helps to keep thermal drifts as small as possible.
2. Connectors are subject to wear. Using the applicable tightening procedure (torque
wench, rotating the connecting nut but not rotating the connector) and careful cleaning
reduce wear to a minimum. Regular inspections also involving a pin depth gauge help
to detect faulty connectors.
3. The noise superimposed on the measured values can be reduced using a smaller
IF bandwidth or increasing (if possible) the stimulus power. If the measurement or
reference receivers are operated near their upper power limit, compression effects
will occur and cause avoidable uncertainties.
4. Calibration techniques can be used to overcome systematic errors. Although a calibration is done in the correct manner, some small errors will remain. The calibration
kit involved and the precision of its characterization are the primary factors with a
modern VNA. Calibration kits are available with different capabilities and should be
selected based on the accuracy requirements. The time intervals between calibrations
should be kept according to influences such as stability of temperature, etc. The
network analyzer settings used for calibration and measurement should vary only to
a certain extent.
The residual errors form an error model similar to that shown in Figure 12.14 but
exhibit the effective system data eik instead of the error terms eik . For typical values,
see Table 12.6. A distinction must be made between effective system data and faulty
calibrations that arise as a result of operator errors, defective network analyzers and
damaged standards. The implicit plausibility check provided in the TOM calibration
technique helps to detect a faulty calibration early on in the process. The T-check (see
[10]) and the Beatty standard serve the same purpose. A common misinterpretation is
that the same set of standards used for calibration can be reconnected to detect faulty
calibrations. In fact, this measurement only provides information about reproducibility.
A second calibration kit providing other sets of the standards (not involved in the
599
calibration) can be used to detect faulty calibration. If the calibration is double-checked

by measuring all standards of the second calibration kit, the effective system data eik of
the present calibration can be calculated. But this verification would be based upon the
characteristic data of the second calibration kit and the uncertainties of these data. Since
these data items are normally in the same order of magnitude as the expected effective
system data, this method is only of academic value. In practice, a verification kit has
to be used. It involves standards that are especially designed to meet the high accuracy
demands, e.g., air lines without the need for an inner conductor support, precision
attenuators and mismatch standards.
12.4
Further linear measurements

A vector network analyzer is mainly designed to perform S-parameter measurements.
Based on these measurements further linear descriptions can be calculated, either by the
operator or the analyzer (e.g., using trace mathematics).
12.4.1
Amplifier gain definitions

The first step is to consider a simple circuit consisting of a source S and a load L . At
the source, a distinction must be made between the following
r available power PA , which is the maximum power that can be drawn from the source
under power matching condition ( S = L * ). The quantities PA and S are sufficient
to characterize the RF source by a linear model.
r delivered power PD , which is the power transmitted to any arbitrary load considering
the mismatch caused by source and load reflection coefficients (i.e., PA PD = power
lost due to mismatch).
The next step is to consider an amplifier connected between an RF source with reflection coefficient S and a load with reflection coefficient L . The power flow diagram
Figure 12.18 shows this scenario, using four important RF power definitions:
r
r
r
r
available power of the source PAS ;

delivered power from the source PDS ;
available power of the amplifiers output PAO ;
delivered power from the amplifiers output PDO .
Based on the four power definitions, various amplifier gains can be stated. The transducer gain GT is an overall quantity that regards the mismatch at the input, the RF power
added by the amplifier, and the output mismatch. Therefore, it is well suited for
power optimization design techniques. The operating power gain GP and the available
power gain GA disregard the input or output mismatch, respectively.
The gain measured by a VNA is G0 = (s21 )2 or 20log(s21 ) dB in dB scale. This
gain can be considered as the transducer gain GT under the constraint that the amplifier is embedded in an environment offering a port impedance exactly equal to the
600
GP
Different gain definitions:

GA
GT
RF power flow chart:
PDS
PAS
PAO
Power
loss due
to mismatch at
input
Power
added by
the
amplifier
PDO
Power
loss due
to mismatch at
output
Figure 12.18 Power flow and gain definitions of an amplifier.
system impedance Z0 (generally 50 ). Most amplifiers exhibit an input and output
impedance that is notably different from Z0 . This means that mismatch will occur if
they are directly connected to the test ports of a VNA. In order to operate the amplifier
economically, the application circuits are designed to minimize mismatch, thus achieving the maximum possible transducer gain. A similar situation arises for the operating
power gain GP and the available power gain GA . The values of the different gains GT ,
GP , and GA can be calculated from the amplifiers S-parameters, the source reflection
coefficient S , and the load reflection coefficient L if the amplifier behaves linearly as
follows:

|s21 |2 1 | S |2 1 | L |2
PD O
GT =
=
(12.32)
PAS
|(1 s11 S ) (1 s22 L ) s12 s21 S L |2

|s21 |2 1 | S |2
PAO
=
GA =
PAS
|1 s11 S |2 |s22 S det(S)|2
(12.33)

|s21 |2 1 | L |2
PD O
GP =
=
PDS
|1 s22 L |2 |s11 L det (S)|2
(12.34)
where det(S) = s11 s22 s21 s12

It should not be overlooked that formulas (12.31) to (12.34) are based on a linear
assumption which makes them insufficient for strong nonlinear behavior, necessitating
load-pull techniques (see Section 12.5.4) for accurate measurements. But the formulas
do consider the fact that the matching condition of the output affects the input impedance
of the amplifier and, vice versa, the input matching affects the output impedance. This
is a consequence of the finite s21 s12 term. In some cases, if s21 s12 is small enough or if
additional elements are used to neutralize the parasitic elements responsible for s12 = 0,
the amplifier can be assumed as unilateral (s12 = 0). This means that input and output
601
1 dB
0 dB
cT
2 dB
rT
3 dB
Direction of (s22)
Figure 12.19 Example for constant gain circles of GL .
matching can be optimized independently of one another, and formula (12.32) can be
split into three independent factors
GT =
1 | S |2
1 | L |2
2
|s
|
if s12 = 0.
21
|1 s11 S |2
|1 s22 L |2

GS
(12.35)
GL
In this special case the source and load reflection coefficients that yield the maximum
transducer gain GTMAX are given by the conjugate complex values of the amplifiers
input and output reflection coefficients.
G T MAX =
1
1
|s21 |2
2
1 |s11 |
1 |s22 |2
if s12 = 0, S = (s11 ) , L = (s22 ) .

(12.36)
The optimum value of the load reflection coefficient L = (s22 )* can be marked in the
L -Smith chart as a single point (see Figure 12.19 point 3 dB). If the factor GL of
formula (12.35) is set to a specific value (e.g., GL = 1 equals 0 dB), then GL can be
solved for L . This leads to solutions in the form of a circles with the center located
along the vector (s22 )* at a distance cT from the origin L = 0. The circles radius is rT .
cT =
rT =
G L |s22 |
1 + G L |s22 |2

1 G L 1 |s22 |2
1 + G L |s22 |2
(12.37)
(12.38)
The same considerations are possible concerning factor GS of formula (12.35), i.e.,
replacing s22 by s11 and GL by GS in formula (12.37) to (12.38).
The insertion gain is a figure of merit that compares the situation of the source and
load connected without the amplifier to the situation with the amplifier in between. The
602
insertion gain GINS is defined as the ratio of the power PDO that is delivered at the
amplifiers output to the load L versus the power that is delivered from the source S if
the load L is directly connected to the source.
G INS =
|s21 |2 |1 S L |2
|(1 s11 S ) (1 s22 L ) s12 s21 S L |2
(12.39)
For reflection coefficients S = L = 0, as occurs ideally with a VNA, the insertion gain
becomes equal to G0 = (s21 )2 .
12.4.2
Efficiency factor
Low power consumption is an important requirement not only for battery-operated power
amplifiers but also because lost power is converted to heat. The efficiency describes the
percentage of applied power that is converted to RF power.
The drain efficiency is simply the ratio of the output RF power to the DC input power
necessary to bias the amplifier. This definition does not consider the incident RF power
that is fed to the amplifiers input, and that may be a substantial value in the case of a
power amplifier. The (PAE) is a more adequate measure. It is the ratio of the RF power
added by the amplifier to the DC bias power. The RF power added is the difference
between the power PDO delivered to the load at the output and the power PDS delivered to
the amplifiers input. The DC power is calculated from bias voltage v DC and bias current
iDC using PDC = v DC iDC .
PAE1 =
PD O PDS
100%.
PDC
(12.40)
An alternative definition of the PAE considers the amplifiers input power using the
available power PAS instead of the delivered power PDS , as a consequence this definition
counts mismatch loss at the amplifiers input as a degrading effect on the efficiency,
which is more realistic.
PAE2 =
|b2 |2 |a1 |2
PD O PAS
100% =
100%.
PDC
PDC
(12.41)
A VNA with an active test set can directly bias an active device through its test
ports without the need for a bias network between test port and DUT. In this case,
characterization of the active device can be done without a degradation in directivity
and without the need for de-embedding the bias network. Modern VNAs have special
DC measurement inputs for measuring the DC power consumption of the amplifier
under test. The voltage v BS can usually be applied directly to these inputs. However, the
current iBS must be measured indirectly as a voltage drop across a precision resistor.
The efficiency can be calculated automatically from the DC measurements and the wave
quantities. It should not be overlooked that nonlinear effects cause the efficiency of a
power amplifier to be dependent on several parameters:
1. The PAE can be improved by optimized input and output terminations for fundamental
frequency and higher-order harmonics.
2. The PAE typically reaches its maximum near the 1 dB compression point.
0
0
f0
f1
f2
603
arg(s 21(f ))
Figure 12.20 Definition of the group delay.
3. The PAE depends on the operating frequency (similar to gain).

4. The PAE is strongly related to the bias conditions.
A VNA offers frequency sweeps, power sweeps or CW sweeps helping to search for the
best operating parameters. Optimizing the PAE experimentally over input and output
impedance requires the load and source pull technique (see Section 12.5.4).
12.4.3
Linear distortion, phase and group delay measurement

A two-port network is free of linear distortion in a specific frequency range f1 to f2 if it
meets the following requirements in this frequency range:
r constant group delay G in the interval f1 to f2 (see Figure 12.20);
r constant magnitude of the transmission coefficient | s21 ( f0 )|.
Under these circumstances, the group delay G is a measure of how long it takes the
modulation components of a signal with frequency f [f1 , f2 ] to propagate through
the amplifier. These spectral components can be observed in the time-domain as the
envelope curve of the modulated signal.
The group delay G is typically calculated from the transmission coefficient s21 . The
group delay G ( f0 ) is defined as the slope of the phase arg(s21 ( f0 )) at the frequency f0 .
This slope is scaled by the factor 1/(2) or 1/360 , yielding the physical unit of the
group delay to be the second (s).
G ( f 0 ) =
1 d
arg (s21 ( f 0 ))
360 d f
(12.42)
Academic examples are based on algebraic expressions which can be directly inserted
in to formula (12.42) to derive them by algebraic means. In contrast, a network analyzer
measures S-parameters over a discrete frequency axis. This frequency axis has a step size
of f. Therefore, the derivative d/df must be approximated numerically by a difference
quotient. For greater flexibility, it is useful to distinguish between f and a frequency
step size of fd = Df, which is used for calculating the difference quotient, known as
the aperture. The factor is then called aperture stepwidth.
G ( f 0 )
1 arg (s21 ( f 0 + f d /2)) arg (s21 ( f 0 f d /2))

360
fd
(12.43)
604
Trc1
S21 Delay 30 ns/ Ref 80 ns
S21
Aperture
selected
optimal
200
170
140
110
80
Aperture
selected
too large
50
20
10
40
Aperture selected too small
Ch1 Center 2.222 GHz
Pwr 16 dB m
Span 60 MHz
Figure 12.21 Examples for group delay measurements of a bandpass filter with a VNA [4].
f
arg(s21(f 0)) arg(s21(0))
f0
arg(s21 (f ))
Figure 12.22 Definition of the phase delay.
The selected aperture fd has an influence on the calculated group delay curve G ( f ).
A value that is too large results in a loss of details, while a value that is too small will
overemphasize the influence of the noise that is superimposed on the measured values
(see Figure 12.21). Unfortunately, there is no general rule for selecting the aperture.
The necessary value must be determined empirically and should be stated with the
result.
The phase delay P ( f ) is a function of the absolute phase at frequency f. It is normally
calculated from the transmission coefficient s21 .
The phase delay P ( f ) is proportional to the phase range covered between 0 Hz and the
observed frequency point f divided by the frequency of observation. In this computation,
605
the phase at 0 Hz is assumed to be arg(s21 (0 Hz)) = 0 even if it is theoretically not

defined because of s21 (0 Hz) = 0.
P =
1 arg(s21 ( f )) arg(s21 (0 Hz))

3600
f
(12.44)
In a dispersion-free network, the phase delay remains at a constant value that is specific
for this network (e.g., a TEM transmission line). This value indicates the time delay in
seconds experienced by any sinusoidal component when passing through the network.
Thus, the phase delay is strongly related to the length of a transmission line. Typical
transmission lines exhibit a phase delay of a few ps up to a few ns for longer lines.
Network analyzers typically use the phase value at the start and stop frequency of the
sweep instead of the phase value at 0 Hz and f. Consequently, they use the difference
between the stop and start frequency in the denominator of formula (12.44).
12.4.4
Linear stability considerations

Instability is a basic risk with any power amplifier (PA). In an unstable state, the amplifier
acts like an oscillator and will produce an (undesired) output signal even if there is no
input signal present. In the rest of the frequency range, the oscillation will reduce the gain
in most cases. For amplifiers measured far below their saturation power, it is important
to know that when the amplifier starts oscillation it typically produces an output power
with a level up to its saturation power. If the measurement equipment is not designed for
that power, it may be damaged. The stability considerations have to be applied for all
potential oscillation frequencies and not only for the operating frequency band in which
the amplifier is intended to be used. The active circuit elements (transistors) exhibit
a unity gain frequency fu upon which they turn into passive devices. Therefore, it is
sufficient to consider the frequency range [0; fu ] for stability analysis. The calculations
presented here are based on a pure linear circuit model and on the assumption that all
parameters are accessible (this is violated in a multiple stage amplifier which requires a
separate analysis for each individual stage).
The first step is to consider a simple circuit consisting of a source (reflection coefficient
S ) being connected to a load L (Figure 12.23a). The initial wave launched by the source
is reflected by the load L and travels back to the source. At the source, in turn, it is
reflected back with S . This complete cycle exhibits a weight of S L . The power
during a cycle obviously increases if | S L | > 1. This is equivalent to unstable
behavior. However, the circuit can be predicted as stable if
| S | | L | < 1
(12.45)
The next step is to consider an amplifier that exhibits two loops, one at the input and one
at the output (see Figure 12.23c). Formula (12.45) must be rewritten as | S | | IN | < 1
for the input loop and as | L | | OUT | < 1 for the output loop. The source and load are
assumed to have positive resistance, which is equivalent to
|S | 1
(12.46)
606
Simple loop
Source
a0 1
Amplifier
Source
IN
Load
a0 1
L
b
Load
a1
s21
s11
s22
s12
Input loop
b2
L
a2
b1
Equivalent circuits
a0 1
a1
Output loop
a0 1
a2
IN OUT
b1
L
b2
OUT
Figure 12.23 Signal flow chart for determining stability.
and
| L | 1
(12.47)
Applying the constraint (12.45) for a stable condition to the input and output loops leads
to | IN | < 1 and | OUT | < 1, respectively. It is now necessary to redraw the amplifiers
signal flow chat (Figure 12.23b) to the simplified equivalent chart (Figure 12.23 c) used
above. IN has to consider the s11 -parameter but also the output embedding L s11 as
it is passed through the amplifier by s12 and s21 . A similar consideration holds for OUT .
Consequently, the conditions | IN | < 1 and | OUT | < 1 can be expanded to

s11 + s12 s21 L < 1
(12.48)

1 s22 L

s22 + s12 s21 S < 1
(12.49)

1 s11 S
The independent variable to solve equation (12.48) is L . The boundary case (using
= 1 instead of <1) leads to a solution in the form of a circle with a center at cs
and a radius rs in the Smith chart of the load reflection coefficient L (see examples in
Figure 12.24).
cS =
rS =
s22 (det(S)) s11

|det(S)|2 |s22 |2
(12.50)
|s12 s21 |
|det(S)|2 |s22 |2
(12.51)
Inserting a test value, e.g., L = 0, makes it possible to determine whether the stable
region is inside the circle (Figure 12.24 b, d) or outside the circle (Figure 12.24 a, c).
With the initial condition (12.47) in mind, the next step is to construct the intersection
with the unity circle of the Smith chart to obtain the stable region.
If the unity circle is not completely in the area pointed out by the stability circle
(see Figure 12.24 c, d), the amplifier is only conditional stable for L . That means it is
607
rS
cS
cS
rS
(a)
(b)
rS
rS
cS
= Stable region
cS
(c)
(d)
Figure 12.24 Different cases of stability circles.
only stable for specific values of L . All considerations have to be repeated with s by
changing s11 and s22 in formulas (12.50) or (12.51). If the unity circle of both Smith
charts L and s is inside the corresponding stability circle (see Figure 12.23 a, b), the
amplifier is called unconditional stable. In other words, it is stable for all passive load
and source reflection coefficients (see formulas 12.46 to 12.47).
Another linear approach is the stability factor k, by Rollet [11]. It is well known in
the literature and is directly supported by most VNAs.
k=
1 + (det(S))2 |s11 |2 |s22 |2

2 |s12 s21 |
(12.52)
However, the condition k > 1 is required but not sufficient for unconditional stability.
To become a required and also sufficient criterion, then either
|s12 s21 | < 1 |s11 |2
(12.53)
|s12 s21 | < 1 |s22 |2
(12.54)
or
Alternatively, a different definition of stability factors 1 or 2 known from the literature

[12] can be used. For the unconditional stability of linear two-port devices, it is necessary
608
Single ended transmission lines

(a)
(c)
(b)
GND
GND
GND
(d)
GND
(e)
GND
Symmetrical transmission lines with ground

(f)
GND
GND
(h)
(g)
GND
(i)
GND
(j)
GND
Symmetrical transmission lines ground suspended

(m)
(k)
(l)
Figure 12.25 Typical single-ended and symmetrical transmission lines; (a) coaxial line,
(b) microstrip line, (c) triplate line (strip line), (d) coplanar line, (e) grounded coplanar line,
(f) shielded twisted pair, (g) symmetrical microstrip line, (h) symmetrical triplate line,
(i) symmetrical coplanar line, (j) symmetrical grounded coplanar line, (k) twisted pair,
(l) suspended ground symmetrical microstrip line, (m) suspended ground strip line.
and sufficient to check one of the factors either 1 > 1 or 2 > 1 offering a compact
criterion.
12.4.5
1 |s11 |2

1 =
s22 s11
det(S) + |s21 s12 |
(12.55)
1 |s22 |2

2 =
s11 s22 det(S) + |s21 s12 |
(12.56)
Mixed-mode S-parameters
Symmetrical transmission lines (see Figure 12.25 fm) are used in several applications
because, when compared to single ended designs (see Figure 12.25 ae), they offer
improved immunity against EM interference and they come with reduced radiation due
to mutual compensation of both symmetric conductors. Many antenna designs (dipole
antenna, loop antenna) are based on differential feeding. To avoid the necessary balun
with its imperfections and to benefit from differential design, a comprehensive concept
including a power amplifier with differential ports and symmetrical transmission to the
antenna offers a promising alternative to traditional single-ended concepts.
If a signal is transmitted over a pair of symmetrical coupled conductors, interferences
can be expected to be coupled into both lines equally. On the other hand, if the wanted
signal is fed into one conductor with 0 phase shift and into the other conductor with 180
phase shift, it is very easy to distinguish the arising differential signal from the commonmode interferences. In the real world, however, a ground is usually present near the line.
609
Therefore, not only the desired differential-mode signal, but also a common-mode signal
can propagate along the transmission line. A mode conversion between common and
differential mode must be avoided since otherwise a clear distinction between the wanted
signal and the interference is no longer possible. These considerations can be expanded
to any four-pole structure used for differential signals (including differential power
amplifiers). A description is required that allows a separate observation of the differential
and common modes and that provides information about the mode conversion. Two
physical ports with single-ended wave quantities a1 , b1 and a3 , b3 are combined to form
a balanced port. From the four-pole theory the differential mode voltage v d = v 1 v 3 ,
the differential mode current id = 1/2(i1 i3 ), common mode voltage v c = 1/2(v 1 + v 3 )
and the common mode current ic = i1 + i3 are known. However, voltage and current are
awkward in the microwave range. To adapt these to wave quantities ac , bc (commonmode wave quantities) and ad , bd (differential wave quantities) the well-known relation
a = (v + iZ0 )/(4Z0 )1/2 and b = (v iZ0 )/(4Z0 )1/2 with the related system impedances
Z0 (single-ended), Z0c (common mode), or Z0d (differential mode) can be used to form a
direct relation between single-ended and common-mode wave quantities or single-ended
and differential-mode wave quantities:

(2Z 0 + Z 0d ) (a1 a3 ) + (2Z 0 Z 0d ) (b1 b3 )
ad =
4 Z 0d Z 0
(12.57)

(2Z 0 Z 0d ) (a1 a3 ) + (2Z 0 + Z 0d ) (b1 b3 )
bd =
4 Z 0d Z 0
(12.58)

(Z 0 + 2Z 0c ) (a1 + a3 ) + (Z 0 2Z 0c ) (b1 + b3 )
ac =
4 Z 0c Z 0
(12.59)

(Z 0 2Z 0c ) (a1 + a3 ) + (Z 0 + 2Z 0c ) (b1 + b3 )
bc =
4 Z 0c Z 0
(12.60)
The parts of formulas (12.57) to (12.60) that are marked with an asterisk will disappear if
the differential mode system impedance Z0d and the common mode system impedances
Z0c are selected so that they meet the following relation with the single-ended system
impedances Z0 .
Z 0d = 2Z 0
(12.61)
Z 0c = Z 0 /2
(12.62)
and
This means that single-ended and balanced-wave quantities can be transformed into one
another without any mixing between incident and reflected waves. This is equivalent to
a matched transition between a single-ended design (e.g., the test ports of VNA with
Z0 = 50 ) and a symmetrical transmission line (e.g., offering characteristic impedances
610
Z0d = 100 and Z0c = 25 ). Using the relations stated above, a VNA can measure balanced S-parameters by calculating them from single-ended measurements. This method
is known from [13] as modal decomposition.
During these measurements, the number of active ports is always one. But certain
nonlinear balanced devices are sensitive to the excitation scheme, necessitating a true
differential stimulus. This stimulus involves two active ports with the same stimulus
frequency but adjustable phase relation, e.g., 180 (differential mode excitation) or 0
(common mode excitation).
A balanced one-port device has two physical ports. Equivalent to formula (12.21), it
can be described by means of reflection coefficients.

dd dc
ad
bd
=
(12.63)
bc
cd cc
ac
Reflection coefficients cc and dd describe reflections that are within common or
differential mode, whereas reflection coefficients cd and DC describe transmodal
reflections that have incident and reflected waves belonging to different modes.
A balanced two-port consists of four physical ports 14 that can be grouped as
balanced port 1 (physical port 1, 3) and balanced port 2 (physical port 2, 4). The
following is the multimode equivalent of formula (12.20).
bd1
sdd11 sdd12 sdc11 sdc12
ad1
bd2 sdd21 sdd22 sdc21 sdc22 ad2
(12.64)
bc1 = scd11 scd12 scc11 scc12 ac1
bc2
scd21
scd22
scc21
scc22
ac2
The upper left and the lower right quadrant of the mixed mode S-parameter matrix (12.64)
describe S-parameters that belong to one certain mode. In contrast, the upper right and
lower left quadrant describe intermodal S-parameters that have incident and reflected
waves belonging to different modes. An ideal differential amplifier should exhibit
those S-parameters as 0. Input and output reflection should be sdd11 = sdd22 = scc11 =
scc22 = 0. The S-parameter sdd21 is responsible for the desired differential mode gain,
while scc21 belongs to the common mode gain. Assuming the assignment of physical ports
as above, the multimode S-matrix can be calculated from single-ended measurements
(matrix S) as follows:
bd1
1 0 1 0
1
0
1 0
ad1
bd2 1 0 1 0
1
1
0 1
S 0
ad2 (12.65)
bc1 = 2 1 0 1
ac1
0
1 0
1 0
bc2
ac2
0 1 0
1
0
1 0 1
A description of cascaded balanced systems and balanced de-embedding techniques can
be found in reference [14].
Active or passive baluns are three-port devices that are used as an interface between
the single-ended and the balanced world. Assuming port 1 as single-ended and
611
ports 2, 3 to form the balanced port 2, the following mixed mode S-parameter matrix
can be stated.

sss11 ssd12 ssc12

as1
bs1
bd2 = sds21 sdd22 sdc22 ad2
(12.66)
bc2
scs21 scd22 scc22
ac2
The parameter sds21 describes the conversion from single-ended to differential mode
and ssd12 describes the opposite direction. The matching of the balun is stated by sss11 ,
sdd22 , scc22 . The parameter scs21 and ssc12 are the unwanted transmissions. Assuming the
assignment of physical ports 13 as above, the multimode S-matrix can be calculated
from single-ended measurements (matrix S) using
as1
bs1
2 0 0
2 0
0
1
bd2 = 0
(12.67)
1 1 S 0
1
1 ad1
2
bc2
ac2
0
1 1
0
1 1
The common-mode rejection ratio CMRR characterizes how much the separation of the
differential mode and the common mode is maintained when the signal passes through
the balun. It can be directly calculated from (12.66) depending on the direction of signal
flow.
|sds21 |
(12.68)
CMMR = 20 log10
|scs21 |
or
|ssd12 |
CMMR = 20 log10
(12.69)
|ssc12 |
12.5
Nonlinear measurements
Power amplifiers are typically operated in the nonlinear region. Therefore, nonlinear
measurements are of primary importance.
12.5.1
Intermodulation distortion (IMD) and harmonic distortion (HMD)

