A 2.4 GHz high output power and high efficiency power amplifier operating at inductive breakdown in CMOS technology

Temperature dependence on RF avalanche breakdown of RF mosfets in the impact ionization region

“…Instead, the presented model can reflect accurate output impedance at breakdown for matching circuit designs so that calculated output VSWR keeps below the desired acceptable level from −40°C to 110°C as shown in Figure . The presented analysis of temperature dependence on RF impact ionization can be beneficial to the output matching network design of the RF PAs at breakdown for high‐altitude applications at different temperatures. When the circuit designers understand the temperature dependence on device characteristics in the impact ionization region more clearly, the circuit performance deviation from required specification due to the elevated temperatures can be prevented.…”

“…In the RF power amplifier (PA) applications, transistors are usually biased in the saturation region to prevent from avalanche effects influenced. Nevertheless, avalanche operation of transistors is found to be beneficial to improvement of power performance, and this concept is applied for PA designs . When transistors operate in the avalanche region, generated electron‐hole pairs can contribute to increased DC current .…”

“…Our previous research focused on three‐port S ‐parameter de‐embedding for III–V device characterization . Other works devoted to breakdown model establishment for silicon MOSFETs and to CMOS PA design in the breakdown region . These previous studies were introduced and analyzed at room temperature.…”

Large-signal output characteristic investigation of the MOSFETs in the breakdown region based on X-parameters

“…Therefore, the presented analysis can be beneficial to the power amplifier designs in the breakdown region. [1,2] In addition, different from the black-box behavioral model, the obtained equivalent circuit model is useful for the optimization of the device design [18][19][20] and helps us understand device physics [21][22][23] under large-signal operation. Besides, the presented inductive breakdown network can be applicable to other transistors in the presence of RF inductive breakdown.…”

“…When power amplifiers operate in the breakdown regime to improve circuit performance as in [1,2], high output voltage can easily sweep to the breakdown regime, leading to a change of output reflection behavior. [3] Conventionally, industry standard hot-S parameters [4] can be employed to characterize the output reflection behavior of a device under large-signal drive.…”