HandbookofRFandMicrowavePowerAmplifiers WhetheryouareanRFtransistordesigner,anamplifierdesigner,orasystemdesigner, thisisyourone-stopguidetoRFandmicrowavetransistorpoweramplifiers.Ateamof expertauthorsbringsyouup-to-speedoneverytopic,including: (cid:2) devices(SiLDMOSandVDMOS,GaAsFETs,GaNHEMTs); (cid:2) circuitandamplifierdesign(discrete,hybridandmonolithic); (cid:2) CAD; (cid:2) thermaldesign; (cid:2) reliability; (cid:2) systemapplications/requirementsforRFandmicrowavetransistoramplifiers; (cid:2) amplifiermeasurements. Covering state-of-the-art developments, and emphasizing practical communications applications,thisisyourcompleteprofessionalreferenceonthesubject. 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 andRFDivisionManageratSemelab.HeistheEditorandCoauthorofthebooksHigh Power GaAs FET Amplifiers and Classic Works in RF Engineering. He is a Fellow of theIEE. TheCambridgeRFandMicrowaveEngineeringSeries SeriesEditor SteveC.Cripps,DistinguishedResearchProfessor,CardiffUniversity PeterAaen,JaimePla´ andJohnWood,ModelingandCharacterizationofRFand MicrowavePowerFETs DominiqueSchreurs,Ma´irt´ınO’Droma,AnthonyA.Goacher,andMichaelGadringer, RFAmplifierBehavioralModeling FanYangandYahyaRahmat-Samii,ElectromagneticBandGapStructuresinAntenna Engineering EnricoRubiola,PhaseNoiseandFrequencyStabilityinOscillators EarlMcCune,PracticalDigitalWirelessSignals StepanLucyszyn.AdvancedRFMEMS PatrickRoblin,NonlinearFRCircuitsandtheLarge-SignalNetworkAnalyzer MatthiasRudolph,ChristianFager,andDavidE.Root,NonlinearTransistorModel ParameterExtractionTechniques Forthcoming SorinVoinigescu,High-FrequencyIntegratedCircuits DavidE.Root,JasonHorn,andJanVerspecht,X-Parameters RichardCarter,TheoryandDesignofMicrowaveTubes Anh-VuH.Pham,MorganJ.Chen,andKuniaAihara,LCPforMicrowavePackages andModules NunoBorgesCarvalhoandDominiqueScheurs,MicrowaveandWireless MeasurementTechniques Handbook of RF and Microwave Power Amplifiers Editedby JOHN WALKER IntegraTechnologies,Inc. CAMBRIDGEUNIVERSITYPRESS Cambridge,NewYork,Melbourne,Madrid,CapeTown, Singapore,Sa˜oPaulo,Delhi,Tokyo,MexicoCity CambridgeUniversityPress TheEdinburghBuilding,CambridgeCB28RU,UK PublishedintheUnitedStatesofAmericabyCambridgeUniversityPress,NewYork www.cambridge.org Informationonthistitle:www.cambridge.org/9780521760102 (cid:2)C CambridgeUniversityPress2012 Thispublicationisincopyright.Subjecttostatutoryexception andtotheprovisionsofrelevantcollectivelicensingagreements, noreproductionofanypartmaytakeplacewithoutthewritten permissionofCambridgeUniversityPress. Firstpublished2012 PrintedintheUnitedKingdomattheUniversityPress,Cambridge AcatalogrecordforthispublicationisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary ISBN978-0-521-76010-2Hardback Thetechnicaldescriptionsandproceduresinthisbookhavebeendevelopedwiththe greatestofcare;however,theyareprovidedasis,withoutwarrantyofanykind.The authorandpublisherofthebookmakenowarranties,expressedorimplied,thatthe equations,programs,andproceduresinthisbookarefreeoferror,orareconsistent withanyparticularstandardofmerchantability,orwillmeetyourrequirementsfor anyparticularapplication.Theyshouldnotberelieduponforsolvingaproblem whoseincorrectsolutioncouldresultininjurytoapersonorlossofproperty. CambridgeUniversityPresshasnoresponsibilityforthepersistenceor