Nonlinear distortions have been discussed extensively in previous chapters. IMD and
harmonic distortion are explained by a Taylor series model of the DUT considering
two-tone or single tone excitation, respectively. Figure 12.26 shows a typical output
spectrum of an amplifier fed by a two-tone signal.
The level differences DIM2 , DIM3 (in dBc) between LOUT (in dBm) at fundamental
frequencies and a second- or third-order intermodulation product LIM2OUT or LIM3OUT
(in dBm) are referred to as intermodulation suppression DIM2 , DIM3 .
DIM2 = L OUT L IM2OUT
(12.70)
DIM3 = L OUT L IM3OUT
(12.71)
612
20
LOUT/dB m
LOUT/dB m
DIM3/dBc
15
10
DH3/dBc
DIM2/dBc
LIM3OUT/dB m
DH2/dBc
5
0
LIM2OUT/dB m
LH 3/dB m
LH 2/dB m
10
15
f1 f2
2f1 f2 f1 f2 2f2 f1
20
2f1
2f2
3f1
f1 + f2
Ch1 Start 10 Hz
3f2
2f1 + f2
2f2 + f1
Stop 10 GHz
Figure 12.26 Spectrum analyzer readout with intermodulation products.
Two important properties that characterize the DUT are the second-order intercept point
(SOI) IP2 and the third-order intercept point (TOI) IP3 . They can be related either to
the input level LIN (in dBm) or to the output level LOUT = LIN + G (in dBm). Generally, intercept points IPn of nth order can be defined for higher-order intermodulation
suppression DIMn (in dBc) according to
L IP2IN = DIM2 + L IN
DIM3
+ L IN
2
DIMn
=
+ L IN
n1
(12.72)
L IP3IN =
(12.73)
L IPnIN
(12.74)
L IP2OUT = L IP2IN + G = DIM2 + L OUT

DIM3
+ L OUT
2
DIMn
+G =
+ L OUT
n1
(12.75)
L IP3OUT = L IP3IN + G =
(12.76)
L IPnOUT = L IPnIN
(12.77)
The level LIP3IN corresponds to the fictitious input level at which the output level LOUT
of the fundamental frequencies and the output level LIM3OUT of the third-order intermodulation product are the same value. IP3 is not attained in most cases due to saturation
effects, but it is useful for a global characterization of the DUT. Using it, the two
straight lines for LOUT and LIM3OUT can be constructed immediately without requiring
613
LOUT
dB m
IP2
LIP 2OUT
IP3
LIP 3OUT
LOUT
LOUT
2 dB m
1 dB m
LIM 3OUT
1 dB m
LIM 2OUT
Saturation
3 dB m
DIM 2(Lx)
DIM 3(Lx)
1 dB m
1dB m
Lx
LIP3IN
LIP2IN LIN dB m
Figure 12.27 Second- and third-order intercept points [4].
any additional information (see Figure 12.27), and the intermodulation suppression DIM3
for various input levels can be predicted. On the other hand, the intercept points IP2
and IP3 can be determined graphically using the straight-line slopes outside the saturation area in order to construct the point IP3 (LIM3IN , LIM3OUT ) in the power sweep
(Figure 12.27). However, measurements are typically performed as shown in
Figure 12.26, yielding the values (LOUT , DIM2 , DIM3 ) only for a certain input level
LIN . When applying formulas (12.72) to (12.77), the user must make sure that the DUT
has not been measured in its saturation area.
The two-tone stimulus can be generated using two RF generators with the same
output level. All instruments should be synchronized to a common frequency reference,
e.g., the internal reference of generator 1 (see Figure 12.28). Lowpass filters can be
applied to reduce higher harmonics of the driving signals beyond the 50 dBc of a highend signal generator. One main aspect is to avoid any significant intermodulation in the
instrumentation so that measured values can clearly be assigned to the DUT. A difference
of at least 10 dB between DUT and instrumentation is a rule of thumb. Typical problems
experienced in a measurement setup are as follows:
1. The mutual intermodulation between the two signal generators must be reduced by
applying a coupler or Wilkinson divider and optional isolators.
2. A booster amplifier to amplify the two-tone signal should be avoided. Instead, separate
amplifiers should be used for each tone.
614
Generator 1
Lowpass
Frequency f1 Driver
Magnitude A1=A(optional) (optional)
Bias
source
10 MHz
Reference
Isolator
(optional)
10 MHz
Reference
Combiner
network
Isolator
(optional)
High-power
attenuator or
coupler with
dummy load
DC
Z0
Amplifier
under test
Spectrum
analyzer
Two-tone
stimulus
Z0
Typical combiner networks
Power splitter
Coupler or Wilkinson
Power divider
Generator 2
Driver
Lowpass
Frequency f2 (optional) (optional)
Magnitude A2=A
Z0
Z0
Matching towards DUT

Matching towards inputs
typ. > 20 dB
typ. < 12 dB
Isolation between inputs
typ. < 12 dB
Insertion loss
typ. > 6 dB
Z0/3
Z0/3
Z0/3
Z0
typ. > 20 dB
typ. > 20 dB
typ. > 20 dB
typ. > 20 dB
typ. < 6 dB
typ. > 20 dB
typ. > 6 dB
typ. > 3 dB
Figure 12.28 Measurement setup for intermodulation measurements.
3. Passive intermodulation (PIM) occurs in passive devices. If connectors are not tightened properly or if their contacts are dirty, oxidized or made of two galvanically
unmatched metals, these junctions form a weak nonlinear transition. If circulators or
transformers are operated to saturation, they also behave as nonlinear components.
The PIM is typically below 110 dBmc, and high power levels are required for these
effects to occur.
4. To assess the intermodulation of the spectrum analyzer, its step attenuators can be
used. Since these mechanical attenuators consist of passive resistor networks, their
intermodulation effects are negligible. If the step attenuator is increased, the input
level of the internal receiver will decrease. The attenuator setting is compensated
on the display so that displayed power remains constant. Inter-modulation products
that are generated outside the spectrum analyzer will behave the same. In contrast,
intermodulation generated in the spectrum analyzer will vary by more than the
attenuator setting and can therefore be distinguished.
For some devices (e.g., FET), the IPn also depends on the input level because these
devices defy a Taylor series approximation.
A simplified setup can be achieved by reducing Figure 12.28 to only one signal generator to measure the harmonic distortion (HMD). Because no second tone is present, only
harmonics LOUT , LH2 , LH3 , . . . , LHk at f1 , 2f1 , 3f1 , . . . , kf1 will occur at the measurement
615
result (Figure 12.26). The harmonic suppression DHn (in dBc) can be calculated from
the output level LOUT (in dBm).
D H n = L OUT L H n .
(12.78)
As with equations (12.74) and (12.77), an nth order intercept point for harmonics
can be calculated using DHn instead of DIMn . A quite different approach is to use the
harmonic suppression values DH1 and DH2 to predict the intermodulation suppression
DIM2 and DIM3 as presented in reference [15] or [16]. Based on the DIM2 and DIM3
values an intercept point related to intermodulation can then be predicted. However, this
calculation assumes that the Taylor series is a valid approximation of the DUT, which
may be doubtful in the context of power amplifiers.
D H 2 = DIM2 + 6.02dB
(12.79)
D H 3 = DIM3 + 9.54dB
(12.80)
The total harmonic distortion (THD) is calculated from the sum of all higher harmonic
powers divided by the power at fundamental frequency. It can be calculated from the
output level at fundamental frequency Lout (in dBm) and the higher-order harmonic
levels LHn (in dBm).
$
10(L H n /10)
n=2
THD = 10 log10
10 L OUT /10
12.5.2
(12.81)
Compression point
The saturation effect seen on the fundamental frequency (see Figure 12.27) is used to
define the 1 dB compression point. This is the point (LIN1 dB , LOUT1 dB ) at which the
level LOUT is 1 dB less than the expected value assuming a linear increase. Most power
amplifiers are specified by the output level LOUT1 dB and not the input level LIN1 dB of
the 1 dB compression point. A VNA supplemented by high-power setup (see Section
12.3.7) and calibrated using a power meter is a convenient way to achieve a power sweep
and to find the compression point on the s21 trace as a drop by 1 dB (see Figure 12.29).
This can be automated by marker functions providing LIN1 dB and LOUT1 dB levels. It is
also common practice to define a 0.1 dB compression point.
In some literature e.g., [15], the relation between the output-related 1 dB compression
point LOUT1 dB and the output-related third-order intercept point LIP3OUT may be found
as LOUT1 dB = LIP3OUT 10.63 dB. However, it is only valid if the Taylor series approximation holds true for the DUT, which is typically not the case for power amplifiers.
As a rule of thumb a difference of typically 10 dB to 15 dB is observed in real-world
examples.
616
File Trace Channel Display System Window Info Help

Compression Level:
1 dB
Trace Punct
Trace Statist
Min/
1
Max/
Peak-Peak
Close
1 dB Compression Point
Trc1 S21 dB Mag 1dB/ Ref 0 dB

Mkr 1 14.40 dB m
S21
26
Trace Statistics
Cmp In:
Cmp Out
25
2.826 dB
Mean/
Std Dev
11.7 dB m
23.5 dB m
RMS
24
Mkr 1
Phase Delay/
El Length
Cmp
22
Compression
Point
21
Define
Compression
Value...
Eval
Range
...
20
21
22
Ch1 Mix Start -15 dB m
Freq 4 GHz
Stop 15 dB m
- Menu UpLOCAL
Figure 12.29 A power sweep with automated compression point measurement [4].
12.5.3
Large-signal network analysis

A current application of harmonic measurements is to reconstruct the time domain
signal at the input and output of a DUT. Time domain analysis provides deep insight
into an amplifiers operating class (A, B, AB, etc.) and helps to select the optimum bias
point. Traditional time domain analysis involved oscilloscopes and was restricted to a
maximum frequency in the GHz range and had a dynamic range of about 30 dB. This
is not sufficient for up-to-date needs. A VNA operating in the frequency domain offers
a dynamic range beyond 130 dB and a maximum frequency of 67 GHz or even higher.
A VNA is able to measure absolute power levels but the phase is always measured
relatively between test ports. It is not possible to yield meaningful phase information
when displaying the phase of a wave quantity versus frequency. The phase will alter from
sweep to sweep because there is no fixed phase relation between stimulus generator and
the LO (see Figure 12.13). This is sufficient for S-parameter measurement because, from
equation (12.19), the common arbitrary phase offsets of the wave quantities bi and ak
cancels out. To obtain a stable phase for wave quantities, one of the receivers must be
freed up so that it can receive the comb spectrum generated by the synchronizer. The
synchronizer is driven by a fixed frequency that is adjusted prior to the measurement
setup, and defines the frequency spacing of the comb spectrum (see Figure 12.30). The
comb spectrum provides a set of constant phase relations for different frequencies which
all wave quantities can be related to. This setup is often called a large signal network
analyzer (LSNA).
617
LO
generator
Generator
3 GHz + fIF
1st Stimulus
generator
2nd Stimulus
generator
1 GHz
3 GHz
1 GHz
1 GHz
IFb1
IFa1
IFa2
IFb2
IFphase
Receiver section
Test set
Test port 1
1 GHz
External
termination
Test port 2
3 GHz
DUT
Synchronizer
Figure 12.30 A VNA supplemented to form a LSNA according to reference [17].
After the comb generator has been configured, a receiver and stimulus level calibration
must be performed using a power sensor followed by a receiver phase calibration using
a precision phase reference. These calibration steps also involve the use of a standard
calibration kit. The following formulas are based on the Fourier series and the permissible
assumption of real-valued time-domain wave quantities a(t), b(t).

N 1

2 nm
2
|a( f 0 n)| cos
a(t m) =
+ arg(a( f 0 n)
2N 1 n=1
2N 1
(12.82)

N 1

2 nm
2
|b( f 0 n)| cos
b(t m) =
+ arg(b( f 0 n)
2N 1 n=1
2N 1
(12.83)
t =
1
f 0 (2N 1)
(12.84)
In the above equations, the time resolution t is based on the fundamental frequency f0
and the number of harmonics N. Applying techniques such as windowing or extrapolation
with linear prediction to the frequency-domain samples may lead to further improvement.
The time-domain voltage v(t) and current i(t) can be calculated from the wave quantities
a(t) and b(t) and the reference impedance Z0 and the DC values measured from the bias
condition (v DC , iDC ):

v(t) = Z 0 (a(t) + b(t)) + v DC
(12.85)
1
(12.86)
i(t) = (a(t) b(t)) + i DC .
Z0
An example of v(t) and i(t) of an AB class amplifier is shown in Figure 12.31.
160 m
140 m
120 m
5
4
100 m
80 m
60 m
40 m
20 m
0
0
500 p
1n
Time (s)
1.5 n
2n
500 p
1n
Time (s)
1.5 n
2n
Figure 12.31 Voltage and current at an Excelis EPA120B amplifier output driven with 1 GHz
sinusoidal input, courtesy of [17].
160 m
140 m
120 m
V(m)
100 m
A
618
80 m
60 m
40 m
20 m
0
0
Figure 12.32 Dynamic load line corresponding to Figure 12.31, courtesy of reference [17].
The waveform of the output current is typically described using the conduction angle
(in or rad). It represents the proportion of the RF cycle for which the device is active.
Figure 12.31 displays a conduction angle = 360 700 ps/1 ns = 252 . A typical
visualization tool is the dynamic load line as shown in Figure 13.32. The tuple of drain
voltage and current (vD (t), iD (t)) of a complete RF cycle are plotted on top of the DC
IV curves that have been precharacterized for different gate voltages. Figure 13.32 uses
a color code (reprinted in gray scale) to assign the relevant gate voltage to all measured
voltages. It reveals that a gate voltage down to 1.8 V is used and that a phase shift
between dynamic gate voltage and static IV curves occurs. By changing the external
termination in Figure 12.30 from match to open the influence of load termination on the
dynamic load line can be studied, which leads to the topic of the next section.
619
Load/source-pull
principles
Passive
Principles
Solid-state
tuners
Active
principles
Mechanical
tuners
Active
loop
Source signal
splitting
DUT
DUT
Slide screw
tuner
Slug
Stub
tuner
y
Mechanical
sketches
Short or open
Iy
Z0
I0 - Ix
Zy
Z0
Iy
Ix
Single screw
tuner
x and y movement
necessary
Equivalent
circuits
Z0
Z0
Ix
Multiple screw
tuner
Prematching
tuner
Combines 2 slugs
to yield high
Z0
I0 Ix
Single stub
tuner
x and y movement
necessary
Non-varying x
tuner
2-3 slugs to avoid
x movement
Multiple stub
tuner
Prematching
tuner
Combines 2 stubs
to yield high
Non-varying x
tuner
2-3 stubs to avoid
x movement
Figure 12.33 Source- and load-pull principles.
12.5.4
Load- and source-pull measurements

A good power amplifier design utilizes the power capability of an active device with
good efficiency for a specified complex modulated signal. One of the main tasks is to
design optimal input and output matching. A straightforward approach is to determine
the required impedances by varying the source impedance S and load impedance L
provided to the active device using a measurement setup called a load- and source-pull
system. Figure 12.33 provides an overview of principles that can be applied.
Active systems are based on injecting signals with adjustable phase and magnitude
to mimic the reflected wave of a specific load impedance. The required signal can be
generated from an active loop or branched from the stimulus source. These techniques
offer the unique capability to synthesize load impedances with || = 1 or (to compensate
620
Bias
DUT
Tuner 3f0
influences f0
Tuner 2f0
influences f0
Power
sensor
Tuner f0
Figure 12.34 The cascaded tuner method of harmonic load-pull.
Bias
Power
sensor
Tuner f0
DUT
Triplexer
(losses, band
limitation)
Tuner 2f0
Match
Tuner 3f0
Match
Figure 12.35 The triplexer method of harmonic load-pull.
for losses) even || > 1. However, active systems include the risk of oscillation due to
a loop architecture or when || > 1 is directly applied to the DUT.
Passive tuners operate like adjustable line transformers. They employ cascaded transmission lines, where some of them have adjustable impedances and positions (slide screw
tuner) or a variable shunt susceptances of one or more short-circuited variable length
lines (stub tuner). The number of elements (slugs or stubs) can be increased to eliminate
x movement or to yield a high VSWR value of approximately 200:1 from a combination
of medium VSWR elements. Tuners can be operated manually or automated by precision stepping motors. Alternatively, several fixed stubs can be combined by a PIN-diode
switching network to eliminate the mechanical problems (response time, wear-out) but
with the tradeoff of additional losses and reduced power handling capability.
An amplifiers efficiency is considerably improved by shorting its higher harmonics
2f0 and 3f0 which means that reflection factors of ideally | L (2f0 )| = 1 and | L (3f0 )| =
1 with an adjustable phase are required. Fundamental tuning, which controls only the
load condition L ( f0 ) at the fundamental frequency f0 , can be expanded by additional
hardware to control the load condition at one or more harmonics (harmonic tuning).
With a cascaded structure (Figure 12.34), the harmonic tuners 3f0 and 2f0 are typically
placed next to the DUT to avoid unnecessary degradation of | L (2f0 )| and | L (3f0 )| due
to losses. Stub tuners or prematching tuners used for this purpose are optimized. But
tuning the harmonics has a significant effect on the fundamental impedance, requiring
its re-tuning after the harmonics are set and vice versa. This may lead to an iterative
process. The triplexer method (Figure 12.35) uses filters to decouple the tuners and
allows independent tuning of f0 , 2f0 , and 3f0 . The main disadvantage of this method is
limited bandwidth caused by the filters/triplexer. Active harmonic pull (Figure 12.36)
can be achieved in several ways. It can even be combined with passive tuners to boost
their | L (2f0 )| and | L (3f0 )| values.
621
3f0
2f0
f0
Bias
DUT
Figure 12.36 Harmonic active load-pull setup.
Dual channel power meter
PC
Automatic bias supply

Remote
control
Tuner
controller
Power
Booster
sensor
and
A
isolator
(optional)
RF
source
High-power Filter
and
attenuator
(optional) isolator
(optional)
Tuners
DUT
Power
sensor
B
Tuners
Input block
Output block
Figure 12.37 Source- and load-pull setup for performing power measurements.
The block diagrams can be supplemented to form the complete load- and source-pull
setup shown in Figure 12.37. It is used to perform typical power measurements. During
a precalibration step with a VNA directly connected to the input or output block, the
S-parameters of various tuner settings are obtained. After calibration, a required load and
source impedance combination can be synthesized automatically by the tuner control
software.
The DUT measurement relies on the power measurements performed by two power
sensors and a correction scheme that calculates the available input power PAS at the
DUT from the available gain of the input block (see formula (12.33)) and the readout
of power sensor A. By taking the delivered power (power sensor B) and the operating
power gain (see formula (12.34)) of the output block, the delivered power PDO from the
DUT can be calculated. Using these two corrected measurement values, the transducer
gain can be calculated as follows:
G T,DUT =
PAS
PD O
(12.87)
622
Other typical properties can be analyzed as a function of the load/source match:

r PAE2 calculated from formula (12.41);
r harmonic distortion using a spectrum analyzer instead of power sensor B;
r intermodulation distortion by replacing the RF source with a two-tone source as
described in Figure 12.28 and using a spectrum analyzer; because tuners synthesize
the desired impedances only in a narrowband manner, spacing of the two-tone signal
must be selected carefully.
The impedance setting of the tuner cannot be monitored during DUT measurement. The
measurement relies on the repeatability of the tuner. One means of verification is to
replace the DUT by a through with known S-parameters. Using formula (12.32), the
transducer gain GT of the through can be predicted for various source- and load-pull
settings ( S , L ). These values are then compared to the transducer gain measured as
described above.
Before the delivered input power at the DUT can be calculated, the input reflection
factor of the DUT must be determined. This measurement also reveals that the input
reflection factor depends on both the power level and the load matching. To do this, power
sensor A and its coupler are replaced by the test set of a VNA. The VNA is calibrated
to the input of the source tuner, and the reference plane is then shifted to the DUT, thus
de-embedding the input block by its known S-parameters. Similar measurements can be
done at the output to obtain the available power of the DUT.
The tuner and coupler can be interchanged so that the coupler is next to the DUT.
For greater insight, this arrangement can be used with a LSNA (see Figure 12.30). The
influence of the LSNAs test set has to be included in the source/load block characterization (precalibration step of tuners). The test sets loss may prevent the system from
applying the tuners maximum || to the DUT.
12.5.5
Hot S-parameters
The characteristics of PAs are power-level dependent, especially since the amplifiers
are operated near their 1 dB compression point. Besides the gain compression of s21
as shown in Figure 12.29, other changes in characteristic values like s22 can be recognized. It is therefore necessary to perform measurements under real operating conditions.
As described in Section 12.3.3, a standard s22 parameter measurement would be performed in reverse operation. This means that the stimulus at port 1 is switched off, and
port 2 becomes the active port instead. This does not correspond to the original operating
condition.
In the hot s22 measurement, the amplifier has an input signal at the operating frequency
f1 applied to it. The level of this signal is configured such that the amplifier exhibits the
output power level that it is designed for. At the same time, a reflection measurement
is performed at the output at the probe frequency f2 = f1 + f. The power used for this
probe tone is significantly lower than the amplifiers output level (typically 30 dB
lower). The a2 -wave and b2 -wave are recorded at the probe frequency f2 . Depending
on the shape of IF filter used in the VNA, the frequency spacing f should be three
623
S22
S22 without stimulus at port 1
Hot S22
-10
-20
Port Configuration
-30
-40
-50
Receiver
Meas Physic Source

Gen
Frequency
Frequency Result
Power
Power Resu Frequency Frequency Result
Port 1
fb
1.4 GHz 3 GHz
Pb
12 dB m
Port 2
fb + 10 MHz
1.41 GHz 3.01 GHz
0 dB m - 20 dB
-20 dB m
Port 3
fb
1.4 GHz 3 GHz
Pb
12 dB m
Port 4
fb
1.4 GHz 3 GHz
Pb
12 dB m
fb +
10
MHz
1.41 GHz 3.01
-60
-70
Displayed Columns
Balanced and Measured Ports
Measure "a" Waves at

Receiver Frequency
Freq Conv Off
Source Frequency
Stimulus
Same Connector Type at All Ports
-80
OK
Arb Start 1.4 GHz
Pwr -25 dB m
Cancel
Help
Stop 3 Ghz
Figure 12.38 Hot s22 measurement performed using a state-of-the-art VNA and the DUT present
between port 4 (input) and port 2 (output).
to ten times the value of the IF bandwidth to ensure sufficient separation between
operating frequency and probe tone. Nevertheless, the S-parameter measured at f2 is
close enough to f1 to determine the output impedance of the amplifier at f1 under
regular forward operating conditions. The example in Figure 12.38 has been measured
with a state-of-the-art VNA, which involves two internal stimulus generators configured
in the dialog additionally shown. System error correction is used to ensure traceable
results.
The concept of hot S-parameters can be expanded to use it in a load-/source-pull
environment [18]. A further extension is to use the intended modulation pattern at
frequency f1 , as the real-world operating signal of the amplifier [19]. This will lead to
the discussion in the next section.
12.6
Modulated measurements
For wireless information transmission, a sinusoidal carrier is modulated by a baseband signal that contains the desired information. The most significant effect for power
amplifiers is that modulation usually causes a time dependent variation of the carrier
magnitude which is referred to as modulation envelope. The nonlinearities described
in Section 12.5 cause imperfect reproduction of the amplified signal resulting in distortion and channel interferences. This section describes the measurement of the relevant
figures of merit.
624
12.6.1
Crest factor and CCDF

The peak-to-average power ratio (PAR) describes the relation between the peak power
and the average power of an RF signal and is usually stated in dB. Instead of the
power the crest factor (CF) may use other parameters such as voltage or current. In
this case, the average value has to be replaced by the rms value. Assuming the related
impedances to be independent of the level (linear approach), then the resulting crest
factors will be the same as those derived from the power ratios.
The first definition calculates the crest factor CF1 based on the highest amplitude
peak power PMAX that occurs in the modulated carrier signal and its average power value
PAVG .

PMAX
C F1 = 10 log10
(12.88)
PAV G
The second approach, which leads to a smaller crest factor CF2 , uses the ratio of the
peak envelop power PPEP of the modulation envelope to its average value PAVG (see
Figure 12.4 of Section 12.2.1).

PPEP
(12.89)
C F2 = 10 log10
= C F1 3.01 dB
PAVG
The crest factor of periodic signals (e.g., CW, regular pulsed CW) can be measured
by comparing the results of a peak power sensor and a thermal power sensor. But this
is not the case with random modulated signals such as OFDM, CDMA, and WCDMA.
Due to their statistical nature, a very long observation time (e.g., several years) would be
necessary until their exact peak power occurs again in the signal. A compromise using
a practical observation time (seconds or minutes) is necessary. For these measurements,
high-end spectrum analyzers provide the necessary functionality. They also display the
measured complementary cumulative distribution function (CCDF), which describes the
statistical probability of the occurrence of signal peaks that are greater by a factor of k
in dB than the average value. Here, too, it is important to distinguish whether values are
related to the carrier or the envelope. The CCDF helps the operator to consider the right
observation time and makes it possible to compare the degradation of the CCDF due to
compression or clipping effects.
Aside from multiple carrier modulation techniques (e.g., OFDM), other applications
such as satellite repeaters or cellular base stations require simultaneous amplification
of multiple signals by multicarrier power amplifiers (MPCPA). An MPCPA has to
cope with an increased crest factor different from that of single carrier operation, even
if the individual signals exhibit a crest factor of CF2 = 0 dB (e.g., constant amplitude
modulation pattern). Therefore testing of an MPCPA must be performed with an adequate
multicarrier signal.
Considering thermal issues the average power PAVG is most important. However, the
highest amplitude peak power PMAX or its related voltage are responsible for flashover
and possibly a standing arc as well as intermodulation effects.
625
RBW 10 MXs
Ref 11.7 dB m
Att 40 dB
ACT 312.5 xs
0.1
A
0.01
1 SA
CLRWR
2 SA
VIEW
1E-3
1E-4
Before predistortion
After predistortion
1E-5
1E-6
Center 690 MHs
2 dB/
Mean Pwr + 2c dB
Comlementary Cumulative Distribution Function (10000000 samples)

Trace
Mean
Peak
Crest
10% @
1& @
.1% @
Trace
-3.54 dB m
6.10 dB m
9.64 dB
-3.55 dB m
5.60 dB m
9.16 dB
3.65 dB
6.47 dB
7.92 dB
3.65 dB
6.28 dB
7.53 dB
Figure 12.39 CCDF of a DVB-T signal (OFDM) measured at a PA output (envelope related
values) before and after predistortion [20].
Figure 12.40 Influence of a nonlinear amplifier on a multitone signal.
12.6.2
Adjacent channel power ratio (ACPR)

Each wireless device operates in a specific frequency channel to which it has been
assigned, which will be temporary when using frequency hopping. Leakage of the
channel power can lead to interference with other services. A two-tone approach to
mimic the scenario was introduced in Section 12.5.1. The third-order intermodulation
products have been identified as particularly disruptive since they are relatively close
to the useful signal and are difficult to suppress by filtering. Therefore, they normally
affect adjacent channels. To obtain a more realistic scenario, the number of tones with
equal amplitudes has to be increased to N 2. Assuming the tones are equally spaced
with f, the Taylor series model will lead to a spectrum similar to that in Figure 12.40.
The third-order intermodulation products form a spectral re-growth of N 1 tones on
both sides of the N-tone channel.
626
Simplified block diagram of a spectrum analyzer:
Remote control
(Optional e.g. for
Sweept ACPR
Measurements)
PC
Step
Attenuator
1st IF
RF
-18 dB m RMS
-6 dB m peak
10 MHZ
I=44.1 MHz,
P=-18dB m
Modulation: ON
IQ Input : EXTERN
Ref. Osc. : INTERN
-18 dB m RMS
-6 dB m peak
-19.3 dB m RMS
-9.3 dB m peak
Spectrum analyzer
Baseband
generator
Data
Analog
filter Log. Amp.
& DSP
3rd IF
1st
mixer
TRG
I
I
Q
RF
: 44.1 MHz
Stop Att
Ref. Osc.
Rof. Level
RBN
SWP Tine
Detector
: 30 dB
: EXTERN
: 0 dB
: 30 kHz
: 2s
: RMS
RF
19 dB m (RMS)
31 dB m (peak)
DUT
I/Q-Modulated
RF generator
Contor
Amplifier under test

(e.g. with Pull-environment)
High-power attenuator
(optional)
Figure 12.41 Typically setup to perform ACPR measurements.
The ACPR or adjacent channel leakage ratio (ACLR) is a commonly accepted metric
for quantifying the effect of spectral regrowth for digitally modulated signals. The ratio is
usually expressed as the total power over a certain frequency band B adjacent to the main
channel versus the total power in the main channel. The total powers can be determined
by integrating the appropriate power spectrum p( f ) over the relevant frequency ranges.
In some cases, an frequency response H( f ) of the pulse-shaping filter (typically raised
cosine) is applied. The ACPR has the unit dBc. It depends on the signal characteristic
(e.g., modulation standard, power, frequency channel, number of coded channels in
OFDM). Usually a distinction is made between upper ACPR and lower ACPR referring
to the leakage above or below the main channel. A typical example of spectral leakage
caused by an amplifier is sketched in Figure 12.41 at the DUTs output. Additionally, an
alternate channel power ratio (ACPR2) is specified using a higher frequency offset than
the ACPR.
The integrated and weighted adjacent channel powers can be expressed by the levels
LUP (in dBm) or LLOW (in dBm) of upper or lower channels, respectively. The integrated
and weighted main channel power is stated by the level LCH (in dBm).
(
p( f ) |H ( f )|2 d f
lower channel
(
(12.90)
ACPRLOW = 10 log10
= L LOW L CH
p( f ) |H ( f )|2 d f
main channel
upper channel
(
ACPRUP = 10 log10
p( f ) |H ( f )|2 d f
p( f ) |H ( f )| d f
2
= L UP L CH
(12.91)
main channel
The integrated bandwidth method uses a spectral integration to calculate the channel
level LCH . It can be performed using a spectrum analyzer with the resolution bandwidth
627
BRBW set narrow compared to the channel bandwidth BCH (typically BRBW /BCH = 0.5 to
5%). The minimum time tSWP necessary for one frequency sweep of F can be estimated
using a typical factor C = 3 and the following formula.
tSWP = C
F
2
BRBW
(12.92)
Because of the modulated signals random nature an RMS detector and a manually
increased sweep time of about 15 tSWP is required to yield a stable trace. To calculate
the level LCH the individual levels Ln of the N frequency samples in the relevant frequency
range have to be summed up according to formula (12.93). A correction factor KRBW =
1.06 to 1.14 is used to obtain the noise equivalent bandwidth from the resolution bandwidth BRBW . The term |H(f n)|2 with the frequency step-width f is used to implement
the spectral weighting.

N

BCH
1
(12.93)
|H ( f n)|2
10 L n /dBm
L CH PWR = 10 log10
K RBW BRBW
N n=1
The levels LLOW and LUP can be determined in a similar way. Automatic spectrum
analyzer functionalities are available for these numeric calculations. A typical setup
for performing ACPR measurements on a power amplifier is shown in Figure 12.41. It
consists of an IQ-modulated RF source (depending on the modulation scheme using an
external baseband generator) and a high-end spectrum analyzer.
A trigger signal (see Figure 12.41 signal TRG) or a broadband level detector inside
the spectrum analyzer (RF trigger) has to be used when measuring TDMA systems. These
systems pulse their signal power to provide timeslots for other services. Measurement
values should only be recorded within the active timeslots (burst) and the sweep must be
paused outside the active timeslots. The ACPR caused by the transient effects cannot be
detected correctly by the integrated bandwidth method due to the fact that its narrowband
resolution filter (BRBW ) causes a comparably long settling time. An alternative method
described in the next paragraph is preferred in these cases.
The method of channel power measurement in time-domain is a different approach
that omits formula (12.93). Using digital signal processing then any type of channel
filter H( f ) can be digitally implemented in the spectrum analyzer. This allows channel
power measurements in the time domain with the spectrum analyzer working like a
tuned receiver. In this way it is possible to obtain a short measurement time. The method
yields much better reproducibility of results and detects transient signals (e.g., from
TDMA systems) correctly. If several channels are to be measured the spectrum analyzer
successively tunes to the respective channel center frequencies.
One main aspect of all the methods is to avoid any significant ACPR from occurring
in the spectrum analyzer. A simplified block diagram of a spectrum analyzer is shown
in Figure 12.41, upper right. The available dynamic range of the spectrum analyzer has
to be considered to ensure minimal phantom reception in the adjacent channels:
The peak power of the measured channel has to be within the linear region of the first
mixer and the stages in front of the IF filter (RBW). The step attenuator can be used to
628
ACPR/dBc
50
55
60
65
Total ACPR
70
75
80
ACPR due to inherent

spectral regrowth
ACPR due to
inherent noise floor
85
90
95
24
22
20
18
16
14
12
10
Mixer Level/dB m
Figure 12.42 Contributions for inherent ACPR of a high-end spectrum analyzer dependent on its
input mixer level [22].
optimize the peak envelope power level at the first mixer to a value 10 dB below the
1 dB compression point of the first mixer.
The noise floor determines the lower limit for power measured in the adjacent channels.
A spectrum analyzers noise figure NF is typically in the range of 13 dB to 19 dB. A
correction factor KH( f ) is used to obtain the noise equivalent bandwidth for the pulseshaping filter H( f ). The thermal noise power level NCH within the channel bandwidth
BCH can be calculated according to the following formula.

K H ( f ) BC H
dB + NF
(12.94)
NCH = 174 dBm + 10 log10
1 Hz
In this example a noise figure of NF = 15 dB, a channel bandwidth of BCH =
4.096 MHz and a correction factor K 1 (typical K for all common H( f )) is assumed.
Therefore, formula (12.94) leads to a noise power level of NCH = 92.8 dBm. The
phase noise of the spectrum analyzers internal local oscillators leads to an inherent
noise in the adjacent channel (reciprocal mixing). The spectrum analyzer assumed in
this example exhibits a contribution of 85 dB below the transmit carrier which can be
neglected.
The dynamic range can be visualized as shown in Figure 12.42. The horizontal axis
of the diagram shows the channel power at the first mixer. This is the signal power at
the spectrum analyzers RF input minus the step attenuator setting (see Figure 12.41,
upper right). The vertical axis shows the inherent contribution of the spectrum analyzer
629
Ref Lvl
30 dB m
Marker 1 [T1]
-102.04 dB m
1.99250000 GHz
RBW
vBW
SWT
30 kHz
L MHz
2s
30
40
RF Att
Unit
[T1]
CH PWR
ACPR Up
ACPR Low
50
0 dB
dBm
102.04 dB m
1.99250000 GHz
17.99 dB m
62.60 dBc
62.64 dBc
60
1RM
70
80
90
100
110
120 cI1
cI1
CO
CO
cu1
cu1
130
Center 2 GHz
1.5 MHz
Span 15 MHz
Figure 12.43 Display of ACPR test result [21].
to the ACPR for a channel bandwidth of BCH = 4.096 MHz (in this example). The
contribution due to the spectrum analyzers thermal noise floor reduces with increasing
input level and is described by a slope of 1 dBc/dBm. The ACPR due to inherent
spectral re-growth increases with a 2:1 slope like third-order intermodulation products
(see multitone approach at the beginning of this section). The 2:1 slope will be shifted
vertically depending on the crest factor of the signal applied. This is due the fact that
the horizontal axis relates to the channel power while the spectrum analyzers inherent
intermodulation depends on the peak power applied. In Figure 12.42 a wideband CDMA
signal with a crest factor CF2 = 12 dB was assumed. This value also depends on the
type and number of coded channels. The power contribution of all these inherent effects
can be combined to form the total inherent ACPR. The optimum total ACPR of 73 dBm
is obtained with a first mixer input level of 16.2 dBm.
An example using an 18 dBm channel power level and a step attenuator setting of
0 dB is shown in Figure 12.43. The measured ACPR values of about 62.6 dBc can
clearly be assigned to the DUTs broadband noise because Figure 12.42 reveals an
inherent ACPR contribution of 72.6 dBc. This is 10 dB below the measured value and
causes an error of approximately 0.5 dB.
630
Intended vector
Error vector
Actual vector
Q
Figure 12.44 Illustration of the error vector.
12.6.3
Noisepower ratio (NPR)

As pointed out in Figure 12.40, the third-order intermodulation products of a multitone
signal with N > 2 tones also affect the in-band level of the N-tone channel as the
third-order intermodulation products coincide with some of the in-band signals. The
noisepower ratio (NPR) assumes the amplifier is driven with Gaussian noise and a
notch placed in one segment of its input spectrum. Nonlinearities cause power to appear
in the notched band of the spectrum when the signal passes the amplifier. The NPR is the
ratio of the notch power to the total signal power. The numeric calculation presented with
formula (12.93) can easily be adapted to the needs of this measurement. The RF source
of Figure 12.41 has to be replaced by a suitable Gaussian shaped noise source and a
notch filter. To prevent the mismatch of the stop-band of the notch filter at the amplifiers
input from interfering with the amplifier, an isolator should be inserted between the filter
and the amplifier under test.
12.6.4
Error vector magnitude (EVM) and constellation diagram

The EVM is a convenient metric of how intermodulation products, memory effects
and noise contributions affect the detection process in the baseband. At the output of
a power amplifier (which is located at the beginning of the transmission chain) noise
contributions should be negligible. Memory effects are described in later sections. The
EVM is defined as the distance between the intended and the actual signal vectors,
normalized to a fraction of the signal amplitude (see Figure 12.44). The EVM is thus
stated in percentage. It is important to distinguish whether values are specified as peak
or RMS value. Typical modern communication standards require an EVM of 22 to 30%
peak and 7 to 12% rms depending on the communication standard (details may be found
in the applicable standards).
A setup similar to that of Figure 12.41 can be used to measure the EVM, but the spectrum analyzer has to be replaced by a vector signal analyzer as shown in Figure 12.45.
The first analog stages of both instruments are very similar. The samples obtained from
631
Re{X}
Step
attenuator
RF
1st IF
3rd IF
I
Digital
filter
A/D
converter
Analog
filter
1st
mixer
RAM
90
NCO
Analog section
Im{X}
Digital
filter
IQ-Samples
(baseband)
IQ Reference
signal
Modulator
Demodulator
+
Synchronization
IQ
Fitting
IQ Error
signal
IQ Measurement
signal
Figure 12.45 Block diagram of a modern VNA.
the digital IQ down-conversion process are stored in a random-access memory (RAM)

instead of feeding them to the selected detector as normally occurs in a spectrum analyzer. A vector signal analyzer employs a digital-signal processor (DSP) to perform the
following steps on the readout of the RAM. A combination of demodulator and modulator blocks is used to generate an undistorted IQ reference signal by employing the bit
level between both blocks. The synchronization block compensates the measured signal
(RAM readout) for center-frequency offsets, phase and symbol timing. The measured
synchronized signal is then fitted to the undistorted IQ reference signal. The magnitude
and phase parameters applied in this process correspond to the RMS value of the EVM.
Finally, a comparison between the undistorted IQ reference signal and the measured IQ
signal is carried out to provide magnitude and phase error versus time.
The measurement values obtained in Figure 12.45 can be used to plot a constellation
diagram. This diagram is the baseband representation of the individual symbols normalized to a complex plane spanned by 1 to + 1 and j to + j. The transients between
symbols may not be plotted. Ideally, each symbol is assigned to a single discrete point
of the diagram. Practical measurements show a cloud pattern around each ideal constellation point. The size of the clouds and their center positions give important information
(e.g., saturation effects will shift the outer constellation points towards the origin of the
diagram or insufficient phase synchronization will lead to sickle shaped constellation
points).
Alternatively, the ideal and measured I or Q signals can be plotted versus time. This
can help to detect certain symbol sequences that lead to maximum error, e.g., caused by
memory effects.
632
conscellation diagram
1
0.8
0.6
Imaginary part
0.4
0.2
0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1
1
0.8 0.6
0.4 0.2
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
real part
Figure 12.46 Constellation diagram for a [21] DVB-T signal.
12.6.5
AM/AM and AM/PM measurements

The various levels applied by high-order digital modulation schemes can be used to
plot the amplitude error as a function of the ideal levels provided by the undistorted
IQ reference signal. This diagram is also called AM/AM distortion characteristic. If
the signal power is in the vicinity of the 1 dB compression point, the amplitude error
can be used to predict a dynamic 1 dB compression point. A similar diagram called
AM/PM distortion characteristic can be obtained from plotting the phase error instead
of the amplitude error. A setup similar to Figure 12.41 involving a vector signal analyzer
(Figure 12.45) can be used to perform the AM/AM and AM/PM measurements. The
measurement result of Section 12.5.2, Figure 12.29 is very similar to the AM/AM
measurement above. Instead of the magnitude in Figure 12.29 the phase of s21 also can
be displayed leading to an AM/PM diagram. But the main difference to the discussion
presented above is that the power sweep applied in Figure 12.29 exhibits a comparatively
slow time gradient. For a memory-less amplifier the approaches of Sections 12.5.2 and
12.6.5 should lead to the same results.
12.6.6
Memory effects
The Taylor series model assumed in Section 12.5 did not consider any dynamic effects.
However, memory effects exist and create another type of distortion. Memory effects
633
are identified using variable-rate swept AM/AM measurements or applying pulsed measurements with variable pulse repetition rate. Memory effects also come to attention
through the asymmetry in the output intermodulation products. Another result of memory effects is the AM to PM conversion. Memory effects can be classified as long-term
and short-term. Long-term memory effects are caused by electro-thermal interactions,
varying power supply, and electron traps. Short-term memory effects are a result of the
transistors time delays that are modeled by energy storage elements such as capacitances
or inductances. Nonlinear charge functions result in an instantaneous phase angle that
is modulated due to the level-dependent instantaneous capacitance. Even linear charge
functions combined with nonlinear conductance result in an instantaneous phase angle
that is modulated by the varying instantaneous conductance.
12.6.7
Pulsed measurements
Pulsed operation can be compared to a very simple modulation scheme that switches
the carrier on and off (on-off keying). Radar applications use a very short RF burst of
several tens of nanoseconds. Amplifiers for the mobile communication market such as
GSM mobile phones are often designed for pulsed operation using their bias voltage to
realize the on and off state. Continuous operation would damage the amplifiers due
to overheating. The desired performance of these amplifiers can only be studied under
pulsed conditions and measurements must be adapted to this requirement. A periodically
pulsed signal can be described by its carrier frequency fc , pulse width tp and pulse period
T (see Section 12.2.1 Figure 12.4). Some related parameters are the duty cycle D =
tp /T and the pulse repetition frequency PRF = 1/T. The following measurements can
be performed using a modern VNA.
The point-in-pulse method, acquires the measurement data only during the on-state of
the RF bursts. Therefore, it is necessary that the sampling time to acquire the measurement data is shorter than the pulse width tp . The sampling time is mainly determined
by the measurement bandwidth of the analyzer. To obtain a sampling time of 200 ns
(too long for some of the radar applications) a measurement bandwidth of at least 5
MHz is required. A sampling time of 0.500 ms (sufficient for most GSM mobiles) can
typically be achieved with a 300 kHz measurement bandwidth. The resulting dynamic
range (noise floor) is dependent on the measurement bandwidth used in the analyzer
and therefore related to the pulse width tp . The dynamic rage can be improved using
averaging, while keeping the measurement bandwidth to its needs. A trigger signal is
necessary to ensure that data acquisition is done only during the on-state of the RF
bursts. The point-in-pulse method is not suitable to analyze the very short transient state
of the amplifier under test. In order not to acquire data during the transient state a trigger
delay must be used and the acquisition time must be short enough to make sure that data
sampling is only done at the settled roof of the pulse.
The average pulse method uses a totally different approach. The pulsed signal can be
described as a CW signal of frequency fc that is multiplied by a LF signal. The LF signal
toggles between 0 and 1 state with the pulse repetition frequency PRF and a duty
634
cycle D. The multiplication in the time domain is a convolution of the spectra of CW

and LF signals in the frequency domain, i.e.
a1 ( f ) =

sin ( Dk)
A1
(( f f c ) + ( f + f c )) D
( f k PRF)
2
Dk
k=
(12.95)
The convolution of equation (12.95) can be simplified. If a single sideband description

is used (only frequencies f 0 are exclusively considered) then one would obtain
a1 ( f ) =

sin ( Dk)
A1
D
( f f c k PRF)
2 k= Dk
(12.96)
This is a comb spectrum that has a sin(x)/x envelop and is centered on the carrier
frequency fc . To perform S-parameter measurements it is sufficient to observe the same
specific tone in both wave quantities ak and bi (see formula (12.19)). For this purpose the
spectral component at the carrier frequency fc is used because it exhibits the maximum
power. The sin(x)/x envelop becomes 1 at this component. Thus, the magnitude obtained
at frequency fc is scaled by the duty cycle D (see formula (12.96)). The measured power
is therefore quadratically related to the duty cycle D. A duty cycle of D = 1% thus
reduces the signal-to-noise ratio by 40 dB. The distance between two adjacent spectral
components ( f fc k PRF) is given by the pulse repetition frequency PRF. In order
to suppress all spectral components different from ( f fc ) a measurement bandwidth
considerably smaller than the pulse repetition frequency must be selected (typically
BRBW < PRF/10). To achieve a suppression of 40 dB and more, special high selectivity
filters may be used. If necessary, the carrier frequency and the pulse spectrum can
be shifted and the measurement can be repeated at that different carrier frequency.
Proceeding like this yields a swept measurement result. The additional tones of the
pulse spectrum are only used to support realistic operation conditions, like applying the
correct bias voltage.
The pulse profile method is intended to analyze the time dependent behavior of the
DUT during a burst including analysis of the rise and fall time as well as overshoot and
drop. For this purpose the measurement must have a time resolution significantly shorter
than the pulse duration.
To overcome the time resolution limit known from point-in-pulse method a variable
trigger delay and a time window is used to chop up the pulsed signal into slices with
different timing positions within the pulse. The trigger delay is kept constant over some
hundred pulse instances. As a consequence the measurement bandwidth can be selected
according to the average pulse method. The trigger delay is then increased and the next
set of slices with a constant trigger delay is measured. Finally, the pulse waveform is
reconstructed from the measurement results obtained at different trigger positions.
The results measured on a pulsed power transistor are shown in Figure 12.48. The
measurement was performed using two external couplers and a booster amplifier as
described in Section 12.3.7 (Figure 12.17 right). The pulsed signal can be provided by a
pulse modulator connected into the vector network analyzers generator path or by use of
an external RF source that can be pulsed. In the lower half of Figure 12.48 an overshoot
635
Moment of observation
Pulse
envelop
of a1
t
D
D
Sliced
pulses
of a1
2D
2D
2D
3D
3D
3D
Measurement with const. trigger delay
Floating trigger delay
Figure 12.47 An example of pulse chopping [23].
Trc6 S21 Phase 1/ Ref 80 Cal Math

S21
TRG
M4
M3
Ch1 Profile Start -10 s
Freq 1.3 GHz Pwr 0 dB m
2
M1 20.0000 s 81.277
M2 200.0000 s
M3 260.0000 ns 81.119
M4 2.0000 s 82.969
Stop 20 s
Trc7 S21 dB Mag 0.2 dB/ Ref21 dB Cal Trc8 b2 dB Mag 0.2 dB/ Ref51 dB m Math
3
M1 20.0000 s 20.600 dB
b2
TRG
51.8
M2 200.0000 s
M3 260.0000 ns 20.891 dB
51.6
M4 2.0000 s 20.612 dB
51.4
M1 20.0000 s 50.420 dB m
51.2
M2 200.0000 s
M3
M3 260.0000 ns 50.653 dB m
51.0
M4 2.0000 s 50.261 dB m
M3 M4
50.8
50.6
M4
50.4
50.2
Ch1 Profile Start -10 s
Freq 1.3 GHz Pwr 0 dB m
Stop 20 s
Figure 12.48 Pulse profile measurement of an radar transistor [22].
of s21 at the beginning of the pulse can clearly be identified as well as a phase deviation
of approximately 2 that gradually settles.
12.6.8
Bit error ratio (BER) and symbol error ratio (SER)

The figures of merit described in this section are related to signal quality. Digital modulation techniques allow some degradation of signal quality while causing almost no
loss of information. Describing systems on a more abstract level requires a metric that
636
characterizes the transmission quality. The BER is the number of erroneous bits received
divided by the total number of bits transmitted. The SER is defined in the same way but
considers the symbols which typically encompass several bits (e.g., 6 bits per symbol
for the constellation diagram Figure 12.46). The measurement of the BER and SER is
done using a bit error tester. For amplifier test a setup similar to Figure 12.41 is used.
The baseband generator is used to form a pseudo random binary sequence (PRBS) that
modulates the RF generator. The output signal derived from the amplifier under test
is demodulated using a spectrum analyzer or another suitable receiver. The decoded
bit stream is fed back to the baseband generator and synchronized. The data bits are
checked for errors. The total of the transmitted bits and the faulty bits are counted.
If the stream contains headers or guard bits, the counting process should be paused for
those bits.
12.7
Noise measurements
Active and passive circuits are subject to noise. Noise occurs in various forms such
as thermal noise, Schottky noise, etc. Those that are relevant to RF amplifier design
exhibit nearly uniform noise power spectral density. The thermal noise power PN0 that is
available from a resistor at temperature T0 = 290 K (= 16.8 C = 62.3 F) to a matched
load can be calculated as follows using Boltzmanns constant k = 1.38 10-23 Ws/K
and the noise equivalent bandwidth B:
PN 0 = kT0 B = 4 1021
W
B
Hz
(12.97)
corresponding to

N0 = 174 + 10 log10
B
Hz

dBm
(12.98)
The available noise power PNO (not the delivered noise power) is independent of the noise
source impedance. The temperature T0 = 290 K used above has been set as a reference
value by IEEE standards. The noise power PN typically exhibits very small values and is
cumbersome to express. Since most noise calculations are based on summing up linear
values, the dBm scale of N cannot serve as an alternative. The most convincing answer
offering convenient values is to describe the noise power by a fictitious temperature.
This noise temperature T does not mean that the device is at that physical temperature.
PN = kTB
(12.99)
N = 10 log(kTB/1mW )
(12.100)
corresponds to
12.7.1
637
Amplifier noise factor and noise figure