accuracyofURLsforexternalorthird-partyinternetwebsitesreferredto inthispublication,anddoesnotguaranteethatanycontentonsuch websitesis,orwillremain,accurateorappropriate. Contents Listofcontributors pagexiv Preface xv 1 SiliconLDMOSandVDMOStransistors:physics,design,andtechnology 1 WayneBurgerandChristopherP.Dragon 1.1 Technologyoverview 1 1.1.1 Introduction/history 1 1.2 LDMOSandVDMOSconstruction 2 1.2.1 LDMOS 2 1.2.2 VDMOS 8 1.3 Devicephysics 10 1.3.1 Currenttransport 10 1.3.2 Behaviorofparasiticelements/models 12 1.3.3 BV ,R ,HCIboundaries 17 DSS DSon 1.3.4 Snapback/ruggedness 22 1.3.5 Operatingvoltageconsiderations 26 1.4 Design/layout 27 1.4.1 Top-downfingerlayout 27 1.4.2 Bondpadmanifolds 29 1.4.3 Metaldesign–electromigration 30 1.4.4 Thermal 32 1.4.5 Operatingvoltageconsiderations 34 1.4.6 Frequencyconsiderations:gatelength,gatewidth,resistors 36 1.4.7 HVICs 37 References 39 2 GaAsFETs–physics,design,andmodels 42 RobDavis 2.1 Introduction 42 2.1.1 PropertiesofGaAsandrelatedcompounds 43 2.1.2 TheSchottkybarriergateandtheMESFET 45 2.1.3 ThePf2limit 45 2.1.4 TypesofGaAsFET 46 vi Contents 2.2 Powerdevicephysics 51 2.2.1 ThedeviceI–Vcharacteristicandloadline 51 2.2.2 ThedynamicI–Vcharacteristic 53 2.2.3 Theconsequencesoftrappingeffects 54 2.2.4 Devicebreakdown 57 2.2.5 Breakdownmechanismsandoptimisation 58 2.2.6 CommentsonGaAsFETbreakdownratings 59 2.2.7 TheFETequivalentcircuit 60 2.2.8 Devicegainandfiguresofmerit 61 2.3 Devicedesign 63 2.3.1 Powerdevicedesign 63 2.3.2 FETchannelandrecessdesign 63 2.3.3 Powercelldesign 67 2.3.4 Powercellcombination 71 2.3.5 Thermaldesign 72 2.4 Devicefabrication 74 2.4.1 Overview 74 2.4.2 Keyprocesssteps 75 2.4.3 Low-costGaAsdevicefabrication 81 2.4.4 Packaging 81 2.5 Models 84 2.5.1 Devicemodels 84 2.5.2 Small-signalmodels 84 2.5.3 Largesignalmodels 85 2.5.4 Load-pull 89 2.6 Concludingremarks 90 References 91 3 Widebandgaptransistors–SiCandGaN–physics,design andmodels 103 RobertJ.Trew 3.1 Introduction 103 3.2 Background 105 3.2.1 SiCtransistors 106 3.2.2 AlGaN/GaNtransistors 108 3.3 Materialparameters 111 3.4 Transistoramplifieroperatingprinciples 115 3.5 DevicedesignandRFperformance 118 3.5.1 4H-SiCMESFETamplifier 120 3.5.2 AlGaN/GaNHFETamplifier 123 3.6 TransistorDCandlarge-signalRFmodels 125 3.6.1 Equivalentcircuittransistormodels 125 3.6.2 Physics-basedlarge-signaltransistormodels 128 Contents vii 3.7 Large-signaleffects 130 3.7.1 Spacechargelimitedcurrenttransport 130 3.7.2 Nonlinearsourceanddrainresistance 133 3.7.3 Gateleakage 144 3.7.4 Reliabilityandtime-dependentperformancedegradation 146 3.8 Summary 152 References 153 4 Amplifierclasses,A–S 159 SteveC.Cripps 4.1 Introduction 159 4.2 Activedevicemodels 161 4.3 ClassA 162 4.4 ClassABandClassB 164 4.5 ClassC 171 4.6 ClassF 173 4.7 ClassJ 176 4.8 Invertedmodes,invertedClassF 179 4.9 ClassE 181 4.10 ClassS 183 4.11 Multimodes 184 4.12 Conclusions 186 References 186 5 Computer-aideddesignofpoweramplifiers 188 StephenMaas 5.1 Introduction 188 5.2 Methodsofanalysis 188 5.2.1 Linearanalysis 188 5.2.2 Harmonic-balanceanalysis 193 5.2.3 Time-domainanalysis 202 5.2.4 Applicationsofanalyticalmethods 205 5.3 Passivecircuitstructuresandsimulationaccuracy 205 5.3.1 