This approach considers an amplifier embedded in a matched environment with a system
impedance Z0 . The amplifiers available gain Ga applies to both the signal power PSin
and noise power PNin present at the input. In addition, the amplifier internally adds some
inherent noise power PNa . Hence, the noise power exiting the amplifiers output is
PNout = G a PNin + PNa .
(12.101)
The signal-to-noise ratio PS /PN compares the signal power and the noise power, and this
ratio will degrade when the signal passes through an amplifier. The noise factor F is the
ratio of the signal-to-noise power ratio PSin /PNin at the input divided by the signal-tonoise power ratio PSout /PNout at the output. By definition, the input noise power is given
by equation (12.97). The linear assumption PSout = Ga PSin and equation (12.101) yield
the following:
F=
PSin /PNin
PNa
=1+
PSout /PNout
kT0 BG a
(12.102)
The dB representation of the noise factor F is called the noise figure NF (unfortunately,
this looks like the product N F, but it isnt).
The output noise power exiting two cascaded amplifiers deserves a closer look. The
noise power PNa1 internally added by stage 1 is amplified through stage 2 while the noise
power PNa2 added by the last stage is directly present in the output signal. Consequently,
the noise power PNout2 present at the multistage output can be calculated from the input
noise power PNin , the available gains Ga1 , Ga2 and noise powers PNa1 , PNa2 of amplifier
stages 1 and 2, respectively.
PNout2 = PNin1 G a1 G a2 + PNa1 G a2 + PNa2
(12.103)
The noise factor definition (12.102) can be applied to multiple stage systems. The overall
system noise factor Fsys can be derived from formulas (12.102) and (12.103) leading to
the Friis [23] equation:
Fsys = F1 +
F2 1
G a1
(12.104)
where F1 , F2 are the individual noise factor and Ga1 is the gain of the first stage. The
second stage contribution ( F2 1)/Ga1 can be reduced if the first stage exhibits a high
gain Ga1 . That is one reason why low-noise amplifiers should be put close to the signal
source (antenna) and why they are chosen to have a relatively high gain of 25 dB to
50 dB.
12.7.2
Noise figure measurement

To perform direct noise measurement, the output noise power of the DUT is measured
using an input termination at room temperature (approximately 290 K). If the gain
Ga and noise equivalent bandwidth B of the amplifier under test are known, the noise
factor can be determined using formulas (12.101) and (12.102). This method is limited
638
Table 12.9 Typical noise power and noise temperature values

PN related to B = 1 Hz 1.06 1021 W
4.08 1021 W
5.15 1021 W
typ.138 1021 W
N related to B = 1 Hz
Noise temperature T
Remark
174 dBm
+296 K
Resistor at room
temperature
(23 C)
173 dBm
+373 K
Resistor in boiling
water (100 C)
typ. 159 dBm

typ. + 10,000 K
Biased solid state
noise source
180 dBm
77 K
Resistor in liquid
nitrogen
(196 C)
Noise meter
Through
ENR
F2
Noise source
T h , Tc
DUT F1
Nh , Nc
Figure 12.49 Measurement setup for Y-factor method.
to devices with a very high noise figure of >20 dB because only these devices exhibit
an output noise power that can be detected with a reasonable measurement uncertainty.
The Y-factor method relies on an input termination that can be operated in two
states: cold state offering noise temperature Tc and hot state offering noise temperature Th . Originally, a resistor cooled in liquid nitrogen or warmed in boiling water
was used as input termination. The excess noise ratio (ENR) describes the change in
noise temperature between hot and cold state relative to the standard noise temperature
T0 = 290 K.
ENR =
Th Tc
T0
(12.105)
According to Table 12.9, ENR 1 is calculated when using liquid nitrogen and boiling
water. The need to perform automatic measurements and the fact that measurement
accuracy can be improved by higher ENR values led to the use of solid state noise sources.
Without bias, they exhibit noise generated at room temperature Tc T0 . Common noise
sources use external 28 V for the hot state in which they generate a noise equivalent to
Th = 4T0 , . . . , 1000T0 depending on the type of source. Commercially available models
can be divided into three groups: low ENR (5 dB to 7 dB) for measuring low-noise
figures (<3 dB), medium ENR (13 dB to 16 dB) as a standard noise source, and high
ENR (20 dB to 30 dB) for high noise figures (10 dB to 30 dB). Except for the high ENR
sources, all others incorporate an integrated attenuator to improve their source match
and to reduce the impedance change from hot to cold state.
The output noise power of the amplifier under test is measured for the hot state as
PNh and for the cold state as PNc . The ratio of these measurement results is called the
Y factor.
Y =
PNh
PNc
(12.106)
639
Table 12.10 Typical noise figures and effective input noise temperatures
Noise factor F
Typ. 1.41
Typ. 2.8
100
Typ. 1000
Noise figure NF
Temperature Te 1
Remark
typ. 1.5 dB
typ. 120 K
Low noise
amplifier 30 dB
typ. 4.5 dB
typ. 527 K
PA 4 W, 6 Hz
to 18 Hz
20 dB
28,710 K
Attenuator pad
20 dB
typ. 30 dB
typ. 289,710 K
Spectrum analyzer
The effective input noise temperature Te is the temperature difference that must be added to T0
of the source impedance connected to a noise-free implementation of the amplifier under test to
yield the same output noise as from the amplifier under test. It is Te = Na /kGa B = T0 ( F 1).
The system noise factor Fsys involving the DUT and power indicator can be calculated
from the ENR and the Y factor.
Fsys =
ENR
Y 1
(12.107)
A calibration measurement using a through-connection instead of the DUT reveals the

noise factor F2 of the noise meter. One possible implementation of the noise meter is
a modern spectrum analyzer. To obtain correct measurement results, the properties of
the DUT (noise factor F1 , gain Ga1 ), the noise source (excess noise ratio ENR) and the
noise meter (noise factor F2 ) must comply with the following relation.
ENR > F1 > F2 /G a1
(12.108)
The noise figure of a spectrum analyzer used as a noise meter can be improved with a
low-noise preamplifier. Assuming the example values of Table 12.10, the noise factor
of the spectrum analyzer is improved from 1000 to 2.41. Noise measurements are based
on very low RF levels, and the best possible shielding is an important requirement.
If the noise source uses a standard laboratory power supply, then a low-pass filter in
front of its bias connector is important. Some spectrum or network analyzers may
come with an integrated AGC. To keep the gain control from altering the noise figure
F1 of the instrument, this automatic feature should be switched to manual operation.
Unlike spectrum analyzers, most network analyzers have a double side-band architecture,
whereby the received noise is actually measured at two frequency bands and internally
correlated in the analyzer, which may lead to considerable deviations. Noise is random
in nature, which makes noise reading unstable. Averaging the rms values of several
measurements instead of using a very small bandwidth can help to overcome this. A
reduced bandwidth may help to improve the noise figure of the analyzer but may require a
higher number of averages to yield a stable readout. The measurement bandwidth should
be selected to be smaller than the DUTs bandwidth because otherwise the calibration
measurement (through-connection) would differ in bandwidth as compared to the DUT
measurement. The ENR values of a noise source vary over frequency. They have to
be provided with the source. Typical uncertainties for these values are in the range of
0.15 dB. But the characterization of the ENR values is done at temperature T0 , where the
application exhibits a room temperature different from T0 . More important is the fact
640
that characterization relies on a noise meter with 50 input impedance while typical
DUTs exhibit different input impedances. This mismatch error is the most important
contribution to measurement uncertainty. A similar problem is the remaining impedance
difference between hot and cold state which is significant for high ENR sources because
they are not equipped with an internal attenuator. The Y factor method relies on relative
level measurements. Therefore, the linearity of the noise meter is a very important
prerequisite that can be violated using an improper preamplifier.
The DUTs discussed here (PAs) are typically operated in the nonlinear region. This
would lead to intermodulation between carrier signal and noise. Furthermore, it will
violate the constant gain assumption that has been made on the right hand side of
equation (12.102). This topic far exceeds the scope of this section; a recent discussion
can be found in reference [24].
12.7.3
Noise parameters
The simple noise figure is based on the assumption that the noise PNa internally added
by the amplifier under test is constant. But practical measurements show that this is
affected by the source impedance. The actual noise figure performance of the device in its
operating environment will be determined by the match of adjacent system components.
The noise factor F of an amplifier depends on the complex source reflection coefficient
s as stated by the following equation

s opt 2
4Rn
F = Fmin +

Z 0 1 + opt 2 1 |s |2
(12.109)
where Fmin is the minimum noise factor, opt is the optimum complex reflection coefficient, Rn is the noise resistance and s is the complex source reflection coefficient. The
quantities Fmin , opt , and Rn are referred to as the noise parameters. With given noise
parameters and a fixed expected noise factor F, formula (12.109) leads to a circle in
the s Smith chart similar to those presented in Figure 12.19 (Section 12.4). But the
minimum noise figure does not necessarily occur at either the system impedance Z0 or
at the conjugate match impedance that maximizes gain Ga . To determine the three noise
parameters and since opt is complex, a total number of at least four scalar noise figure
measurements involving four different source impedances is necessary. The impedance
transformation of the noise source can be performed using a microwave tuner. Alternatively, [25] suggests using a 10 dB coupler and three selectable impedance standards
to achieve different source reflection coefficients. A calibration measurement must be
carried out to determine the noise parameters of the measurement equipment so that they
can be separated from the measurement based on formula (12.104). The cold-source
method found in reference [26] is a direct noise measurement method that uses the noise
source most of the time in its cold state. The hot state is used only when a scaling
factor is required for the procedure.
12.8 Conclusions
641
Through
Noise meter
Noise source
Th , Tc
DUT
Figure 12.50 Noise parameter measurement setup.
12.8
Conclusions
The functional principle of the transistors used to build solid state power amplifiers
is based on semiconductor physics. What happens inside the transistor is primarily
described by electrical fields and charge flows. Taking the integral over these parameters
leads to voltage and current as the first choice description. On the other hand, neither current nor its phase shift can be accurately measured in the microwave range whereas wave
quantities are directly accessible by means of vector network analyzers. S-parameters
and wave quantities provide an easy understanding of power flows between source, active
component and load. Due to the high frequencies measurements must be done in the
frequency-domain and in a narrow-band manner to meet the dynamic requirements.
It can not be overlooked that S-parameters have not been intended to model nonlinear
effects. A mathematical embedding using S-parameters is not generally valid within the
context of power amplifiers. Furthermore, observed S-parameters will depend on the
applied power levels and modulation patterns. But a valid S-parameter description can
be measured for a specific set of operating parameters. Consequently, traditional network
analyzers can be supplemented by the following components:
r a load- and source-pull system to provide the embedding physically to the DUT (e.g.,
to determine the optimum L and G from several S-parameter measurements);
r a power sensor as a traveling standard for power calibration (e.g., to determine the
1 dB compression point from an s21 power sweep);
r a modulated or pulsed signal source to mimic the application-specific driving signal
(e.g., to observe pulsed S-parameters or to carry out hot S-parameter measurements);
r a monitored DC supply to observe DC current and voltage (e.g., to calculate the
PAE).
Besides S-parameters, other frequency domain parameters like harmonic distortion
and intermodulation distortion can be measured. These parameters rely on the multifrequency response that is generated by the nonlinearities from a single or two-tone
stimulus. If performed by a large-signal network analyzer these multifrequency responses
can be combined to form a time-domain result. It is than possible to plot voltage and
current versus time which are the most meaningful parameters to observe the functionality of a power amplifier (class A, class AB, class B identification, conduction angle,
and dynamic load line).
Finally, applications come with their own specific quality criteria like adjacent channel
power ratio, noise-power ratio, error vector magnitude, bit error ratio and symbol error
642
ratio. These are defined on particular measurement setups using a specified modulation
pattern and channel coding.
This chapter has provided an overview of not only what is meant by these various
measurement parameters but, more importantly, how they are actually measured in
practice, what equipment setup is needed to perform the measurement, and what errors
exist in the measurement process and how these can be minimized.
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Germany, Sept. 1999 [Online]. Available at: www.rohde-schwarz.com.
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6. G. A. Kouzaev, M. J. Deen, N. K. Nikolova, H. Ali and A. H. Rahal, Cavity models of planar
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12. M. L. Edwards and J. H. Sinsky A new criterion for linear 2-port stability using a single geometrically derived parameter, IEEE Trans. Microw. Theory Tech., vol. 40, no. 12,
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be/ZVxPlus.html
18. T. Gasseling, D. Barataud, S. Mons, J.-M. Nebus, J. P. Villotte, J. J. Obregon, and R. Quere,
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20. B. Kaehs, The crest factor in DVB-T (OFDM) transmitter systems and its influence on the
dimensioning of power components, Application Note 7TS02, Rohde & Schwarz GmbH &
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Note 1EF40, Rohde & Schwarz GmbH & Co. KG, Munich, Germany, Mar. 1998, version 0E
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24. L. Escotte, E. Gonneau, C. Chamborn, and J. Graffeuil, Noise behavior of microwave
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1978, Dec. 1989.
About the authors
Mustafa Akkul
Mustafa Akkul achieved BSc, MSc. and Ph.D. degrees in Electrical and Electronics
Engineering from Middle East Technical University, Ankara-Turkey in 1989, 1991, and
1999, respectively. Currently employed as the manager of Microwave Products Division,
Aselsan A.S.-Turkey. Major interest areas are MIC/MMIC power amplifiers for radar and
EW applications, Tx /Rx modules for phased array systems, transceiver and multifunction
module designs for military applications.
Inder J. Bahl
Inder J. Bahl received his Ph.D. degree in Electrical Engineering from the Indian Institute
of Technology, Kanpur, India in 1975. He joined the ITT Gallium Arsenide Technology
Center in 1981 and has been working on microwave and millimeter wave GaAs ICs
since then. At Cobham (formerly ITT GTC/Tyco Electronics), in his present capacity
as a Distinguished Fellow of Technology, his interests include device modeling, highefficiency high-power amplifiers (HPAs), broadband HPAs, high-power limiter/LNAs,
compact and low-loss multibit phase shifters, 3D MMICs, and development of MMIC
products for commercial and military applications.
Dr. Bahl is the author/coauthor of over 155 research papers. He authored/coauthored 14
books and holds 16 patents. He is an IEEE Fellow and a member of the Electromagnetic
Academy. He is the Editor of the International Journal of RF and Microwave Computeraided Engineering.
Wolfgang Bosch
In March 2010 Professor Dr. Wolfgang Bosch joined the Graz University of Technology in Austria to establish a new Institute for Microwave and Photonic Engineering.
Previously he has been the CTO of the Advanced Digital Institute in the UK, a not-forprofit organization to promote research activities in the Yorkshire/Humberside Region.
He has also been the Director of Business and Technology Integration of RFMD UK.
For more than nine years he has been with Filtronic plc as Chief Technology Officer
About the authors
645
of Filtronic Integrated Products and Director of the Global Technology Group. Prior to
joining Filtronic, he held positions in the European Space Agency (ESA) working on
amplifier linearization techniques for space applications, MPR-Teltech in Canada working on MMIC technology projects and in 1991 he had joined the Corporate R&D group
of M/A-COM in Boston where he worked on advanced topologies for high-efficiency
power amplifiers. From 1996 to 1999 he was with DaimlerChrysler Aerospace in Germany, working on T/R Modules for airborne radar. Wolfgang received his engineering
degrees at the Technical University of Vienna and Graz/Austria. He finalized his MBA
with distinction at Bradford University School of Management in 2004. For several
years he was on the Supervisory Board of the EMRS Defence Technology Centre in
the UK, he is a Senior Member of the IEEE, a Fellow of the IET and a panel member
of the EPSRC. He has published more than 40 papers and holds four patents. He was
a Non-Executive Director of Diamond Microwave Devices (DMD) and is currently a
Non-Executive Director of the Advanced Digital Institute (ADI) and VIPER Company.
Wayne Burger
Wayne Burger received a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1987, with his thesis work focusing on the deposition and characterization of low temperature silicon epitaxial films. After working on front-end process
integration for BiCMOS SRAMs at National Semiconductor for two years, he joined
Motorolas Semiconductor Product Sector (which later became Freescale Semiconductor) in 1990. Early projects at Motorola include 0.60 m CMOS, 0.35 m BiCMOS,
and SiGe bipolar development. He has been manager of the RF-LDMOS Device Development team at Freescale Semiconductor since 1994. During this time, RF-LDMOS has
evolved into the dominant RF power transistor technology for the cellular infrastructure
market, and is now expanding into adjacent RF power markets. Wayne has authored,
coauthored, or presented at numerous conferences, workshops, and technical journals
on the topic of RF-LDMOS device technology and applications. He is a Distinguished
Member of the Technical Staff at Freescale and a member of the IEEE.
Steve C. Cripps
Dr Steve C. Cripps obtained his Ph.D. from Cambridge University, England. He worked
for Plessey Research (now GECMM) on GaAsFET hybrid circuit development. Later he
joined Watkins-Johnsons solid state division, Palo Alto, CA, and has held Engineering
and Management positions at WJ, Loral, and Celeritek. During this period, he designed
the industrys first 28 Ghz and 618 Ghz 1 W solid state amplifiers, and in 1983
published a technique for microwave power amplifier design, which has become widely
adopted in the industry.
In 1990 he became an independent consultant and was active in a variety of commercial
RF product developments, including the design of several cellular telephone power
646
About the authors
amplifier MMIC products. In 1996 he returned to England, where his consulting activities
continue to be focused in the RF power amplifier area.
In 2006, Dr. Cripps published a second edition of his best-selling book, RF Power
Amplifier Design for Wireless Communications (Artech House). He is currently vicechair of the High Power Amplifier subcommittee of the Technical Co-ordination and
Technical Program Committees of the IEEE Microwave Theory and Techniques Society,
and writes the regular Microwave Bytes column in the IEEE Microwave Magazine.
He is the recipient of the 2008 IEEE Microwave Applications Award.
Dr. Cripps is a professorial research fellow at Cardiff University, UK. He is a Fellow
of the IEEE.
Rob Davis
Rob Davis is a senior manager at RF Micro-Devices in County Durham, UK. His primary
technical interests lie in the areas of IIIV semiconductor device engineering and the
development of compact models for circuit design. He received B.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees
in Physics from the University of Lancaster in 1983 and 1987, respectively. He began his
career at the Royal Signals and Radar Establishment at Malvern in 1986 where he was
engaged in device research gaining experience in a variety of compound semiconductor
FET and bipolar devices. In 2000 he joined Filtronic Compound Semiconductors Ltd.,
now RFMD (UK) Ltd. Here his work has included the development of GaAs pHEMT
MMIC processes and he currently leads the device and test engineering functions.
Christopher P. Dragon
Christopher P. Dragon received a bachelors degree in Electrical Engineering from
Louisiana State University and went on to receive a Masters of Engineering in Microelectronic Engineering from Rochester Institute of Technology. In 1991, he began his
career in an RF development division of Motorolas Semiconductor Products Sector in
Phoenix, Arizona. It was at this time that the first RF-LDMOS transistor was developed and launched into production. Chris has remained working on the development of
RF-LDMOS devices for cellular basestation applications throughout his career up to the
present where the work continues at Freescale Semiconductor in Tempe, Arizona. He has
been involved with and overseen the development of eight generations of RF-LDMOS
devices. Chris is a Senior Member of the Technical Staff at Freescale Semiconductor
and a member of the IEEE.
Dominic FitzPatrick
Dominic FitzPatrick has been involved with the design of solid state microwave amplifiers for over 25 years. He graduated from the Portsmouth Polytechnic, England, in 1984
About the authors
647
joining Pascall Electronics and in 1988 returned to Portsmouth to undertake a Masters in

Solid State Microwave Physics. After working for a small consultancy, he joined Wessex
Electronics, eventually becoming Technical Director. In 1999, he joined Milmega to
head up the engineering department, and early in 2004, he was part of the successful
management buy-out team. Leaving at the end of 2006 Dominic returned to academia to
pursue a Ph.D. in Novel Wideband Amplifier Design Techniques at Cardiff University.
Michael G. Hiebel
Michael G. Hiebel was born in Munich (Muenchen) Germany in 1970. He received the
diploma degree in Electrical Engineering from the Munich University of Technology.
Since 2003 he is a member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers IEEE
and senior member since 2011. Mr. Hiebel is a member of the VDE (German Electrical
Engineering Association), as well. He has been employed by Rohde & Schwarz GmbH &
Co. KG in Munich since 1999 and is currently a senior development engineer, focusing
on vector network analyzers. His main interests are vector network analyzer calibration
techniques, nonlinear device measurement (mixers, power amplifiers, and oscillators)
and millimeter wave network analysis. Since 2006 he is involved as a teacher in the
companys professional training program. He contributes to a periodic course on RF
engineering at the Carl-Cranz-Gesellschaft in Wessling (Southern Germany). He has
written a number of articles, scientific contributions, white papers, and application
notes. He is author of the book Fundamentals of Vector Network Analysis (c.420 pages),
which is published by Rohde & Schwarz in English, German, Chinese, and Russian.
Stephen Maas
Stephen Maas received BSEE and MSEE degrees in Electrical Engineering from the
University of Pennsylvania in 1971 and 1972, respectively, and a Ph.D. in Electrical
Engineering from UCLA in 1984. He joined the National Radio Astronomy Observatory
in 1974, where he designed the low-noise receivers for the Very Large Array radio
telescope. Subsequently, at Hughes Aircraft Co. and TRW, he developed low-noise
microwave and millimeter-wave systems and components, primarily FET amplifiers
and diode and FET mixers, for space communication. He has also been employed as
a Research Scientist at The Aerospace Corp., where he worked on the optimization
of nonlinear microwave circuits and the development of circuit-design software based
on harmonic-balance, Volterra-series, and time-domain methods. Dr. Maas joined the
UCLA Electrical Engineering Faculty in 1990, left it in 1992. He is currently Chief
Scientist of AWR Corp. and also consults independently.
Dr. Maas is the author of Microwave Mixers (Artech House, 1986 and 1992), Nonlinear
Microwave Circuits (Artech House, 1988 and 2003), The RF and Microwave Circuit
Design Cookbook (Artech House, 1998), and Noise in Linear and Nonlinear Circuits
(Artech House, 2005). From 1990 until 1992 he was the editor of the IEEE Transactions
648
About the authors
on Microwave Theory and Techniques, and from 19903 was an Adcom member and
Publications Chairman of the IEEE MTT Society. He received the IEEE MTT Societys
Microwave Prize in 1989 for his work on distortion in diode mixers and its Application
Award in 2002 for the invention of the FET resistive mixer. He is a Fellow of the IEEE.
Mali Mahalingam
Mali Mahalingam received the Ph.D. degree in Physics from Carnegie-Mellon University. Currently, he is manager of Packaging Operations, Radio Frequency Division,
Freescale Semiconductor Inc. focusing on high-power RFPAs for wireless markets. He
has 31 years of experience in packaging, assembly, and manufacturing technologies in
the semiconductor industry of which the initial 25 years were with Motorola Inc. Mali
has made numerous contributions to both technology development and their successful implementation in products. His technical accomplishments are spread to thermal,
mechanical, materials, electrical, simulation/validation and computer-aided design disciplines. He has earned world-class recognition for his pioneering work in thermal
technology applied to micro-electronics. He has published 70 + technical papers and
has three issued patents. Mali has taught professional courses on packaging and thermal technology at universities and electronic manufacturing plants. He has mentored
graduate level research at universities. He is an IEEE Fellow.
Daniel P. Myer
Daniel P. Myer is President and Founder of Communication Power Corporation (CPC,
www.cpcamps.com). He received his B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Polytechnic
University in Brooklyn, New York, and an A.A.S. from S.U.N.Y. Farmingdale, New
York. Mr. Myer is the author of over 15 technical papers, coauthored several books
(Classic Works in RF Engineering, Artech House 2006, coeditor/author, Encyclopedia
of Magnetic Resonance, John Wiley, coauthor) and has been issued two US patents. In
1990 and 1992, he introduced a new topological network synthesis procedure for equal
delay transmission line transformers along with the fundamental realization criteria.
Prior to founding CPC, Mr. Myer was an RF design engineer at M/A-COM Microwave
Power Devices (MPD) and Comtech/PST where he codesigned high-power solid-state
RF amplifiers for high-profile military programs such as Rivet Rider (Commando Solo),
employed in the USAFs Airborne EC-130E based, psychological warfare programs. In
addition, Mr. Myer codeveloped RF amplifiers for use in marine search radar, missile
command/destruct, L-band airborne radar tracking, submarine position emergency radio
beacon and multicarrier feed-forward networks for cellular phone/wireless base-stations.
Bill Roesch
Bill Roesch has a bachelor of science degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Oregon State University. He started his engineering career at Tektronix;
About the authors
649
scrutinizing purchased component reliability for five years. In 1985, Bill joined TriQuint
Semiconductor to explore aging, stressing, analyzing, and improving GaAs devices. Bill
is a 25-year contributing member of JEDEC and he is also a member of the IEEE.
Bill has numerous publications, tutorials, and conference presentations on Compound
Semiconductor reliability and he has received nine different best paper awards. For his
innovative reliability techniques and device physics insight, Bill was recently inducted
into the Oregon State University Academy of Distinguished Engineers. For twelve years,
Roesch guided the quality and reliability engineering group at the Hillsboro, Oregon,
factory. In 2007, he moved from management back onto the technical ladder and in
2009, Bill was designated a TriQuint Senior Fellow in Reliability.
Robert J. Trew
Robert J. Trew is the Alton and Mildred Lancaster Distinguished Professor of Electrical
and Computer Engineering at North Carolina State University, Raleigh. He received
his Ph.D. degree from the University of Michigan in 1975. He has served as the ECE
Department Head at North Carolina State University, Virginia Tech, and Case Western Reserve University. Dr. Trew is currently serving as the Director of the Electrical,
Communications, and Cyber-Systems Division in the Engineering Directorate of the
US National Science Foundation. From 1997 to 2001 he was Director of Research for
the US Department of Defense, with management oversight responsibility for the $1.3
billion yearly basic research programs of DOD. Dr. Trew served as Vice-Chair of the
US Government interagency committee that planned the US National Nanotechnology
Initiative (NNI). Dr. Trew is a Life Fellow of the IEEE, and was the 2004 President of the
IEEE Microwave Theory and Techniques Society. He is currently the editor-in-chief of
the IEEE Proceedings and previously served as editor-in-chief of the IEEE Transactions
on Microwave Theory and Techniques and was founding coeditor-in-chief of the IEEE
Microwave Magazine. Dr. Trew was twice been named an MTT Society Microwave Distinguished Lecturer. Awards received by Dr. Trew include the 2001 IEEE-USA Harry
Diamond Memorial Award, an IEEE Third Millennium Medal Award, the 1998 IEEE
MTT Society Distinguished Educator Award, the 1991 Alcoa Foundation Distinguished
Engineering Research Award, and a 1992 NCSU Distinguished Scholarly Achievement
Award. He received an Engineering Alumni Society Merit Award in Electrical Engineering from the University of Michigan in 2003. He has published over 170 articles,
21 book chapters, and has given over 390 conference/workshop presentations. Dr. Trew
has 10 patents.
John Walker
John Walker received his BSc, MSc, and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Leeds
in 1971, 1972, and 1976, respectively. In 1974 he joined GEC Hirst Research Centre
where he worked on the design of microwave transistor amplifiers before becoming
Group Leader of IMPATT diodes and oscillators and, finally, Chief Engineer of the
650
About the authors
Compound Semiconductor laboratory. In 1984 he joined Thorn-EMI Electronics as