Scatteringparametermodels 206 5.3.2 Closed-formmodels 208 5.3.3 ModelsfromEMsimulation 210 5.3.4 Databasemodels 212 5.3.5 Parasiticextraction 212 5.4 Solid-statedevicemodels 213 5.4.1 Powerdevicemodels 213 5.4.2 Modelingcellinterconnectionsinlargedevices 213 5.4.3 Thermaleffectsindevicemodels 214 viii Contents 5.5 Specialaspectsofpower-amplifiermodeling 216 5.5.1 Lossincircuitmetalizations 217 5.5.2 Lossincircuitcomponents 219 5.5.3 Bondwires 219 5.6 Practicalaspectsofnonlinearcircuitsimulation 221 5.6.1 Convergencedifficulties 221 5.6.2 SPICEmodelsinharmonic-balanceanalysis 226 5.6.3 Problemsizeminimizationandsolutionoptimization 226 5.6.4 Numericalconsiderations 227 5.6.5 Designflow 228 References 230 6 PracticalHF/VHF/UHFRFpoweramplifierrealization 232 DanielP.Myer 6.1 Introduction 232 6.2 RFpoweramplifiermarkets 232 6.3 Therealizationprocess 233 6.3.1 RFPAqualitativespecificationdelineation 234 6.3.2 RFPAspecifications,genericlistandquantificationguidelines 236 6.3.3 Specification/hardwarerealization 241 6.4 RFPAsystemleveldesignoverview 242 6.4.1 RFpoweramplifiermoduledesignoverview 243 6.4.2 RFpowertransistordeviceselectionprocessguidelines 246 6.4.3 RFpowertransistorbias/thermaltrackingnetworks 249 6.4.4 RFinput/outputcoupling/decouplingnetworks 250 6.4.5 Powertransistorimpedancematching 250 6.4.6 Feedbacknetworks 251 6.4.7 Thermalmanagement 251 6.5 Hypotheticalamplifierdesignexample 252 6.5.1 Hypotheticalapplicationexampleoverview 252 6.5.2 Amplifierqualitativespecificationdelineation 252 6.5.3 Amplifierspecificationquantification 253 6.5.4 Amplifierhardwaredesign/realization 254 6.6.5 RFtransistorselection 255 6.5.6 Gatebias/temperaturetracking/compensationnetwork 257 6.5.7 Input/outputRF/DCcoupling/decouplingnetworks 259 6.5.8 Input/outputimpedancematchingnetworks 259 6.5.9 Feedbacknetwork 267 6.5.10 Testsetupconfiguration/analysis 268 6.5.11 PhysicalRFPAmoduleconstruction 271 6.5.12 RFPAmoduletestresults 273 6.5.13 Beyondthetestdata 281 References 283 Contents ix 7 Microwavehybridamplifierrealization 284 DominicFitzPatrick 7.1 Introduction 284 7.2 Printedcircuitboards 285 7.3 Housing 293 7.3.1 Materials 294 7.3.2 Sealingandhermeticity 294 7.3.3 Construction 299 7.3.4 Thermalissuesandheatsinking 305 7.3.5 RFconnections 311 7.4 Components 315 7.4.1 Passive–lumpedcomponents 315 7.4.2 Passive–distributedcomponents 323 7.4.3 Transistors 331 7.5 Amplifierdesign 333 7.5.1 Topologies 333 7.5.2 Matchingandstability 336 7.5.3 Internallymatcheddeviceamplifiers 343 7.5.4 Combining 344 7.5.5 Modulesize/systemintegration 344 7.6 Biasingandcontrol 345 7.6.1 Controlandinterfacing 352 7.7 Tuningtechniques 353 References 355 8 Monolithicpoweramplifiers 357 InderJ.Bahl 8.1 OverviewofMMICpoweramplifiers 357 8.1.1 BriefhistoryofMMICpoweramplifiers 357 8.1.2 Advantagesofmonolithicpoweramplifiers 358 8.2 MonolithicICtechnology 359 8.2.1 MMICfabrication 360 8.2.2 MMICsubstrates 361 8.2.3 MMICactivedevices 361 8.2.4 MMICmatchingelements 362 8.3 MMICdesignmethodology 370 8.3.1 CADtools 370 8.3.2 Designprocedure 371 8.3.3 EMsimulators 372 8.4 MMICPAsummaryandexamples 372 8.4.1 Narrowbandpoweramplifier 374 8.4.2 Broadbandpoweramplifiers 376 8.4.3 Ultrabroadbandpoweramplifiers 377 8.4.4 High-poweramplifiers 381