Microwave Hybrids Manager. In 1995 he moved to Semelab as RF Division Manager
where he was responsible for all commercial and technical aspects of the companys
RF power transistor products. In 2011, he became European Sales Manager for Integra
Technologies, Inc. He is the editor and coauthor of the books High-Power GaAs FET
Amplifiers and Classic Works in RF Engineering, both published by Artech House. John
is a Fellow of the IEE and a Senior Member of IEEE.
Index
Abaqus FEA, 432

acceleration factors, 446, 458473, 504
current, 462465
current density, 464
determination, 460461
in gallium arsenide processes, 500
highly accelerated stress test, 492
humidity, 488492
see also electric field acceleration factor; RF bias
acceleration; thermal acceleration; voltage
acceleration
acceptance test procedures (ATPs), 282
ACLR see adjacent channel leakage power ratio
(ACLR)
ACPR see adjacent channel power ratio (ACPR)
activation energy, 461462
active harmonic load-pull, 620, 621
active load-pull schematics, 563564
active systems, 619620
adapters
de-embedding, 593
inserted after calibration, 589591
removal techniques, 592
adhesives, electrically conductive, 285
adjacent channel leakage power ratio (ACLR),
110111
limits, 522
specifications, 517
adjacent channel power ratio (ACPR), 625629
code division multiple access, 629
concept of, 625
determination, 626
measurements, 626
spectrum analyzers, 627, 628
test results, 629
adjacent channel powers
integrated, 626627
weighted, 626627
admittance (Y) parameters, 189
applications, 206
in database models, 212
AGC (automatic gain control), 570
air flow fields, mobile phones, 414415
ALC (automatic level control), 576

ALC (automatic level controlled) loops, 283
AlGaAs see aluminium gallium arsenide (AlGaAs)
AlGaN/GaN HFETs see aluminium gallium
nitride/gallium nitride heterostructure field
effect transistors (AlGaN/GaN HFETs)
Allegro Package Designer, 432
AlN (aluminium nitride), applications, 316318
Alodine, 294
aluminium
advantages, 452
applications
housings, 294, 311
metallization, 451452
electromigration, 3031
surface treatment, 294
thermal conductivity, 311
aluminium alloy 4047, applications, housings, 294
aluminium alloy 6061, applications, housings, 294
aluminium gallium arsenide (AlGaAs)
bandgap, 43
crystal structure, 4344
properties, 43
aluminium gallium nitride/gallium nitride
heterostructure field effect transistor
amplifiers, 123125
current waveforms, 139142
drain current, 138
efficiency, 138
gain, 138
operation, 136137
performance, 123125
RF, 123, 124, 137139
RF drain current, 140, 142143
RF drain voltage, 139142
RF gate current, 139, 143
RF gate voltage, 139142
RF power
input, 138, 139
output, 123124, 138
source resistance, 142, 143
nonlinear, 143
voltage waveforms, 139142
652
Index
aluminium gallium nitride/gallium nitride

heterostructure field effect transistors
(AlGaN/GaN HFETs)
advantages, 119120, 123
applications, 105106, 110111
microwave power amplifiers, 105
power amplifiers, 111
avalanche ionization, 145
background, 108111
channel current, 146, 148
current conduction degradation, 145146
currentvoltage relationships
DC, 137
gate and drain, 150151
development, 110111
drain current, 150151
electric field magnitudes, 144145
electron tunneling, 144145
fabrication, 108110, 119120
future trends, 152153
gate current, 148, 150151
gate edge, electric fields at, 149
gate electron leakage paths, 145
gate leakage, 146
current paths, 149
gate tunnel leakage model, 147148, 150
gate-to-source capacitance, 135
materials, parameters, 114
performance, 108110, 124125
polarization effects, 110
power output, changes, 472
resistances
drain, 135136
source, 135136
resistivity, 132
RF power, output, 124, 146
saturation fields, 114
space-charge effects, 133
structure, 119
sudden reliability problem, 146147
surface trap-to-trap hopping conduction, 149,
150
virtual gate effect, 145
aluminium nitride (AlN), applications, 316318
AM/AM measurements, 632
AM/PM measurements, 632
amplifiers
bias screening, 505
booster, 597598
burn-in, 505
Class H, 161
classification
classes A to S, 159186
development, 159
and efficiency, 160
historical background, 159
inverted modes, 179180

issues, 184186
multimodes, 184186
defect-related problems, 447
distributed, 340341
gain definitions, 599602
humidity acceleration factors, 488492
measurements, 570642
reliability issues, 447
switch modes, 159
wear-out, 447
see also aluminium gallium nitride/gallium
nitride heterostructure field effect transistor
amplifiers; Class A amplifiers; Class AB
amplifiers; Class B amplifiers; Class C
amplifiers; Class E amplifiers; Class F
amplifiers; Class G amplifiers; Class J
amplifiers; Class S amplifiers; Doherty
amplifiers; hybrid amplifiers; power
amplifiers (PAs); push-pull amplifiers;
4H-silicon carbide metal semiconductor field
effect transistor amplifiers; transistor
amplifiers
amplitudephase conversion, nonlinear, 512
AngelovChalmers model, 86
ANSYS, 432
ANSYS FLUENT, 432
ANSYS Icepak, 432
antenna towers, 416417
apertures
and group delay, 603604
stepwidth, 603604
Arrhenius equation, 460461
ATPs (acceptance test procedures), 282
attenuators
diode sensors, 571
high-power, 577
in high-power RF measurements,
576579
disadvantages, 578
and power sensors, 576577
scattering parameters, 596
self-heating, 578
step, 587588
AutoCAD, 432
automatic differentiation, applications, 222
automatic gain control (AGC), 570
automatic level control (ALC), 576
automatic level controlled (ALC) loops, 283
autotransformers, 553
avalanche breakdown, 25
concept of, 23
use of term, 18
average efficiency, 278
Index
Class A amplifiers, 164

definition, 510
average power, 624
average pulse method, 633634
back substitution, 191
backgating, 454
balanced mode configuration, vs. Doherty
configuration, 529
balanced one-port devices, 610
balanced power amplifiers, 340341, 544550
configurations, 544545
as power combiners, 546547
balanced two-port devices, 610
balancedbalanced transformers, 556557
ballast resistors, 216
baluns, 552
active, 610611
configurations, 556
Guanella, 554
passive, 610611
structure, 558
two-hole cores, 553554
bamboo regime, use of term, 3132
bandpass filters, 586, 604
barretters, 571
base stations see radio base stations (RBSs)
bathtub curves, 412, 455456, 457
regions, 412413, 456457
Beatty standard, 598599
BeO (beryllium oxide), applications, 316318
BER (bit error rate), 635636
beryllium oxide (BeO), applications, 316318
bias decoupling, 349352
bias networks, 350
constant impedance, 351
FETs, 249250
GaAs FETs, 250
GaN FETs, 250
in microwave hybrid power amplifiers,
345353
requirements, 345
transistors, 345, 346
bias screening, amplifiers, 505
biasing
narrow band designs, 349
sequences, 347
vs. RF performance, 348349
bipolar junction transistors (BJTs), 249
applications, RF power amplifiers, 161162, 282
cross-sections, 433
disadvantages, 246247, 255
materials, 106
stable thermal operating points, 216, 217
653
see also heterojunction bipolar transistors

(HBTs); 4H-silicon carbide bipolar junction
transistors (4H-SiC BJTs)
bit error rate (BER), 635636
BITE (built in test), applications, 353
BJTs see bipolar junction transistors (BJTs)
black-box models, 89
Blacks equation, 3031, 33, 463
generalization, 463464
parameters, 32
bolometers, principles, 571
bond wires
DC fusing current, 220
impedance determination, 220
as inductors, 219220
models, 399
in power amplifier models, 219221
booster amplifiers, 597598
bootstrap configuration, 555556
box truncations, 224
branchline couplers, 328331, 349
impedance transforming, 549
branchline quadrature hybrids, 547549
characteristic impedance, 547548
frequency response, 548
output impedances, 548549
performance, 548
breakdown curves, on-state vs. off-state, 24
breakdown voltagefrequency relationships, 4546,
47
breakdown voltages, 5758
capacitors, 469, 470
definition, 57
RF power transistors, 246, 248
silicon nitride films, 466
see also drain-to-source breakdown voltage
(BVds ); gate-to-drain breakdown voltage
(BVgd ); gate-to-source breakdown voltage
(BVgs )
breakdown walkout, use of term, 59
breathing, and moisture ingress, 296
built in test (BITE), applications, 353
burn-in, 457458, 504505
amplifiers, 505
use of term, 504505
BVds see drain-to-source breakdown voltage
(BVds )
BVgd see gate-to-drain breakdown voltage (BVgd )
BVgs see gate-to-source breakdown voltage (BVgs )
CAD see computer-aided design (CAD)
Cadence, 432
calibration
adapters inserted after, 589591
with different connector types, 589593
high-power setups, 596598
654
Index
CAD (cont.)
with PCBs, test fixtures and wafer probes,
593596
standards, 590
techniques, properties, 592
throughopenmatch, 598599
see also unknownopenshortmatch (UOSM)
calibration
capacitors
applications, 318320
breakdown voltages, 469, 470
chip, 265267
closed-form models, 209210
defects, 483
as distributed components, 324
equivalent circuits, 209
high-Q, 353355
ideal, 320
interdigital, 367, 368369
lifetimes, predictions, 471
losses, 219
lumped, 367
microstrip, 368369
in microwave hybrid power amplifiers, 318321
in MMICs, classification, 368369
modeling, 315
plate orientation effects, 318320
quality factor, 320
ramp to failure data, 467
voltage acceleration, 487488
see also metalinsulatormetal (MIM) capacitors;
multilayer capacitors (MLCs); silicon nitride
capacitors; single-layer capacitors (SLCs)
capillary action, and moisture ingress, 296
cascaded tuner method, 620
castings, housings, 303
CCDF (complementary cumulative distribution
function), 624, 625
CDMA see code division multiple access (CDMA)
CDPD (cellular digital packet data), 513
Cds see drain-to-source capacitance (Cds )
cell interconnections, modeling, in large devices,
213214
cell phones see mobile phones
cellular digital packet data (CDPD), 513
cellular telephony see mobile telephony
ceramic packages
air-cavity surface-mount, 392393, 394
applications, in MMIC PAs, 391, 392, 393
assembly, 398
flow, 400
configuration, 393
cost factors, 393
design, 391393
issues, 391
development, 390391
low-cost, 394
manufacture, 393394
flow processes, 396
materials, 391
properties, 391
multi-lead, 392393
properties, 392
substrates, 392393
types of, 390391
ceramics, applications, packaging, 82, 390394
CFD see computational fluid dynamics (CFD)
CFs see crest factors (CFs)
Cgd see gate-to-drain feedback capacitance (Cgd )
Cgs see gate-to-source capacitance (Cgs )
channel power
measurement, 627
see also adjacent channel powers
chemical mechanical polishing (CMP), 453
chromate conversion, 294
circuit analysis
applications, 205
methods, 188205
integration, 205
software
and electromagnetic analysis software, 229
see also harmonic-balance analysis; linear
analysis; nodal analysis; time-domain
analysis
circuit components, losses, in power amplifier
models, 219
circuit metallizations
losses
calculations, 219
factors affecting, 218219
in power amplifier models, 217219
multilayer, 218
circuit simulation
accuracy, and passive circuit structures,
205213
see also nonlinear circuit simulation
circulators
functional diagrams, 323
advantages, 164
applications, 161
characteristics, 160
and Class AB amplifiers compared, 164165
currentvoltage relationships, 162
efficiency, 163164
average, 164, 511
maximum, 510
under power back-off conditions, 164, 180
output power, 163164
Index
waveforms, 163
zero-knee assumption, 163164
Class AB amplifiers, 164171
applications, 161
and Class A amplifiers compared, 164165
design, 171
issues, 165166
early studies, 160
efficiency, under power back-off conditions, 169
linearity, 170
issues, 169170
operation, 170171
output capacitance, 171
output voltage, 165, 166, 618
supply voltages, 524525
topology, 170
waveforms, 165
Class B amplifiers, 161, 164171
efficiency, 166168, 186, 510, 561
under power back-off conditions, 168169
inverted mode, 179
operation, 166168
schematics, 559
waveforms, 167, 562
voltage, 173
zero-bias condition, 168
Class C amplifiers, 160, 171173
applications, 173
disadvantages, 172173
efficiency, 160
input voltages, excess, 172
operation, 171
RF power reduction, 171172
waveforms, 172
Class D amplifiers
audio, 161
use of term, 183
Class E amplifiers, 181183
circuits, 181182
efficiency, 183
operation, 181
research, 183
waveforms, 182
Class F amplifiers, 161, 173176, 186
design, 176
inverted, 179180
clipped variations, 181
waveforms, 179, 180
knee region, 175
operation, 173
output capacitance, 175176
research, 173
topology, 176
zero-grazing, 174175
655
waveforms, 175
Class G amplifiers, 161
use of term, 180
Class H amplifiers, 161
Class J amplifiers, 176179
advantages, 178179
circuits, 178179
operation, 176177
topology, 178
waveforms, 178
voltage, 177178
Class S amplifiers, 161, 183184
concept of, 183
configuration
bogus, 184
viable, 184
design issues, 183184
operation, 183
clipping, 514
closed-form models, 208210
applications, 209
capacitors, 209210
planar spiral inductors, 209
strip transmission lines, 210
CMP (chemical mechanical polishing), 453
CMRR (common-mode rejection ratio), 611
CNC machines (computer numerically controlled)
machines, applications, housing
construction, 303
coaxial connections, 311312, 554555
interfacing issues, 595596
overview, 589
power handling calculations, 312
printed circuit boards, 312, 313
properties, 593
transition parameters, 314
types of, 591, 593
code division multiple access (CDMA), 110111,
331
adjacent channel power ratio, 629
power output control, 511512
see also Wideband Code Division Multiple
Access (W-CDMA)
coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE), joining
materials of different, 425426
cold-source method, 640
cold-wall, use of term, 311
COM (component object model), 229
comb spectra, 634
combining
advantages, 344
applications, 344
in Doherty amplifiers, 344
parallel, 334
656
Index
commercial markets, RF power amplifiers, 236

common-mode rejection ratio (CMRR), 611
common-mode signals, 608610
compensation techniques, 574
complementary cumulative distribution function
(CCDF), 624, 625
component object model (COM), 229
components
active, 315
integrated, in microwave hybrid power amplifiers,
322
lumped, equivalent circuits, 324, 325
passive, 315
distributed, 323331
lumped, 315323
reliability, and temperature, 305
see also capacitors; diodes; distributed
components; inductors; resistors; transistors;
vacuum tubes
compression points, 615, 616
computational fluid dynamics (CFD), 431
applications, 431
computer numerically controlled (CNC) machines,
applications, housing construction, 303
computer-aided design (CAD)
MMIC PAs, 370
tools, 370
condensation, equipment vulnerability to, 294295
condition numbers, 227
conduction
steady-state, 420
and thermal performance, RFPAs, 420421
three-dimensional, 420421
see also reduced conduction angle
conductors
in printed circuit boards, 289
substrate attachment, 289
see also interconnects; vias
conformal coatings, 296
conservation of energy equation, 431
conservation of mass equation, 431
conservation of momentum equation, 431
constellation diagrams, 630631, 632
construction, 631
contact printing, in GaAs FET fabrication, 76
contact thermal resistance
concept of, 438439
pictorial description, 438
reduction strategies, 439
continuation methods
in nonlinear circuit simulation, 223
use of term, 223
continuity equations, 128129
convection
heat sinks, 421
and thermal performance, RFPAs, 421422
convective heat transfer coefficients, 421422
coplanar waveguide (CPW)
applications, 292
in MMICs, 362363, 365367
attenuation coefficient, 366
characteristic impedance, 365, 366
dielectric constant, 366
disadvantages, 292
discontinuities, 366367
modes, 365366
parameters, 365
copper
applications, conductors, 289
electrodeposition, 289
interdiffusion, 452
metallization, 453
pattern definition, 453
rolled, 289
copper bumps, thermal excursions, 478482
correction factors, 626627
corrosion, and metallization, 452
cosimulation, 229
COSMOS, 432
coupled-coil transformers, 553554
impedances, 553
performance, limitations, 553554
winding topologies, 553
couplers
discrete quadrature hybrid, 328, 329
rat-race, 559, 560
Wireline, 328, 329
see also branchline couplers; Lange couplers;
power combining; quadrature couplers
CPW see coplanar waveguide (CPW)
crest factors (CFs), 512514, 624
definition, 513
determination, 624
periodic signals, 624
CTE (coefficient of thermal expansion), joining
materials of different, 425426
current
definition, 113114
see also snapback current
current acceleration, 462465
current density
acceleration factors, 464
exponent determination, 465
Index
current density equations, 128129, 131,

132133
current distribution, and metal losses, 218
current sense, 348
current transport, DMOSFETs, 1011
D1020UK (MOSFET)
datasheet, 257
drain current vs. temperature, 257,
258259
gate voltage vs. temperature, 257258
input/output impedance, 259, 260
thermal tracking circuit, 258
data rates, and efficiency, 520522
database models, 212
datasheets
D1020UK, 257
interpretation issues, 331
RF power transistors, 244246
DCDC converters, 348
DCS1800 system, 513
DDE (dynamic data exchange), 229
de-embedding, adapters, 593
DECT (Digital Enhanced Cordless
Telecommunications), 513
defect amplification, 482488
defect-related problems, amplifiers, 447
defects
capacitors, 483
liftoff, 483
predicted, 495
types of, 483
vs. wear-out, 475492
see also failures
depletion region, 1718
GaAs FETs, 61
silicon LDMOSFETs, 5
design
balanced, MHPAs, 334
ceramic packages, 391393
issues, 391
GaAs FETs, 6374
gallium nitride wide bandgap transistors,
118125
heat sinking, 308309
HFETs, 6465
hypothetical RFPA subsystem modules,
252
MESFETs, 6465
MHPAs, 333
MMIC PAs, 370372, 525526
pHEMTs, 6465
plastic packages, 395
power amplifiers
holistic, 526, 528
overview, 523526
657
parameter trade-offs, 509514, 525, 567568

processes, 525
power FET cells, 6769
for reliability, 495500
RFPAs, 242
silicon carbide wide bandgap transistors,
118125
silicon VDMOSFETs, 2739
see also computer-aided design (CAD); thermal
design
design flow
barriers to, 229
in nonlinear circuit simulations, 228230
design for manufacturability (DFM) studies,
282
designers, and failure mechanisms, 447
device junction temperature, 428429
device pitch, issues, 2829
devices under test (DUTs)
heat radiation, 429430
power input, 622
power output, issues, 596
radiant energy, 430431
temperature control, 21
two-port, 581
wave propagation, 580
dew point, 294295
DF (dissipation factor), 318320
DFM (design for manufacturability) studies,
282
die attach
eutectic, 397
materials, 397, 426427
methods, 396397
in MMIC PA package assembly, 396397
solders, 426427
thermal resistance, 436437
uniform, 401
see also flip-chip die attach; goldsilicon die
attach; leadtinsilver die attach
die bonding, 493494
die thickness, and thermal resistance, 436
dielectric constants, and temperature, 287
dielectric layers, in GaAs FET fabrication,
7980
dielectrics
degradation mechanisms, 453454
failure mechanisms, 453454
gate, 453454
properties, 320
dies, in silicon LDMOSFET construction,
25
differential equations, in time-domain analysis,
202
658
Index
differential-mode signals, 608610

diffusion
assessment, 455
measurement, 295
and moisture ingress, 295
see also interdiffusion
digital baseband pre-distortion (DPD), 514517,
524, 567568
block diagrams, 515, 516, 517
disadvantages, 516
feedback loops, 515, 516517
performance plots, 517, 518
and power amplifier design, 524
power dissipation, 517518
principles, 515516
requirements, 516
Digital Enhanced Cordless Telecommunications
(DECT), 513
digital-signal processors (DSPs)
applications, 515
power consumption, 517518
diode sensors, 570571
attenuators, 571
circuit diagrams, 571
fast, 571
input power ranges, 572573
optimization, 571
diodes
DC voltages, 194195
reliability guidelines, 499
Schottky, 345347
sinusoidal voltages, 196198
Zener, 347
directional elements, 582
directivity, 585
frequency range, 585
functions, 582
implementations, 585
test port match, 585
directional power measurements,
576579
directional power meters, applications,
579
directional power sensors
applications, 579
development, 578
directivity, 584, 596597
raw, 597
discontinuities
coplanar waveguide, 366367
microstrip, 205, 206208, 209, 365
simulations, 212
and RF connections, 314
waveguides, 211212
dispersion-free networks, phase delay, 605

dissipation factor (DF), 318320
distortion
nonlinear, 512513, 611
see also harmonic distortion (HMD);
intermodulation distortion (IMD); linear
distortion; pre-distortion
distributed amplifiers, 340341
distributed components, 323331
capacitors as, 324
couplers as, 326331
definition, 323324
equivalent circuits, 324, 325
resistors as, 323324
transmission lines as, 324
DMOSFETs see double diffused
metaloxidesilicon field effect transistors
(DMOSFETs)
Doherty amplifiers, 1, 514, 524525
combining in, 344
development, 563
efficiency, 564566, 567
for efficient radio base stations, 527530
main and auxiliary voltages and currents,
566
peaking stage, 173
power output, 566, 567
principles, 561563
single-stage, 528, 529
Doherty combining, 523, 527, 559567
efficiency improvement, 529
representations, 563564, 565
Doherty configuration, vs. balanced mode
configuration, 529
double diffused metaloxidesilicon field effect
transistors (DMOSFETs)
advantages, 12
breakdown voltage, 1722
current transport, 1011
currentvoltage responses, 10
development, 12
device physics, 1027
heat generation, 3334
hot carrier injection, 1722
linear regime on-resistance, 1722
operating voltage, issues, 2627
operation, 10
linear region, 19
saturation region, 19
parasitic elements, behavior, 1217
ruggedness, 2226
snapback, 2226
terminals, 1011
types of, 2
Index
see also lateral double diffused

(LDMOSFETs); vertical double diffused
(VDMOSFETs)
DPD see digital baseband pre-distortion (DPD)
drain efficiency, 33, 110111, 559560
broadband, 279
definition, 3637, 509510, 602
drain engineering
and ruggedness, 24
use of term, 17
drain switching, high-power amplifiers, 532533
drain voltage control, 348
drain-to-source breakdown voltage (BVds ), 25,
5758
DMOSFETs, 1722
high, designing for, 18
increase, 56
LDMOSFETs, 5
mechanisms, 1718
optimization, 6566
and ruggedness, 23
use of term, 17
drain-to-source capacitance (Cds ), silicon
LDMOSFETs, 5, 1516
DSPs see digital-signal processors (DSPs)
DUTs see devices under test (DUTs)
dynamic data exchange (DDE), 229
dynamic load lines, 618
dynamic range, 628629
power sensors, 574
RF power amplifiers, 237238
vector network analyzers, 616
ED see electrodeposition (ED)
edge coupling, 290291
EDGE (Enhanced Data Rates for Global Evolution),
508509
EEFET3 model, 86
EEHEMT model, 86
EER (envelope elimination and restoration)
schemes, 514
efficiency
and amplifier classification, 160
collector, 509510
and data rates, 520522
Doherty amplifiers, 564566, 567
enhancement, 514
and gain, 3637
instantaneous, 510
measurement, 602603
peak, 511
power amplifiers, 508, 524525, 567568
659
improvements, 620
power conversion, 509510
radar, 508
RFPAs, 238, 282, 416, 440
see also average efficiency; drain efficiency;
maximum efficiency; power efficiency;
power-added efficiency (PAE)
efficiency factor, 602603
EIA (Electronic Industries Association) (US),
321
EL2 (electron level 2), definition, 44
electric field acceleration factor, 470
determination, 469
electric field spreading, 5859
electrical ratings, 496497
electrodeposition (ED)
advantages, 289
applications, in printed circuit board manufacture,
289
electromagnetic analysis software, and circuit
analysis software, 229
electromagnetic compatibility (EMC),
268269
RF power amplifiers, 235, 241
electromagnetic simulation
applications, 210
models from, 210212
electromagnetic simulators, 210212
in MMIC PA design, 372, 373
three-dimensional predominantly planar, 211
two-dimensional, 210211
see also plant simulators
electromigration
definition, 462463
design issues, 3032
HBTs, 464465
integrated circuits, 463
interconnects, 463464
and lifetimes, 464
mechanisms, 463
and metallization, 452
metals, response differences, 3031
performance enhancement, 3132
prevention, 463
requirements, in MMICs, 369370
resistors, 463464
vs. temperature, 33
electron gas
two-dimensional
electron mobility, 114
sheet charge density, 114
electron level 2 (EL2), definition, 44
Electronic Industries Association (EIA) (US),
321
660
Index
electronic warfare (EW)

communications jamming, hypothetical RFPA
subsystem, 252282
power amplifiers in, 534537
RF power amplifiers in, 252
see also jammers
electrostatic discharge (ESD)
guidelines, 499
input protection circuits, 499
electrothermal equivalent circuits, 214215
element testing, 448449
EMC see electromagnetic compatibility (EMC)
emissivity, 422, 430431
definition, 422
encapsulation, MMIC PAs, 400
Enhanced Data Rates for Global Evolution (EDGE),
508509
ENR see excess noise ratio (ENR)
envelope analysis, 201202
computational costs, 202
envelope elimination and restoration (EER)
schemes, 514
envelope tracking, 161
concept of, 524525
environmental testing, plastic packages, 491492
epitaxial layers, growth, 111
epoxies, and screw locking, 304
equalizers, 325326
behavior, 326
lossy stub, 327
equivalent circuits
capacitors, 209
coupled-coil transformers, 553554
distributed components, 324, 325
electrothermal, 214215
GaAs FETs, 6061, 85
GaN wide bandgap transistors, 125127
gate finger, 68
gate manifold, 68
large-signal models, 8586
limitations, 127
lumped components, 324, 325
reduced, 127
resistors, 318
small-signal models, 8485
two-port networks, 125126
transistors, 125127
see also tee-equivalent circuits
equivalent generators, and power sensors,
574576
error models
3-term, 589
7-term, 588, 589, 592
error vector magnitude (EVM), 522, 525, 630631
definition, 630
measurement, 630631
ESD see electrostatic discharge (ESD)

etch-stops, 7778
etching
dry, 78
issues, 290291
mesa, 7677
wet, 78
see also gate etching
eutectic systems, for die attach, 426427
EVM (error vector magnitude), 522, 525
EW see electronic warfare (EW)
excess noise ratio (ENR), 638640
determination, 638
F see noise factor (F)
failure criteria, 449450, 480
measurement selection, 450
specification thresholds, 449450
failure distributions, 446, 455458
HBTs, 465
separation, 455
thermal excursions, 477
failure mechanism analysis (FMA), 478479
failure mechanisms, 446, 451455
bulk substrate materials, 454
definition, 451
designers and, 447
dielectric, 453454
in gallium arsenide processes, 500
Schottky gate FETs, 454455
semiconductors, humidity, 490
failure mode and effects analysis (FMEA), 282,
478479
failure modes, 450451
definition, 450451
failure rates, 447
definition, 475
semiconductors, 455456, 458
see also mean time between failure (MTBF);
mean time to failure (MTTF)
failures
definition, 449
early, 504505
evaluation procedures, 473474
infant, 504505
probabilities, 446
see also defects
failures in time (FIT), 475
fans, reliability issues, 311
Faradays Law, 128129
fast Fourier transforms (FFTs), 204
FDD (frequency-division duplexing),
519520
FDMA (frequency division multiple access),
511512
Index
feedback
in microwave hybrid power amplifiers, 335, 336
issues, 335336
resistive-inductive-capacitive networks, 251, 274,
315
in RF power amplifiers, 251, 267268
see also gate-to-drain feedback capacitance (Cgd )
FEM see finite element method (FEM)
FETs see field effect transistors (FETs)
FFTs (fast Fourier transforms), 204
FIB (focused ion beam), applications, 459
fiberglass, applications, substrates, 285286
field effect transistors (FETs)
applications, RF power amplifiers, 161162
bias networks, 249250
characteristics, idealized, 162
currentvoltage relationships, 162
degradation, 455
gate-to-source capacitance, 134135
life testing, 460, 461
lifetimes, temperature effects, 498
metalinsulatorsemiconductor, 110
nonlinear source resistance, equivalent circuits,
134135
power device models, 213
RF power output, 124
sinking gates, 458
source resistance, 133134
tee-equivalent circuits
large-signal, 128
small-signal, 126
transconductance, 134135
see also gallium arsenide field effect transistors
(GaAs FETs); heterostructure field effect
transistors (HFETs); metal semiconductor
field effect transistors (MESFETs);
(MOSFETs)
field plates
concept of, 1819
effects, 8
in GaAs FETs, 6667
in 4H-SiC MESFETs, 108
in silicon LDMOSFETs, 78, 1819
finite element method (FEM), 431
finite impulse response (FIR) models, 201
finite volume method (FVM), 431
FIR (finite impulse response) models, 201
FIT (failures in time), 475
flares, 29, 30
flashing, 289
flip-chip die attach
failure cross-sections, 481482
661

technology, 479
test structure, 479
thermal excursion testing, 478
FloTHERM, 432
fluid flows, simulations, 431
FMA (failure mechanism analysis), 478479
fmax see maximum oscillation frequency (fmax )
FMEA (failure mode and effects analysis), 282,
478479
focal plane array (FPA) detectors, 429430
focused ion beam (FIB), applications, 459
forced air, and heat sinking, 310311
Fourier transforms, 196198, 204, 227
fast, 204
FPA (focal plane array) detectors, 429430
frequency
and gain, 37
see also maximum oscillation frequency (fmax );
transition frequency (fT )
frequency division multiple access (FDMA),
511512
frequency modulation schemes, analog, 508509
frequency sets
box truncations, 224
in nonlinear circuit simulation, 224225
rectangular truncations, 224
triangular truncations, 224
use of term, 224
frequency-division duplexing (FDD), 519520
frequency-domain models, 204
frequency-shift keying (FSK), efficiency, 512513
FSK (frequency-shift keying), efficiency, 512513
fT see transition frequency (fT )
fuses, 347
FVM (finite volume method), 431
2.5G (mobile phone standard), 508509
3G (mobile phone standard), 508509, 519520
4G (mobile phone standard), 508509
GaAs see gallium arsenide (GaAs)
GaAs FETs see gallium arsenide field effect
transistors (GaAs FETs)
GaAs HBTs (gallium arsenide heterojunction
bipolar transistors), development, 42
GaAs MESFETs see gallium arsenide metal
semiconductor field effect transistors (GaAs
MESFETs)
gain
definitions, 599602
and efficiency, 3637
flatness, 237, 253
and frequency, 37
GaAs FETs, 6163
662
Index
gain (cont.)
hypothetical RFPA subsystem modules,
253
independent factors, 600601
insertion, 601602
linearity, 237, 253, 254
temperature stability, 237
transducer, 599600
see also unilateralized gain (U)
gain circles, constant, 601
gain compression, 622
gallium, interdiffusion, 454455
gallium arsenide (GaAs)
bandgap, 43
charge carrier mobility, 113114
disadvantages, 4445
and hydrogen poisoning, 295
processes
properties, 4345
resistivity, 44
wafers, 357
see also aluminium gallium arsenide (AlGaAs);
indium gallium arsenide (InGaAs)
gallium arsenide field effect transistors (GaAs
FETs), 4291, 249
in RF power amplifiers, 282
band diagrams, 50
bias networks, 250
breakdown, 5758, 66
mechanisms, 5859
optimization, 5859, 6566
ratings, 5960
RF vs. DC, 60
capacitances
gate-to-drain, 60
gate-to-source, 60
parasitic, 60
channel temperature, 7273
currentvoltage characteristics, 5152
detailed behavior, 5152
dynamic, 5354
idealized, 51, 52
practical, 53
pulsed, 5354, 87
real devices, 52
depletion region, 61
design, 6374
epi-layer, 6465
FET channel and recess, 6367
gate-recess, 6566
power devices, 63
power FET cells, 6769
thermal, 7274
development, 42
doping profiles, 64
drain lag, 55
efficiency, 331
equivalent circuits, 6061, 85
fabrication, 7484
backside processing, 80
device isolation, 7677
dielectric layers, 7980
gate etching, 7778
gate-shrink approaches, 81
interconnect metals, 80
liftoff, 76
lithography, 7576, 81
low-cost, 81
ohmic contacts, 77
overview, 7475
packaging, 8184
process monitoring, 80
processes, 7581
Schottky gate electrodes, 7879
field plates, 6667
figures of merit, 6163
gain, 6163
gate lag, 55
gate sinking, 72
junction temperature, 72, 74
loadlines, 5152
class A, 52
class B, 52
materials, properties, 43
models, 8489
device, 84
gate-charge, 8687
large-signal, 56, 8589
load-pull, 89
small-signal, 8485
packaging, 8184
physics, 5163
pulsed operation, 332
resistances, parasitic, 60
thermal simulation, 7374
trapping effects, 5354
consequences, 5457
minimization, 54
types of, 4651
gallium arsenide heterojunction bipolar transistors
(GaAs HBTs), development, 42
gallium arsenide metal semiconductor field effect
transistors (GaAs MESFETs)
Index
dynamic characteristics, 115117

gallium arsenide technology, advantages, 42
gallium nitride (GaN)
hole mobilities, 115
gallium nitride field effect transistors (GaN FETs),
249
applications, in RF power amplifiers, 282
bias networks, 250
development, 42
efficiency, 331
gallium nitride RF power amplifiers (GaN RFPAs)
die attach, 437
103153
breakdown, 112113
development, 104105
device design, 118125
large-signal effects, 130152
gate leakage, 144146
nonlinear source and drain resistances,
133143
reliability and time-dependent performance
degradation, 146152
space-charge limited current transport,
130133
material parameters, 111115
models, 125130
physics-based large-signal, 128
properties, 112
RF performance, 118125
thermal conductance, 112113
GaN see gallium nitride (GaN)
GaN FETs see gallium nitride field effect transistors
(GaN FETs)
GaN RFPAs see gallium nitride RF power amplifiers
(GaN RFPAs)
gasket sealing, 298, 299
approaches, 297
gate capacitance, charge conservation, 8687
gate dielectrics, degradation, 453454
gate etching
approaches, 78
in GaAs FET fabrication, 7778
gate finger arrays, 27, 28
gate resistance, 347
gate taps, 28
concept of, 2728
gate voltage control, 348
gate-to-drain breakdown voltage (BVgd )
663
definition, 5758
optimization, 6566
as two-terminal test, 5758
gate-to-drain feedback capacitance (Cgd )
GaAs FETs, 60
gate-to-source breakdown voltage (BVgs )
definition, 5758
as two-terminal test, 5758
gate-to-source capacitance (Cgs )
AlGaN/GaN HFETs, 135
FETs, 134135
GaAs FETs, 60
gauge repeatability and reproducibility (GR&R),
282, 450
Gaussian minimum-shift keying (GMSK),
applications, 513
gds (output conductance), dispersion, 55
generalized minimum residual (GMRES), 193,
199200
Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM),
508509, 513
standards, 519
gm see transconductance (gm )
Gmax curves, 62, 9091
GMRES (generalized minimum residual), 193,
199200
GMSK (Gaussian minimum-shift keying),
applications, 513
gold
applications, metallization, 452
interdiffusion, 452, 454455
goldsilicon die attach
applications, 437
goodness, measures, 447
3GPP see 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP)
GR&R (gauge repeatability and reproducibility)
studies, 282, 450
grounding, printed circuit boards, issues, 285, 291
group delay
and apertures, 603604
calculation, 603604
definition, 603
GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications),
508509, 513
Guanella baluns, 554
Gysel combiners, 533534, 542544
advantages, 542544
layouts, 542544
modes, 544
and Wilkinson power combiners compared, 545
664
Index
h parameters, 90
h21 , determination, 90
Hall mobility measurements, 114
HALTs (highly accelerated life tests), 270, 271
handset amplifiers, simulations, 219, 220
hard substrates, 285
dimensional issues, 289
mounting, 292
harmonic distortion (HMD), 239, 611615
measurement, 641
harmonic load-pull
active, 620, 621
cascaded tuner method, 620
triplexer method, 620
harmonic matching, 185186
harmonic suppression, determination, 614615
harmonic-balance analysis, 193202
applications, 205
large circuits, 196198
convergence failure, 195
convergence testing, 195196
development, 193
improvements, 199202
envelope analysis, 201202
error equation weighting, 200
Krylov subspace methods, 199200
multitone excitations, 200201
norm reduction, 199
Semanskii iteration, 199
multidimensional problems, 196198
performance, 195
procedures, 194195
scattering parameter models in, 207208
SPICE models in, 226
HASL (hot air solder leveling), 289
HASTs see highly accelerated stress tests (HASTs)
HBTs see heterojunction bipolar transistors
(HBTs)
HCI see hot carrier injection (HCI)
heat sinking
design issues, 308309
and forced air, 310311
housings, 293, 305311
heat sinks
construction, 309310
convection, 421
fin alignment, 310311
RFPAs, 417
types of, 309
heat transfer
efficiency, 421422
mobile phones, 414415
PCBs, 414415
simulations, 431
and thermal performance, in RFPAs, 419423
see also conduction; convection; phase change

cooling; radiation
heat transfer coefficient, 421422
heatpipes, 311
HEMTs see high-electron mobility transistors
(HEMTs)
hermetic sealing, 295, 296297
approaches, 297
MMIC PAs, 400
heterojunction bipolar transistors (HBTs)
in MMICs, 361362, 386
development, 358
failure distributions, 465
life testing, 464
thermal stability, 216
heterostructure field effect transistors (HFETs), 47
band diagrams, 50
gate bias effects, 51
currentvoltage relationships, DC, 137
depletion mode, 135
design, epi-layer, 6465
developments, 48
fabrication, 7475
gate leakage, 144
materials, 104105
models, large-signal, 147
resistances
drain, 136
source, 136
structure, 4648
see also aluminium gallium nitride/gallium
nitride heterostructure field effect transistors
(AlGaN/GaN HFETs); high-electron
mobility transistors (HEMTs)
HFETs see heterostructure field effect transistors
(HFETs)
high-electron mobility transistors (HEMTs), 47
applications, in MMICs, 361362
band diagrams, 4950
channel mobilities, 4849
development, 161162, 358
doping profiles, 6465
fabrication, 7475
indium gallium arsenide-based, RF performance,
103104
modulation doping, 4849
structure, 48
see also pseudomorphic high-electron mobility
transistors (pHEMTs)
high-frequency devices, 105106
high-power amplifiers (HPAs), 374375, 388
applications, 532
Index
drain switching, 532533

multi-octave, 377380
single-stage, 385386
thermal management, 400401
high-power attenuators, 577
high-power RF measurements, 576579
high-temperature life testing, 475
high-voltage integrated circuits (HVICs), 3739
development, 37
performance, 3839
two-stage, 3738
high-voltage p region (PHV) implants
high-voltage zero-power moisture (HVZPM), 489
highly accelerated life tests (HALTs), 270, 271
highly accelerated stress tests (HASTs), 8384,
489490
applications, 488
HMD see harmonic distortion (HMD)
hole current density, simulations, 25
hot air solder leveling (HASL), 289
hot carrier injection (HCI)
characterization, 19
stress testing, 21
degradation mechanisms, 453454
DMOSFETs, 1722
LDMOSFETs, 25
levels, 78
mitigation, 2122
occurrence, 1921
and RF bias acceleration, 473
sensitivity, 2122
housings
connections, 293
construction methods, 303304
castings, 303
machining, 303
piece parts, 304
cost reductions, 303304
heat sinking, 293, 305311
hermeticity, 294299
interference issues, 293
internal corners, 303
materials, 294, 311
microwave hybrid power amplifiers, 293315
mountings, 293
protection, 293, 294295
standards, 295
RF connections, 311315
screw locking, 304
sealing, 294299
thermal issues, 305311
665
thermal performance, 306

water cooling, 311
see also packaging
HPAs see high-power amplifiers (HPAs)
humidity
semiconductor failure mechanisms, 490
and temperature, 488489
humidity activation energy, 488492
humidity testing bias, 488489
HVICs see high-voltage integrated circuits (HVICs)
HVZPM (high-voltage zero-power moisture), 489
hybrid, definition, 284
hybrid amplifiers
markets, 284
substrates, parameters, 286
use of term, 284
see also microwave hybrid power amplifiers
(MHPAs)
hybrid parameters, h21 , 62, 63
hydrogen poisoning, 295
hypothetical RFPA subsystem modules, 252282
altitude, 253, 254
antenna load, 253
bandwidth, 252, 253
breadboards, 271, 272
capacitors
chip, 265267
coupling, 265267
feedback, 274
design
preventative measures, 273
processes, 252
feedback networks, 267268
gain, 253
flatness, 253
linearity, 253, 254, 274278
gaskets, 273
gate bias/temperature tracking/compensation
networks, 257259
hardware, design/realization, 254255
input/output impedance matching networks,
259267
input/output RF/DC coupling/decoupling
networks, 259
components, 259
mean time to failure, 253, 254, 280, 281
overview, 252
phase linearity, 254, 274278
physical construction, 271273
power output, 252, 253, 255
radiated emissions, 253, 254
RF transistor selection, 255257
schematics, 273274
666
Index
hypothetical RFPA subsystem modules (cont.)

shock/vibration, 253, 254
specifications
qualitative delineation, 252253
quantification, 253254
stability, 253, 279
susceptibility, 253, 254
system block and wire diagrams, 254255
temperature range, 253, 254
temperature stress tests, 279280
test data, 281282
test results, 273280
test setup configuration/analysis, 268270
block diagrams, 268269, 270
transformation ratios, 260261
transformers, output, 272
two-port small-signal responses, 274, 275
vibration tests, 279280
voltage standing wave ratios, load, 253, 278279
ICs see integrated circuits (ICs)
IEDs see improvised explosive devices (IEDs)
IIR (infinite impulse response) models, 201
IMD see intermodulation distortion (IMD)
IMFETs see internally matched field effect
transistors (IMFETs)
impact ionization, 5859
impedance matching
hypothetical RFPA subsystem modules, 259267
power field effect transistor cells, 71
RF power transistors, 250251, 259267, 283
HF, 250
UHF, 250
VHF, 250
stubs, 338
transistor amplifiers, 117
impedance range, and substrate materials, 289
impedance standard substrates (ISSs), calibration
standards, 595596
improvement cycles, mobile phones, 502
improvised explosive devices (IEDs)
countermeasures, power amplifiers in, 538
jammers, 538
see also radio-controlled improvised explosive
devices (RCIEDs)
incident power, 581
incident waves, 580
magnitude, 582
indefinite admittance matrices, 190
indium gallium arsenide (InGaAs)
bandgap, 43
in HEMTs, RF performance, 103104
in pHEMTs, 4849
properties, 43
inductance, general expression, coefficients, 368

inductors
air-cored, advantages, 322
bond wires as, 219220
configurations, 367
losses, 219
lumped, 367
modeling, 315
planar spiral, closed-form models, 209
industrial markets, RF power amplifiers, 235
inexact Newton methods, 199200
infinite impulse response (IIR) models, 201
infrared (IR) microscopes, 429, 430
infrared (IR) reflow thermal profiles, 476
infrared (IR) thermometry, 428429
InGaAs see indium gallium arsenide (InGaAs)
insertion gain, 601602
insertion loss
minimization, 321
transmission line transformers, 264265, 266
instability, power amplifiers, 605
integrated circuits (ICs)
design, reliability issues, 496
fabrication, reliability issues, 496
materials, limitations, 446447
microwave, 357358
see also high-voltage integrated circuits (HVICs);
monolithic microwave integrated circuits
(MMICs); radio frequency integrated
circuits (RFICs)
intercept points, 611613
interconnects
metallization failures, 451, 484
metals, 80
see also vias
interdiffusion
copper, 452
gallium, 454455
gold, 452, 454455
interferences
common-mode, 608610
transmission lines, 608610
intermodulation distortion (IMD), 235, 611615
measurement, 641
minimization, 236
intermodulation measurements, 614
intermodulation suppression, 611613
internally matched field effect transistors (IMFETs)
characteristics, 71
topology, 73
Index
ion implantation, in GaAs FET fabrication, 77

IR (infrared) microscopes, 429, 430
IR (infrared) reflow thermal profiles, 476
IR (infrared) thermometry, 428429
Iridite, 294
isolators
issues, 323
in microwave hybrid power amplifiers,
322323
performance, 343
ISSs (impedance standard substrates), calibration
standards, 595596
Jacobian matrices, 197198, 226
poor conditioning, 227228
jammers
in electronic warfare, hypothetical RFPA
subsystem, 252282
I/J band, 537, 538
broadband, 538
prototypes, 535, 536, 537
for radio-controlled improvised explosive devices,
538
junction temperature, reduction, 311
junction-to-case thermal resistance (Rjc )
definition, 427
determination, 427
K factors, 482488
determination, 486
kink effect, 5657
mechanisms, 5657
Kirchhoffs current law, 194195, 196198
knee regions, negligible impacts, 162
Kovar
applications
in ceramic packages, 391
housings, 294
hermetic sealing, 297
properties, 294
Krylov subspace methods, 193, 199200
parameter, 131
Lambert W function, 132
land grid arrays (LGAs), 413414
land mobiles
applications, 3435
markets, 3435
Lange couplers, 287288, 330, 547,
549550
advantages, 328331
applications, 549
characteristic impedance, 550
development, 549
667
frequency range, 550

limitations, 550
Laplace transforms, 204
large devices, cell interconnections, modeling,
213214
large-signal models
attributes, 86
black-box, 89
compact, 87
comparisons, 86
development, 87, 129130
direct large-signal measurements, 8889
limitations, 127
for GaAs FETs, 8589
HFETs, 147
for large periphery devices, 88
nonlinear, 127
physics-based, 128
table-based, 88
and trapping effects, 8788
large-signal network analysis, 616618
calibration, 617618
large-signal network analyzers (LSNAs), 616,
617
set up, 622
lateral double diffused metaloxidesilicon field
effect transistors (LDMOSFETs), 249
cross-sections, 434
see also silicon lateral double diffused
(silicon LDMOSFETs)
LDO (low drop out) voltage regulators, 348
lead frames (LFs)
materials, 395
in plastic packages, 395, 402
types of, 395
leadtinsilver die attach, 426427
applications, 437
LFs see lead frames (LFs)
LGAs (land grid arrays), 413414
life testing
FETs, 460, 461
HBTs, 464
high-temperature, 475
highly accelerated, 270, 271
MESFETs, 459
transistors, 459462
lifetimes
capacitors, predictions, 471
and electromigration, 464
FETs, temperature effects, 498
vs. temperature, 462
668
Index
liftoff, 453
defects, 483
metallizations, 483
processes, 483
LINC systems see linear amplification using
nonlinear components (LINC) systems
linear amplification using nonlinear components
(LINC) systems, 160, 514
applications, 161
linear analysis, 188193
early, 188
nodal incidence matrices, 188
two-port, 125126
see also nodal analysis
linear distortion
measurement, 603605
two-port networks, 603
linear measurements, 599611
linear stability issues, 605608
linear regime on-resistance (RDSon )
DMOSFETs, 1722
minimization, 19
linear two-port circuit analysis, 125126
linearity
enhancement, 514
gain, 237, 253, 254
limits, 525
phase, 237, 254, 274278
measurement, 512
linearization techniques
overview, 514
power efficiency impacts, 517519
system level, 514519
see also digital baseband pre-distortion (DPD);
memory effect compensation
liquid crystals, operating temperature measurement,
428429
lithography
electron-beam, 76
optical steppers, 76, 81
stepper-based, 79, 81
types of, 76
load lines, dynamic, 618
load-pull measurements, 619622
active harmonic, 620, 621
set up, 621
see also harmonic load-pull
local oscillators (LOs), 587
Long Term Evolution (LTE)
bandwidths, 517
standards, 520
LOs (local oscillators), 587
low drop out (LDO) voltage regulators, 348
low temperature co-fired ceramics (LTCCs), 315
developments, 322
LSNAs (large-signal network analyzers), 616
LTCCs see low temperature co-fired ceramics
(LTCCs)
LTE see Long Term Evolution (LTE)
LU decomposition, 191, 199
computational loading, 191
lumped elements
advantages, 367368
definition, 367
microstrip, 367
in MMICs, 367369
lumped-element models
development, 368
vs. scattering parameter models, 208
machining, housings, 303
MAG curves (maximum available gain) curves,
62
magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), RF power
amplifiers, 235
magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS), RF power
amplifiers, 235
Masons invariant gain see unilateralized gain (U)
matching
harmonic, 185186
see also impedance matching; transformer
matching
materials
bipolar junction transistors, 106
properties, 391
die attach, 397, 426427
GaAs FETs, 43
HFETs, 104105
housings, 294, 311
lead frames, 395
limitations, 446447
microwave, 286
pHEMTs, 4849
radio absorbent, 304305
RFPAs, thermo-physical properties, 423427
substrates, 289
soft, 285286
at room temperature, 425
behavior, 424425
wide bandgap, 284
see also thermoset materials
mating surface flatness, RFPAs, 439
Index
matrices
indefinite admittance, 190
port, 191
processing, 192193
sparse, 192193
storage issues, 192193
see also Jacobian matrices; LU decomposition;
nodal matrices
maximum available gain (MAG) curves, 62
maximum efficiency
maximum norms, 227
maximum oscillation frequency (fmax ), 63
definition, 6263
determination, 90
limitations, 63
maximum ratings, 497
maximum stable gain (MSG) curves, 62
MBE see molecular beam epitaxy (MBE)
mean time between failure (MTBF)
and bathtub curves, 412413
temperature and, 412
mean time to failure (MTTF)
hypothetical RFPA subsystem modules, 253, 254,
280, 281
measurements
AM/AM, 632
AM/PM, 632
amplifiers, 570642
directional power, 576579
group delay, 603605
Hall mobility, 114
high-power RF, 576579
of interest, selection criteria, 449
intermodulation, 614
nonlinear, 611623
pulsed, 633635
requirements, 641
scalar reflection, 582
transmission, 586
uncertainties, 598599
sources of, 574576
see also linear measurements; load-pull
measurements; modulated measurements;
noise measurements; power measurements;
scattering (S) parameter measurements;
source-pull measurements
median, and standard deviation compared, 468
median lives (MLs), 459460
determination, 461, 463464
transistors, 461
669
median time to failure see mean time to failure

(MTTF)
medical heating, RF power amplifiers, 235
medical markets, RF power amplifiers, 235
memory effect compensation, 517, 567568
memory effects, 56, 259, 630
modulated measurements, 632633
Mentor Graphics, 432
mesa etching, in GaAs FET fabrication, 7677
MESFETs see metal semiconductor field effect
transistors (MESFETs)
metal alloys, development, 285
metal organic chemical vapor deposition
(MOCVD), applications, 75
metal semiconductor field effect transistors
(MESFETs), 45, 47
band diagrams, 4950
gate bias effects, 51
channel mobilities, 4849
degradation, 458459
electrical characteristics, 458
doping profiles, 64
fabrication, 7475, 107108, 360
ion implantation, 77
lifetests, 459
structure, 4648
see also gallium arsenide metal semiconductor
field effect transistors (GaAs MESFETs);
4H-silicon carbide metal semiconductor field
effect transistors (4H-SiC MESFETs)
metalinsulatormetal (MIM) capacitors, 367,
368369
dielectrics, 453
structure, 369
time-dependent dielectric breakdown, 466471
voltage ramping, 466471
see also silicon nitride capacitors
metalinsulatorsemiconductor field effect
transistors (MISFETs), 110
(MOSFETs), 249
applications, RF power amplifiers, 282
availability, 282
see also double diffused metaloxidesilicon field
effect transistors (DMOSFETs)
and corrosion, 452
interconnects, 484
liftoff, 483
670
Index
metallization (cont.)
materials, 451452
pattern definition, 453
and reliability, 494495
semiconductors, 488
metals
imperfections, 218
oxidation, 218
resistivity, 218219
bulk, 289
surface roughness, 218
MGRS (migrated gold resistive shorts), 490
MHPAs see microwave hybrid power amplifiers
(MHPAs)
Microsoft Windows
component object model, 229
dynamic data exchange, 229
microstrip, 80, 218
alternatives to, 292
attenuation constant, 364
in calibration, 593594
characteristic impedance, 363, 364, 392393
data, 363
design issues, 325
discontinuities, 205, 206208, 209, 365
simulations, 212
loss models, 218
lumped elements, 367
in MMICs, 359, 362365
operating frequency, 364365
parameters, 363
rat-race couplers, 559
tee junctions, 229
transmission-line models, 229
wavelength, 363
microwave absorbers, 304305
microwave devices, 105106
microwave hybrid power amplifiers (MHPAs),
284355
applications, 284
balanced design, 334
biasing, and control, 345353
broadband matching strategies, 340341
cavities
orthogonal, 300
resonant frequencies, 304305
components, 315332
H-section, 300, 301
orthogonal cavities, 300, 301
planar, 301303
side-by-side, 302
split section, 301
wrap around, 300, 301, 302
control
and biasing, 345353
and interfacing, 352353
couplers, 353
design, 333
balanced, 334
combining, 344
internally matched device amplifiers, 343344
issues, 284
matching, 336343
module size, 344
number of stages, 333
risk reduction, 344
stability, 336343
system integration, 344
topologies, 333336
fault finding, 344
feedback, 335, 336
issues, 335336
housings, 293315
impedance matching, 337, 339341
interfacing
and control, 352353
thermal resistance reduction, 307308
mean time to failure, 305
modules, configurations, 299300
operating temperatures, 299
reduction, 307
substrates, properties, 287
tuning techniques, 353355
see also components; housings; printed circuit
boards (PCBs)
microwave integrated circuits (MICs), development,
357358
microwave materials, properties, 286
microwave power amplifiers
developments, 357
RF power performance, 105
see also monolithic microwave integrated circuit
power amplifiers (MMIC PAs)
microwave power field effect transistors
power-frequency limit, 4546
microwave systems
solid-state transistors in, 103
vacuum tubes in, 103
MICs (microwave integrated circuits), development,
357358
migrated gold resistive shorts (MGRS), 490
MIL-STDs (military standards) (US), 295
military markets
power amplifiers, 530538, 567568
Index
military standards (MIL-STDs) (US), 295

MIM capacitors see metalinsulatormetal (MIM)
capacitors
MIMIC program (US), 42
MIMO (multiple-inputmultiple-output), 520
MISFETs (metalinsulatorsemiconductor field
effect transistors), 110
mixer sets, 224
MLCs see multilayer capacitors (MLCs)
MLs see median lives (MLs)
MMIC PAs see monolithic microwave integrated
circuit power amplifiers (MMIC PAs)
mobile phones
air flow fields, 414415
block diagrams, 413414
exploded views, 413414
heat transfer, 414415
improvement cycles, 502
sealing, 414
talk time, 508
temperature field patterns, 414415, 416
thermal behavior, 414415
thermal design, 413415
mobile radio communications
efficiency trends, 520522
networks, operating costs, 523
design, 523524
standards, 519
mobile telephony
applications, 35
base stations, RF power amplifiers, 236
MOCVD (metal organic chemical vapor
deposition), applications, 75
modal decomposition, 608610
MODFETs see high-electron mobility transistors
(HEMTs)
modulated measurements, 623636
memory effects, 632633
modulated signals, properties, 573
modulation doped field effect transistors
(MODFETs) see high-electron mobility
transistors (HEMTs)
modulation envelope, use of term, 623
moisture ingress
and breathing, 296
capillary action, 296
diffusion, 295
and sealing, 295296
moisture sensitivity level (MSL), 491492
moisture vapor transmission rate (MVTR), 295
molecular beam epitaxy (MBE)
applications, 75
development, 161162
monolithic microwave integrated circuit power

amplifiers (MMIC PAs), 357406
advantages, 358359
broadband, 372373, 376377
2W C-band, 376, 377
10W X-band, 377, 378
performance, 373
characterization, 357, 401406
power, 404405
procedures, 401403
test fixtures, 403404, 405, 406
tests, 403406
design, 370, 525526
CAD tools, 370
electromagnetic simulators, 372, 373
flowcharts, 371
issues, 370
methodology, 370372
procedures, 371372
developments, 358
evaluation, 401
examples, 372389
high-power, 372373, 381386
14W with 60% PAE, 384386
15W C-band, 385386
20W X-band, 383, 384
50W S-band, 383
design, 381383
power output, 385386
high-power-added efficiency, 372373
high-voltage, 372373, 374, 387389
10W GaAs HV FET, 388, 389, 390
GaN HEMT-based, 388389, 391
limitations, 387388
operation, 388
millimeter wave 2.4W, 386, 387
narrowband, 372373, 374375
7W Ku-band, 374375
performance, 373
operating range, 358359
overview, 357359
packaging, 389401
assembly, 396401
ceramic, 390394
plastic, 394396
requirements, 389390
selection criteria, 389
power dissipation, 401
RF parameters, 405406
summary, 372389
technology, 359370
three-dimensional views, 359
ultra-broadband, 376377
218 GHz distributed, 380, 382
8W 28 GHz, 379380, 381
671
672
Index
monolithic microwave integrated (cont.)

15W L- to S-band, 378379, 380
power output, 379
wireless 3W, 386, 387
design, 386
measured performance, 386, 388
performance specifications, 386
stages, 386
monolithic microwave integrated circuits
(MMICs)
active devices, 359, 361362
conductors
current-carrying capacity, 369370
dimensions, 369
coplanar waveguides, 362363, 365367
electromigration requirements, 369370
fabrication, 360361
processes, 360
recessed-gate process, 360
frequency limits, 362
literature, 361
lumped elements, 367369
matching elements, 362370
microstrip, 359, 362365
performance, 362
and radio frequency integrated circuits compared,
357
substrates, 359, 361
technology, 359370
transmission lines for, 362
mortality rates, 456
MOSFETs see metaloxidesilicon field effect
transistors (MOSFETs)
MPCPA (multiple pulses chirped pulse
amplification), 624
MRI (magnetic resonance imaging), RF power
amplifiers, 235
MRS (magnetic resonance spectroscopy), RF power
amplifiers, 235
MSC Sinda, 432
MSG curves (maximum stable gain) curves,
62
MSL (moisture sensitivity level), 491492
MTBF see mean time between failure (MTBF)
MTTF see mean time to failure (MTTF)
multilayer capacitors (MLCs)
use of term, 318320
multiple devices, advantages, 307
multiple pulses chirped pulse amplification
(MPCPA), 624
multiple-inputmultiple-output (MIMO), 520
multitone analysis, 204205
multitone excitations, 200201, 625
MVTR (moisture vapor transmission rate),
295
National Institute of Standards and Technology

(NIST) (US), 268
NBTI (negative bias temperature instability),
453454
negative bias temperature instability (NBTI),
453454
network analyzers
for S parameter measurements, 641
see also large-signal network analyzers (LSNAs);
scalar network analyzers; vector network
analyzers (VNAs)
Newtons method, 194195
inexact, 199200
issues, 221222
modified, 197198
rules, 221
NFs see noise figures (NFs)
NIST (National Institute of Standards and
Technology) (US), 268
NMR (nuclear magnetic resonance) spectroscopy,
nodal analysis, 188
advantages, 188189
disadvantages, 189
procedures, 189191
nodal matrices, 190191
factoring, 191
singular, 191
noise
sources of, 636
thermal, 636
noise factor (F), 637
minimum, 640
noise figures (NFs), 637
assumptions, 640
measurement, 637640
spectrum analyzers, 628
typical, 639
noise floor, 628
noise measurements, 636640
direct, 637638
noise parameters, 640
measurement, 641
noise power, 637
values, 638
noise reduction, 348
noise temperature
input, 639
values, 638
noisepower ratio (NPR), 630
noninsertable devices, 589
nonlinear circuit simulation
analysis characteristics, 223226
continuation methods, 223
convergence improvement, 223
design flow, 228230
Index
frequency sets, 224225

model characteristics, 221223
numerical issues, 227228
practical issues, 221230
problem size minimization, 226227
solution optimization, 226227
termination criteria, 225226
nonlinear distortion, 512513, 611
nonlinear measurements, 611623
norm reduction, 199
NPR (noisepower ratio), 630
nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy,
numerical derivatives, applications, 222223
O-rings, rubber, sealing performance, 296
OFDM (orthogonal frequency-division
multiplexing), 508509, 513514, 520
ohmic contacts
degradation, 454455
in GaAs FETs, 77
on-wafer tests, 401403, 404
open circuits, 490
operational analysis, reliability predictions, 474
orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing
(OFDM), 508509, 513514, 520
oscillations, minimization, 352
output conductance (gds ), dispersion, 55
package assembly
die attach, 396397
in MMIC PAs, 396401
thermal issues, 400401
wire bonding, 396, 397398
packaging
ceramics, 82, 390394
environmental protection, 8384
GaAs FETs, 8184
MMIC PAs, 389401
hermetic sealing and encapsulation, 400
plastics, 8283, 394396
thermal models, 400401
types of, 81
see also ceramic packages; housings; plastic
packages; surface mount leadless packages
(SMLPs)
PAE see power-added efficiency (PAE)
pallet amplifiers, 343344
PAPR see peak-to-average power ratio (PAPR)
parameters
hybrid, 62, 63
monitoring, 449
most rapidly degrading, 449450
see also noise parameters; scattering (S)
parameters
673
parasitic bipolar effect (PBE), 5859

parasitic crosstalk, 596597
parasitic extraction, 212213
software, 212
ParkerSkellern model, 86
PAs see power amplifiers (PAs)
passive circuits, structures, and simulation accuracy,
205213
passive intermodulation (PIM), 613614
passive tuners, 620
pattern definition, metallization, 453
PBE (parasitic bipolar effect), 5859
PBO see power back-off (PBO)
PCBs see printed circuit boards (PCBs)
PCDE (peak code domain error), 522
PCMs (process control monitors), 80
PCS1900 system, 513
PDF (probability density function), 510511, 512
peak code domain error (PCDE), 522
peak envelope power (PEP), importance of, 513
peak power, 627628
peak-to-average power ratio (PAPR), 513514, 624
definition, 513
reduction, 514
PECVD (plasma enhanced chemical vapor
deposition), applications, 453
PEP (peak envelope power), importance of, 513
performance
and reliability, 448
and semiconductor properties, 111
see also thermal performance
periodic signals, crest factors, 624
Pf2 (power-frequency) limit, 4546
phase, measurement, 603605
phase change cooling, and thermal performance,
RFPAs, 423
phase delay
definition, 604
in dispersion-free networks, 605
phase-shift keying (PSK), 513514
efficiency, 512513
see also quadrature phase-shift keying (QPSK)
phased array antennas, 533, 534
PHD (poly-harmonic distortion) models, 8889
pHEMTs see pseudomorphic high-electron mobility
transistors (pHEMTs)
photoresists, 483, 493
PHV implants see high-voltage p region (PHV)
implants
physical amplification, 504
piece parts, in housing construction, 304
PIM (passive intermodulation), 613614
674
Index
plant simulators, 211

advantages, 211
open vs. closed formulations, 211
plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition
(PECVD), applications, 453
plastic packages, 398
applications, MMIC PAs, 394
assembly, 398400
flow, 402
design, 395
developments, 394
environmental testing, 491492
lead frames, 395, 402
molding, 394395
tests, 405
plastics, applications, packaging, 8283, 394396
plated-through holes (PTHs), 291
PMMA (polymethyl methacrylate), applications,
resists, 7879
point-in-pulse method, 633
trigger delays, 634
Poissons equation, 130131
solutions, 129130
poly-harmonic distortion (PHD) models, 8889
polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA), applications,
resists, 7879
polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE)
applications, substrates, 285286
disadvantages, 286287, 291
port matrices, 191
power amplifiers (PAs)
anti-improvised explosive device, 538, 539
electronic warfare, 534537
jammers, 534
military, 530538, 567568
mobile telephony, 509
wireless communications, 519530
broadband, 538
circuit-analysis software, 188
computer-aided design, 188230
crest factors, 512514
design
holistic, 526, 528
issues, 619
overview, 523526
parameter trade-offs, 509514, 525, 567568
processes, 525
devices, 105106
efficiency, 508, 524525, 567568
improvements, 620
power conversion, 509510
functions, 508
instability, 605
linearity, 512514
limits, 525
measurement, 512
linearization techniques
memory effect compensation, 517
overview, 514
power efficiency impacts, 517519
system level, 514519
models
bond wires, 219221
circuit component losses, 219
circuit metallization loss, 217219
ideal, 162
special issues, 216221
modulation schemes, 512514
nonlinearity, 508
output powerefficiency trade-off, 509512
performance, 567568
power combining
anti-phase, 552559
Doherty, 559567
in-phase, 538544
quadrature-phase, 544550
power output
average, 509, 522523
control, 511512
definition, 509
prototypes, 535
reliability, 504, 523
reliability goals, 448
trends, 508509
responses, nonlinear, 524
solid-state, applications, 284
in telecommunications systems, 508
see also balanced power amplifiers; high-power
amplifiers (HPAs); microwave hybrid power
amplifiers (MHPAs); microwave power
amplifiers; push-pull amplifiers; RF power
amplifiers (RFPAs)
power back-off (PBO)
Class A amplifiers, 164, 180
Class B amplifiers, 168169
power combining
anti-phase, 552559
balanced power amplifiers in, 546547
Doherty, 559567
in-phase, 538544
see also couplers; Gysel combiners;
quadrature-phase power combining;
Wilkinson power combiners; Wilkinson
splitters
power consumption, low, 602
power conversion, efficiency improvements, 411
power cycling, thermal excursions, 480481
Index
power density
definition, 25
trends, 441
power device models, 213
thermal effects, 214216
see also self-heating models
power efficiency
impacts, 518519
linearization effects, 517519
power field effect transistor cells
combination, 71
common-lead inductance, 6869
design, 6769
modeling, 69
dies, 71
gate finger equivalent circuits, 68
gate manifold equivalent circuits, 68
gate width, 67
images, 72
impedance matching, 71
layouts, 69, 71
manifold issues, 6768
performance, 70
power field effect transistors
field plates, 6667
packages, 82
topology, 6869, 73
see also microwave power field effect transistors
power flow, 600
diagrams, 599
power sensors, 575
power measurements, 570580
directional, 576579
high-power RF, 576579
spectrum analyzers in, 579580
uncertainties, sources of, 574576
power quad flat no lead (PQFN) packages see
surface mount leadless packages (SMLPs)
power sensors
advantages, 571
applications, 570
modulated signal verification, 571
attenuators, 576577
comparisons, 573
compensation techniques, 574
disadvantages, 571
dynamic range, 574
and equivalent generators, 574576
impedance, 574576
limitations, 570
power flow, 575
principles, 570574
side effects, 574
see also directional power sensors
675
power supplydevice resistance, 352

power-added efficiency (PAE), 509510
definition, 3637, 602
in MMIC PAs, 384386
power-frequency (Pf2 ) limit, 4546
PQFN packages see surface mount leadless
packages (SMLPs)
pre-distortion
concept of, 514515
schemes, 514
see also digital baseband pre-distortion (DPD)
preconditioners, 199200
preconditioning, 491492
printed circuit boards (PCBs)
alignment with housing, 292293
calibration with, 593596
guidelines, 594595
coaxial connections, 312, 313
conductors, 289
dielectric losses, 288289
etching, issues, 290291
flange-mounted components, 292293
ground path effects, 292293
grounding issues, 285, 291
heat transfer, 414415
lamination, 285286
manufacturing issues, 290291
in microwave hybrid power amplifiers, 285,
293
mounting, 291292
solder, 292
patterning, 285
resistive losses, 288289
resistors, integration, 285
RF connections, 312, 314315
substrates, mounting issues, 285
through-holes, 291
types of, 285
see also substrates
Pro-E, 432
probability density function (PDF), 510511,
512
process control monitors (PCMs), 80
process effects, 492495
production-line testing, 570
prototypes
jammers, 535, 536, 537
optimization, 570
pseudomorphic high-electron mobility transistors
(pHEMTs), 47
band diagrams, 49, 5051
currentvoltage characteristics, pulsed, 53
676
Index
pseudomorphic high-electron mobility (cont.)

development, 358
gain, 6162
materials, 4849
gallium arsenide vs. gallium nitride,
534535
structure, 4849
PSK see phase-shift keying (PSK)
Psy-Ops (psychological warfare operations), RF
psychological warfare operations (Psy-Ops), RF
PTFE see polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE)
PTHs (plated-through holes), 291
pulse chopping, 635
pulse profile method, 634
transistors, 634635
pulse width modulation (PWM), and Class S
amplifiers, 183
pulsed measurements, 633635
pulsed operation, principles, 633
push-pull amplifiers, 552559
advantages, 552
baluns, 552
disadvantages, 552
operation, 552
schematics, 552
see also RF/microwave push-pull amplifiers
PWM (pulse width modulation), and Class S
amplifiers, 183
pyrolytic graphite, 427
Q see quality factor (Q)
QFN (Quad Flat No leads) packages see surface
mount leadless packages (SMLPs)
QPSK see quadrature phase-shift keying (QPSK)
Quad Flat No leads (QFN) packages see surface
mount leadless packages (SMLPs)
quadrature couplers, 328331
frequency response, 546, 547
structure, 547
quadrature phase-shift keying (QPSK),
513514
offset, 513
quadrature-phase power combining, 544550
branchline hybrid, 547549
qualification testing, 496
quality
criteria, 641642
and reliability, 447448, 486
vs. spacing, 485, 494
vs. voltage, 486487
see also reliability
quality factor (Q), 318320
load, 337338
radar
duplexers, functions, 530531
efficiency, 508
limiters, 531
phased array, 530
transmitter/receiver modules, 530534
performance requirement, 533
phased array antennas, 533
specifications, 533534
variable phase shifters, 531
radiation, and thermal performance, RFPAs,
422423
radiative energy, 422
radiative heat transfer, determination, 422423
radiative heat transfer coefficient, 422423
radio absorbent materials (RAMs), 304305
radio base stations (RBSs), 417
bandwidth, 522
carrier capacity, 522
controllers, 417
efficiency, 440
improvements, 441
efficient, Doherty amplifiers for, 527530
energy consumption, 411
power classification, 523
power output, 416
measurement, 576577
RFPAs for, 411412
running costs, 508
technologies, 523524
thermal management, 411
waste heat, 411
removal, 416417
radio frequency integrated circuits (RFICs)
applications, 357
and monolithic microwave integrated circuits
compared, 357
radio-controlled improvised explosive devices
(RCIEDs)
construction, 538
jammers, 538
ramped voltage testing, 466, 470
advantages, 468469
see also voltage ramping
RAMs (radio absorbent materials), 304305
rat-race couplers, 559, 560
ratings, maximum, 497
RBSs see radio base stations (RBSs)
RCIEDs see radio-controlled improvised explosive
devices (RCIEDs)
RDSon see linear regime on-resistance (RDSon )
realizable ratio, use of term, 260
Index
recessed-gate process, 360

reconstruction filters, use of term, 183
rectangular truncations, 224
reduced conduction angle
concept of, 171
in RF power amplifiers, 164, 166, 167
reduced surface fields (RESURF), 18
concept of, 1921
LDMOSFETs, 25
reflected power, 581
reflected waves, 580
reflection coefficients, 337, 574576, 596597,
605606, 610
complex source, 640
hot, 622
load, 600601
optimum complex, 640
reflection measurement, values, 586
reflection normalization, 582583
reflection tracking, 582583, 596597
relative gas permittivity, 295, 296
relative humidity testing, 491492
reliability, 446504
amplifiers, 447
analysis, 496
definitions, 447449
issues, 447448
design for, 495500
design-controlled, 496497
and device application, 496
estimation, 486487
fans, 311
future trends, 504
146152
goals, 448
components, 448
goodness measures, 447
historical trends, 501502
importance of, 446
and metallization, 494495
models, 496
optimization, 499500
overview, 446, 503504
and performance, 448
power amplifiers, 504, 523
and quality, 447448, 486
semiconductors, 446, 502503
strategies, 448449
146152
technology comparisons, 501502
terminology, 447449
components, 305
677
see also quality; ruggedness

reliability budgeting, 500
reliability predictions, 473475, 503504
evaluation procedures, 473474
operational analysis, 474
thermal analysis, 474
reliability tests, methodologies, 446
remote radio heads (RRHs), 441
residual errors, 598599
resistive-inductive-capacitive (RLC) feedback
networks, 251, 274, 315
resistivity
bulk, metals, 289
gallium arsenide, 44
metals, 218219
substrates, 44
resistors
ballast, 216
chip, 316
lead-length inductance, 316
lumped, 367
modeling, 315
in printed circuit boards, 285
in silicon LDMOSFETs, 3637
in silicon VDMOSFETs, 3637
surface mount, 316318
thick-film, 318
thin-film, 498
resists, 7879
photoresists, 483, 493
Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS), 294
RESURF see reduced surface fields (RESURF)
return loss (RL), 336337
RF bias acceleration, 472473
and hot carrier injection, 473
RF connections
current maximization, 314
and discontinuities, 314
housings, 311315
RF performance, vs. biasing, 348349
RF power, definitions, 599
RF power amplifiers (RFPAs)
altitude, 240
AMAM distortion, 237
AMPM distortion, 237
commercial, 236
industrial, 235
678
Index
RF power amplifiers (RFPAs) (cont.)

medical, 235
military, 234235
radio base stations, 411412
scientific, 235
basic elements, 242243
building blocks, 526
capacitors, input/output coupling/decoupling,
250, 259
classes
A to S, 159186
active device models, 161162
inverted modes, 179180
multimodes, 184186
variances, 186
concurrent power, 247
conducted/radiated emissions, 241
conducted/radiated susceptibility, 241
design
hypothetical, 252282
issues, 1
procedures, 242
redundancy, 247
system level overview, 242252
thermal, 411442
distortion
harmonic, 239
intermodulation, 239
dynamic range, 237238
efficiency, 238, 282, 416, 440
trade-offs, 527
equipment, 416417
fall time, 238
feedback networks, 251, 267268
gain, 237
gain flatness, 237
gain linearity, 237
gain temperature stability, 237
hardware, realization, 234, 241242, 254255
heat flows, 419
heat sinks, 417
inductors, coupling/decoupling, 250, 259
input/output coupling/decoupling networks, 250,
259
IR images, 435
linear, 160
linearity, trade-offs, 527
markets, 1, 232233
materials, thermo-physical properties,
423427
mating surface flatness, 439
maximum power transfer, 282, 283
mean time to failure, 241
modules
design overview, 243246
hypothetical, 252282
multilevel breakdown, 256
test results, 273280
multistage, 527
noise floor, 239
operating temperature range, 240
pallets, 417, 418
thermal stack-up, 417418, 438
phase linearity, 237
power output, 236
practical realization, 232283
overview, 232
processes, 233242
RF power transistor selection, 243244
processes, 243
pulse droop, 238
pulse overshoot, 238
rack-mounted, 417
reduced conduction angle, 164, 166, 167
ringing/settling time, 238
rise time, 238
shock/vibration, 240241
specifications
qualitative delineation, 233236, 252253
quantification, 234, 236241, 253254
realization, 241242
stability, 239240
system block and wire diagrams, 242243, 254
temperature profiles, 430431
advanced, 432440
basics, 413423
importance of, 411413
in portable products, 413415
thermal management, 251252, 432440
thermal performance
characterization and prediction tools, 427432
conduction and, 420421
convection and, 421422
and heat transfer, 419423
phase change cooling and, 423
radiation and, 422423
topology, 525
voltage standing wave ratios
input, 239
load, 239
see also gallium nitride RF power amplifiers
(GaN RFPAs); hypothetical RFPA subsystem
modules; microwave hybrid power amplifiers
(MHPAs)
Index
RF power transistors
absolute maximum ratings, 244, 247
applications, 39, 244, 247
bias/thermal tracking networks, 249250
capacitances
input, 246, 249
output, 246, 249
reverse transfer, 246, 249
classes, 249, 255257
datasheets, 244246
design issues, 1
electrical characteristics, 244
frequency range, 244, 247248
gain, 244, 248
as ideal current sinks, 165
impedance
input, 248249
output, 248249
impedance matching, 250251, 259267,
283
HF, 250
UHF, 250
VHF, 250
joining processes, 426427
large signal impedance, 246
load mismatch tolerance, 246
power output, 244, 247, 255
scattering parameters, 246, 249
selection, 243244, 255257
applications and, 246
class, 246
process guidelines, 246249
thermal resistance, 244, 248
threshold voltages, 246, 248
transfer function plots, 249
typical, 246
RF testing, 430
accurate, 570
automatic, 370
on-wafer, 80
RF/microwave push-pull amplifiers, 557559
advantages, 558
balun structures, 558
block diagrams, 557558
disadvantages, 559
RFICs see radio frequency integrated circuits
(RFICs)
RFPAs see RF power amplifiers (RFPAs)
Rjc see junction-to-case thermal resistance (Rjc )
RL (return loss), 336337
RLC (resistive-inductive-capacitive) feedback
networks, 251, 274
679
RoHS (Restriction of Hazardous Substances),

294
Root model, 88
RRHs (remote radio heads), 441
ruggedness, 2226
and drain engineering, 24
measurement, 2223
Ruthroff unbalancedunbalanced transformers, 555,
556, 557
S parameter measurements see scattering (S)
parameter measurements
S parameters see scattering (S) parameters
safety regulations, 570
SAGs see self-aligned gates (SAGs)
satellite down converters, gasket-sealed, 299
saturation effect, 615
scalar network analyzers
limitations, 582586
measured values, determination, 582583
parasitic effects, 583584
scalar reflection measurements, 582
scalar transmission measurements, 585
scattering (S) parameter measurements, 580599
requirements, 641
uncertainties, 598599
scattering (S) parameters, 8889
applications, 206
attenuators, 596
capacitors, 206207
concept of, 580581
in database models, 212
DC, 208
definition, 581
dummy, 207208
hot, 622623
limitations, 641
magnitudes, measurement, 586587
mixed-mode, 608611
models, 206208
in harmonic-balance analysis, 207208
interpolation, 206
issues, 206208
vs. lumped-element models, 208
phase, measurement, 586587
resistors, 318
SCDs (source control drawings), 248
Schottky barrier gate, 45
Schottky diodes, 345347
Schottky gate field effect transistors, 45
materials, 45
scientific markets, RF power amplifiers, 235
680
Index
screw locking
epoxies and, 304
housings, 304
torques, 308
sealing
housings, 294299
issues, 294
mobile phones, 414
and moisture ingress, 295296
see also gasket sealing; hermetic sealing
second-order intercept (SOI) point, 611613
self-aligned gates (SAGs)
multifunction, 360
process, 360
self-heating models, 214215
self-resonant frequencies (SRFs), 320321
SEM (spectrum emission mask), 522, 525
Semanskii iteration, 199
semiconductor equations, 128129
semiconductors
electron velocity vs. electric field transport
failure mechanisms, humidity, 490
failure rates, 455456, 458
manufacture, processes, 492493
metallization, 488
operating temperature, measurement,
428429
properties, 112
and performance, 111
reliability, 446, 502503
strategies, 448449
RF output power vs. frequency, 104
see also diodes; transistors
sensors
temperature, 258, 429
thermistor, 571
see also diode sensors; power sensors; thermal
sensors
sequencing circuits, 348
SER (symbol error rate), 635636
shape parameter, definition, 459460
shooting methods, 203204
short standards, 582583
short-term signal level scorecards, 281
ShubnikovDeHaas mobility measurements,
114
SiC see silicon carbide (SiC)
4H-SiC BJTs see 4H-silicon carbide bipolar
junction transistors (4H-SiC BJTs)
4H-SiC MESFETs see 4H-silicon carbide metal
semiconductor field effect transistors
(4H-SiC MESFETs)
sidegating, 454
sigma (shape parameter), 459460
signal flow charts, stability, 606

signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), 637
significance testing, 449450
silicon
wafers, 357
silicon bipolar transistors
limitations, 12
silicon carbide (SiC)
hole mobilities, 115
4H-silicon carbide bipolar junction transistors
(4H-SiC BJTs)
fabrication, 106
gain, 106107
high-power, 106107
performance, 106
4H-silicon carbide metal semiconductor field effect
transistor amplifiers, 120122
current gain, DC, 121
performance, 122
RF, 121, 122
power gain, DC, 121
power gains, 121122
small-signal current gains, 121122
4H-silicon carbide metal semiconductor field effect
transistors (4H-SiC MESFETs)
advantages, 118119
applications, microwave power amplifiers, 105
background, 106108
currentvoltage relationships, DC, 120
development, 107108
fabrication, 107108, 118119
field plates, 108
limitations, 108
structure, 119
-silicon carbide nanowires, applications, 108
silicon carbide transistors, background, 106108
103153
breakdown, 112113
development, 104105
device design, 118125
large-signal effects, 130152
gate leakage, 144146
nonlinear source and drain resistances,
133143
reliability and time-dependent performance
degradation, 146152
space-charge limited current transport,
130133
Index
material parameters, 111115

models, 125130
properties, 112
RF performance, 118125
thermal conductance, 112113
silicon lateral double diffused metaloxidesilicon
field effect transistors (silicon
LDMOSFETs), 139
50V and higher, 3536
land mobiles, 3435
mobile telephony, 35
bondpad manifolds, 29, 32
capacitances, 1516
drain-to-source, 5, 13, 1516
gate-to-drain feedback, 16
gate-to-source, 16
parasitic, 1215
channel doping profiles, 19
construction, 28
dies, 25
cross-sections, 4, 23, 32, 433
current flows, 11, 31
current paths, 11
currentvoltage characteristics, 20
depletion region boundaries, 5
design, 2739
metal, 3032
thermal, 3234
disadvantages, 2
doping profiles, 6, 1415
drain metallization, 78
drain resistance, 1415
drain structure optimization, 5
drain-to-source pitch, 2829
efficiency, 34
electrodes, 433
enhancement mode, 135
field plates, 78, 1819
effects, 8
frequency issues, 3637
frequency limits, 42
frequency optimization, 37
frequency responses, 1214
gate construction, 56
gate finger arrays, 27, 28
gate length, 56, 3637
gate oxides, 56
gate resistance, 56, 1415

gate width, 27, 3637
limitations, 37
heat dissipation, 433
hot carrier injection, 25, 1722
levels, 78
infrared scans, 34
layout, 3, 2739
top-down finger, 2729
linear regime on-resistance, 5, 1722
market domination, 39
multiple heat source fingers, 433, 434
n-drift region, 25, 78
and field plates, 1819
length change, 2526
long, 2627
operating voltage, issues, 2627, 3436
overview, 12
P + sinker, 7, 2829
p-epi region, 5, 2627
packaging, 8283
parasitic drain resistance, 78
PHV implants, 67
power density, 441
power levels, 34
power output, 27
quiescent current degradation, 22
reduced surface fields, 25
regions, 67
resistances, parasitic, 1215, 3334
resistors, 3637
ruggedness, 2226
snapback, 2226
source, 7
terminals, 1011, 29
thermal flux, 441
spreading, 433436
thermal scans, 35
silicon LDMOSFETs see silicon lateral double
diffused metaloxidesilicon field effect
transistors (silicon LDMOSFETs)
silicon nitride, applications, dielectrics, 453
silicon nitride capacitors
structure, 466
silicon nitride films
silicon VDMOSFETs see silicon vertical double
diffused metaloxidesilicon field effect
transistors (silicon VDMOSFETs)
681
682
Index
silicon vertical double diffused metaloxidesilicon

field effect transistors (silicon
VDMOSFETs), 139
advantages, 2
applications, 39
50V and higher, 3536
bodies/substrates, 89
bondpad manifolds, 29
capacitances
gate-to-drain feedback, 16
gate-to-source, 16
parasitic, 1214, 16
construction, 89
cross-sections, 9
current flows, 12
current paths, 11
design, 2739
metal, 3032
thermal, 3234
disadvantages, 2, 9
drain, 89
drain voltage, 89
drift region design, 9
efficiency, 34
frequency issues, 3637
frequency optimization, 37
frequency responses, 1214
gate finger arrays, 27
gate length, 3637
gate width, 27, 3637
limitations, 37
hot carrier injection, 1722
layout, 2739
top-down finger, 2729
linear regime on-resistance, 1722
market domination, 39
n drift, 89
n-drift region, length change, 26
operating voltage, issues, 2627, 3436
operation, high voltage, 26
overview, 12
packaging issues, 9
PHV implants, 19
power levels, 34
power output, 27
resistances, parasitic, 89, 1214, 16, 3334
resistors, 3637
ruggedness, 2226
snapback, 2226
source-to-gate pitch, 2829
terminals, 1011
simulators
see also electromagnetic simulators; plant
simulators
single-layer capacitors (SLCs)
structure, 318320
sinking gates
FETs, 458
mechanisms, 459462
skin depth
use of term, 288289
skin effects, and metal losses, 218
SLCs see single-layer capacitors (SLCs)
small-signal models
for GaAs FETs, 8485
Smith charts, 337338, 586587, 600601,
606607, 640
SMLPs see surface mount leadless packages
(SMLPs)
snapback, 2226, 59
effects, 5859, 60
prevention, 24
use of term, 2324
snapback current
increase, 24
and ruggedness, 23
snapback voltage, 2324
SNR (signal-to-noise ratio), 637
soft substrates, 285
dimensional issues, 289
materials, 285286
moisture absorption, 293
use of term, 285286
SOI (second-order intercept) point, 611613
solders, for die attach, 426427
solid-state devices
models, 213216
thermal effects in, 214216
solid-state power amplifiers (SSPAs), applications,
284
solid-state transistors
applications, microwave systems, 103
upper frequency limits, 103104
and vacuum tubes compared, 103
source control drawings (SCDs), 248
source stepping, use of term, 223
source-pull measurements, 619622
set up, 621
spacing, vs. quality, 485, 494
Index
sparse matrices, 192193

specification thresholds, as failure criteria, 449450
spectrum analyzers, 268
adjacent channel power ratio, 627, 628
applications, 586
power measurements, 579580
implementation, 580
intermodulation products, 612
noise figure, 628
properties, 579580
spectrum emission mask (SEM), 522, 525
SPICE models, 222, 223
development, 205
in harmonic-balance analysis, 226
SRFs (self-resonant frequencies), 320321
SSPAs (solid-state power amplifiers), applications,
284
stability
linear, issues, 605608
signal flow charts, 606
stability circles, 606607
stability factors, 341343
definitions, 607608
standard deviation, and median compared, 468
static induction transistors (SITs)
applications, 107
fabrication, 107
operation, 107
StefanBoltzmann constant, 422
step attenuators, 587588
stubs
distributed, 324
lossy, 325326, 327
open-circuit, 325326, 354
short-circuited, 324, 326, 349, 354
substrates
backings, 291
metal, 291
dielectric losses, 288289
impedance standard, calibration standards,
595596
isotropy, 287288
materials, failure mechanisms, 454
materials selection, and impedance range, 289
MMICs, 359, 361
comparisons, 361
mounting, 292
parameters, for hybrid amplifiers, 286
properties, 287
resistivity, 44
and test fixtures, 595
683
thickness, 289
issues, 289
trace dimensions, 290
types of, 285
see also hard substrates; soft substrates
success, probabilities of, 447
surface mount devices, heat transfer, 307
surface mount leadless packages (SMLPs), 83,
395396, 399
construction, 8283
development, 394
types of, 394
sweet spot, use of term, 261262
symbol error rate (SER), 635636
system error correction
3-term error model, 589
7-term error model, 589, 592
overview, 588589
in vector network analyzers, 588
T-check, 598599
TACS (Total Access Communication System),
508509
Taguchi technique, 377
talk time, mobile phones, 508
tantalum nitride, applications, 316
Taylor series, 201, 611, 614615, 625, 632633
TDDB see time-dependent dielectric breakdown
(TDDB)
TDMA see time division multiple access (TDMA)
technology comparisons
over time, 501502, 503
of reliability, 501502
tee-equivalent circuits, 126127
large-signal, 128
small-signal, 126
telecommunications systems, power amplifiers in,
508
temperature
and component reliability, 305
and dielectric constants, 287
and humidity, 488489
and mean time between failure, 412
vs. electromigration, 33
vs. lifetimes, 462
vs. performance, 411412
vs. reliability, 412
see also noise temperature
temperature acceleration effects, on FET lifetimes,
498
temperature field patterns, mobile phones, 414415,
416
temperature monitors, 479480
temperature profiles, RFPAs, 430431
temperature sensors, 258, 429
684
Index
temperature-humidity-bias (THB) test, 8384

termination space, multidimensional, 185186
test fixtures
calibration with, 593596
and substrates, 595
test port match, 583584
testing
element, 448449
environmental, plastic packages, 491492
inaccurate, 570
on-wafer, 401403, 404
production-line, 570
qualification, 496
relative humidity, 491492
significance, 449450
three-terminal, 5758
two-terminal, 5758
verification, 496
wafer acceptance, 81
see also devices under test (DUTs); highly
accelerated stress tests (HASTs); life testing;
ramped voltage testing; RF testing
TFE (thermionic field emission), 5859
Tgon, 427
THB (temperature-humidity-bias) test, 8384
THD (total harmonic distortion), 614615
thermal acceleration, 458462
factors, determination, 462
thermal analysis, reliability predictions, 474
thermal characterization, experimental, 427428
thermal conductivity, 420, 423
gallium arsenide, 436
homogeneous, 420421
materials, 423424
at room temperature, 425
behavior, 424425
see also conduction
thermal cycling, 477478
thermal design
mobile phones, 413415
thermal diffusivity, 420, 423
thermal droop, 52, 53
thermal effects, in solid-state device models,
214216
thermal excursions
copper bumps, 478482
failure criteria, 480
failure distributions, 477
interconnect vias, 475478
power cycling, 480481
profile data, 477
standards, 476
testing, 476
thermal flux, trends, 441
thermal greases, 427
thermal inertia (TI), 305307
thermal load, spreading, 307
thermal management
cost overheads, 411
future trends, 442
RFPAs, 251252, 432440
see also heat sinking; heat transfer
thermal modeling, computer-aided, 427428
thermal noise, 636
thermal pads, 427
thermal performance
and heat transfer, in RFPAs, 419423
housings, 306
LDMOSFETs, 3234
measurement, 428431
modeling, 431432
RFPAs
characterization and prediction tools, 427432
conduction, 420421
convection, 421422
phase change cooling, 423
radiation, 422423
simulation, 431432
VDMOSFETs, 3234
thermal ratings, 496497
thermal resistance (TR)
die attach, 436437
and die thickness, 436
heat sinks, 439440
leadtinsilver die attach, 437
microwave power field effect transistors, 7374
reduction, 307308, 425
spreading, 433436
substrates, 437438
vias, 307
see also contact thermal resistance;
junction-to-case thermal resistance (Rjc )
thermal scaling, 214215
thermal sensors, 571, 572
applications, 571
thermal shock, 477478
thermal test chips, 429
thermal vias, 414
thermionic field emission (TFE), 5859
thermistor power meters, 571
principles, 572
Index
thermistor sensors, 571

thermocouple thermometers, 428
thermographic phosphors, in operating temperature
measurement, 428429
thermoset materials
advantages, 286287
thick-film resistors, 318
thin-film resistors, reliability guidelines, 498
third-order intercept (TOI) point, 611613
3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), 519520
power classes, 522
specifications, 518519
three-dimensional simulators, 211212
three-terminal tests, 5758
threshold malfunction, 490
throughopenmatch (TOM) calibration, 598599
TI (thermal inertia), 305307
time division multiple access (TDMA), 511512
measurement, 627
time in operation, wireless sensor networks, 508
time-dependent dielectric breakdown (TDDB),
453454
measurement, 465466
MIM capacitors, 466471
time-domain analysis, 202203
applications, 616
computational costs, 203
differential equations, 202
procedures, 202203
variants, 203205
frequency-domain models, 204
multitone analysis, 204205
shooting methods, 203204
TLPGs (transmission line pulse generators),
applications, 2526
TMAs (tower mount amplifiers), 441
TOI (third-order intercept) point, 611613
TOM (throughopenmatch) calibration, 598599
toroids, 553554
Total Access Communication System (TACS),
508509
total harmonic distortion (THD), 614615
tower mount amplifiers (TMAs), 441
TR see thermal resistance (TR)
track dimensions, 290291
transconductance (gm ), 60, 353
compression, 53
dispersion, 55
FETs, 134135
transducer gain, 599600
maximum, 600601
transformer matching, 339341
capacitor-loaded, 342
double short, 341
685
transformers
autotransformers, 553
balancedbalanced, 556557
input, 265
output, 272
quarter-wave, bandwidth, 339
see also coupled-coil transformers; transmission
line transformers; unbalancedunbalanced
transformers
transistor amplifiers
configuration, 115
two-port network, 115
currentvoltage relationships
DC, 115117
RF, 117
efficiency, 117118
operating principles, 115118
power delivery, 115117
RF performance, 117
transistors, 331332
bias networks, 345, 346
channel current degradation, 460
degradation, 461
life testing, 459462
median lives, 461
models, 125130
out-of-band performance, 349
performance, false claims, 331
properties, 112
pulse profile method, 634635
screw fixing issues, 308
silicon carbide, background, 106108
time to failure vs. voltage, 472
see also bipolar junction transistors (BJTs); field
effect transistors (FETs); high-electron
mobility transistors (HEMTs); RF power
transistors; solid-state transistors; static
induction transistors (SITs); wide bandgap
transistors
transition frequency (fT )
definition, 6263
determination, 90
limitations, 63
transmission coefficient, 585, 603604
transmission line pulse generators (TLPGs),
applications, 2526
transmission line transformers, 250251, 259261,
262265, 554557
building blocks, 554
coaxial quarterwave, 555
input insertion loss, 264265, 266
686
Index
transmission line transformers (cont.)

maximum power transfer, 556
mutually coupled inductances, 263, 264
parasitic models, 262
topological synthesis, 261
transmission lines
cascaded, 620
in high-power RF measurements, 578
interferences, 608610
for MMICs, 362
parameters, 355
single-ended, 608
strip, closed-form models, 210
symmetrical, 608
thickness, factors affecting, 288289
as unbalanced transformers, 555556
see also microstrip; stubs; waveguides
transmission loss, 337
transmission measurements, 586
transmission normalization, 585
transmitted power, 581
transmitted waves, 580
trapping effects, 5354
consequences, 5457
breakdown voltage increase, 56
drain lag, 5556
gate lag, 5556
kink effect, 5657
large-signal model inaccuracies, 56
memory effects, 56
output conductance dispersion, 55
power output reduction, 5455
transconductance dispersion, 55
and large-signal models, 8788
minimization, 54
traveling-wave tube amplifiers (TWTAs),
534
triangular truncations, 224
trigger signals, 627
triplexer method, 620
Triquint TOM models, 8687
tuners, passive, 620
tuning disks, 355
tunneling, 5859
two-dimensional simulators, 210211
two-port networks, linear distortion, 603
two-terminal tests, 5758
two-tone signals, 613614
generation, 613614
measurement issues, 613614
TWTAs (traveling-wave tube amplifiers), 534
U see unilateralized gain (U)
UGW see unit gate width (UGW)
UMTS see Universal Mobile Telecommunications

System (UMTS)
unbalancedunbalanced transformers, 555556
Ruthroff, 555, 556, 557
uncertainties
sources of, 574576
types of, 598
unilateralized gain (U)
curves, 62, 9091
definition, 62
unit gate width (UGW)
definition, 27
large, 2728
unity circles, 606607
Universal Mobile Telecommunications System
(UMTS)
bandwidth, 522
base station power classification, 523
standards, 519520
Unix, pipes, 229
unknownopenshortmatch (UOSM) calibration
and 7-term error model, 592
with mixed test port types, 591592
UOSM calibration see unknownopenshortmatch
(UOSM) calibration
vacuum tubes
applications, microwave systems, 103
RF output power vs. frequency, 104
in RF power amplifiers, 160
and solid-state transistors compared, 103
valves see vacuum tubes
VCVSs (voltage-controlled voltage sources),
191192
vector network analyzers (VNAs), 264265,
586588, 604
scattering parameter measurements, 599
architecture, 587588
building blocks, 587, 602603, 631
calibration, 622
dynamic range, 616
effective system data, 589, 591
raw system data, 589, 591, 597
sweeps, 603
system error correction, 588
two-port, 587
velocity-field curves, nonlinear, 131
verification testing, 496
Verilog A, 222
vertical double diffused metaloxidesilicon field
effect transistors (VDMOSFETs), 249
see also silicon vertical double diffused
(silicon VDMOSFETs)
Index
vias
manufacture, 291
thermal, 414
thermal excursions, 475478
see also interconnects
virtual gate effect, 145
VNAs see vector network analyzers (VNAs)
voltage
vs. quality, 486487
see also breakdown voltages; snapback voltage
capacitors, 487488
factors, 465472
HEMTs, 471472
silicon nitride capacitors, 466471
voltage ramping, 468
see also ramped voltage testing
voltage regulators, 348
low drop out, 348
voltage standing wave ratios (VSWRs), 337
RF power amplifiers
input, 239
load, 239
in ruggedness testing, 2223, 2526
voltage waves, 580
voltage-controlled voltage sources (VCVSs),
191192
VSWRs see voltage standing wave ratios (VSWRs)
W-CDMA see Wideband Code Division Multiple
Access (W-CDMA)
wafer acceptance test (WAT), 81
wafer probes, calibration with, 593596
waste heat
disposal, 411, 427
radio base stations, 411, 416417
WAT (wafer acceptance test), 81
water cooling, housings, 311
water vapor
and sealing, 295
thresholds, 490
wave propagation, devices under test, 580
waveform balance approach, 201
waveguide flanges, 589
waveguides, 299, 311312
discontinuities, 211212
see also coplanar waveguide (CPW); stubs;
transmission lines
wear-out, 457
amplifiers, 447
mechanisms, 462463
vs. defects, 475492
687
wide bandgap materials, applications, 284

wide bandgap semiconductors, 372373
wide bandgap transistors
applications, 105
electron saturation velocities, 118
properties, 112
see also gallium nitride wide bandgap transistors;
silicon carbide wide bandgap transistors
Wideband Code Division Multiple Access
(W-CDMA), 349352, 508509
handset amplifier simulations, 219, 220
output spectra, 529530
Wiebull analysis, 282
Wilkinson power combiners, 334, 533534,
538541
amplitude imbalance, 540
frequency bandwidth performance, 541, 542
and Gysel combiners compared, 545
phase imbalance, 540541
single-section, 540
Wilkinson splitters, 328331, 547, 552
design, 541, 542
layouts, 541, 542
performance, 543
WiMAX see Worldwide Interoperability Microwave
Access (WiMAX)
wire bonding
methods, 397
in MMIC PA package assembly, 396, 397398
modeling, 397398
procedures, 397
wireless communications
design, 523526
requirements, system level, 522523
wireless sensor networks, time in operation,
508
Wirelines, 328, 329
Worldwide Interoperability Microwave Access
(WiMAX), 3839
frequency bands, 520, 521
standards, 520522
X-parameters, 8889
Y parameters see admittance (Y) parameters
Y-factor method, 638640
setup, 638
yield, measurement, 484
Zener diodes, 347
zeroing, 574

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Handbook of RF and Microwave Power Amplifiers

Whether you are an RF transistor designer, an amplifier designer, or a system designer,

devices (Si LDMOS and VDMOS, GaAs FETs, GaN HEMTs);

Covering state-of-the-art developments, and emphasizing practical communications

The Cambridge RF and Microwave Engineering Series

Handbook of RF and Microwave

CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS

Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town,

This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception

Silicon LDMOS and VDMOS transistors: physics, design, and technology

Wayne Burger and Christopher P. Dragon

GaAs FETs physics, design, and models

Power device physics

Wide band gap transistors SiC and GaN physics, design

Computer-aided design of power amplifiers

Special aspects of power-amplifier modeling

Practical HF/VHF/UHF RF power amplifier realization

Microwave hybrid amplifier realization

Monolithic power amplifiers

Overview of MMIC power amplifiers

8.4.5 Millimeter-wave 2.4W PA

RF power amplifier thermal design

Why thermal design deserves careful attention?

Reliability predictions (MTBF, MTTF, FITs, etc.)

Power amplifier applications

Mustafa Akkul and Wolfgang Bosch

11.9 Doherty combining

12.6.7 Pulsed measurements

About the authors

In 1989, I was responsible for organizing a workshop at the European Microwave

The Handbook is a comprehensive reference for RF and microwave power amplifiers.

Silicon LDMOS and VDMOS

Silicon LDMOS and VDMOS transistors

LDMOS and VDMOS construction

1.2 LDMOS and VDMOS construction

Silicon LDMOS and VDMOS transistors

1.2 LDMOS and VDMOS construction

Silicon LDMOS and VDMOS transistors

1.2 LDMOS and VDMOS construction

Silicon LDMOS and VDMOS transistors

Lateral E-Field Magnitude (V/cm)

designed to operate at a junction temperature up to 200 C at relatively high current

1.2 LDMOS and VDMOS construction

Silicon LDMOS and VDMOS transistors

1.3 Device physics

Silicon LDMOS and VDMOS transistors

Behavior of parasitic elements/models

1.3 Device physics

Silicon LDMOS and VDMOS transistors

1.3 Device physics

Dopant Conc (cm3)

Silicon LDMOS and VDMOS transistors

1.3 Device physics

of performance metrics. An excellent reference for the characterization and modeling

BVDSS , RDSon , HCI boundaries

Silicon LDMOS and VDMOS transistors

1.3 Device physics

Silicon LDMOS and VDMOS transistors

1.3 Device physics

Silicon LDMOS and VDMOS transistors

1.3 Device physics

channel, and source regions.

Silicon LDMOS and VDMOS transistors