Cryogenic operation of a 24 GHz MMIC SiGe HBT medium power amplifier

Qin, Guoxuan; Jiang, Ningyue; Seo, Jung‐Hun; Cho, Namki; Ponchak, George E.; Weide, Daniel van der; Ma, Pengfei; Stetson, Scott; Racanelli, M.; Ma, Zhenqiang

doi:10.1088/0268-1242/25/12/125002

Cited by 6 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 17 publications

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“…Recent work has reported the record performance of SiGe HBTs at cryogenic temperatures (e.g., f T > half terahertz [7], [8], and peak f max of 0.8 THz [9]). In addition, several recent studies on the cryogenic performance of SiGe HBT-based integrated circuits have been published [e.g., an X-band LNA [10], a K -band power amplifier (PA) [11], and a bandgap voltage reference [12]]. These circuit demonstrations and studies further support the potential of SiGe HBTs for HP and highfrequency cryogenic applications.…”

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confidence: 82%

On the Cryogenic RF Linearity of SiGe HBTs in a Fourth-Generation 90-nm SiGe BiCMOS Technology

Cardoso

Omprakash

Chakraborty

et al. 2015

IEEE Trans. Electron Devices

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Large-signal ( P 1 dB ) and small-signal (OIP3) radio frequency (RF) linearities of silicon-germanium (SiGe) heterojunction bipolar transistors (HBTs) fabricated in a new fourth-generation 90-nm SiGe BiCMOS technology operating at cryogenic temperatures are investigated. The SiGe BiCMOS process technology has an f T / f max of 300/350 GHz. SiGe HBTs with two different layout configurations, collector-baseemitter (CBE) and CBE-base-collector (CBEBC), were characterized over temperature. Both dc and ac figures-of-merit are presented to aid in understanding the linearity, and to provide an overall performance comparison between the two layout configurations. The extracted peak f T / f max for CBE and CBEBC at 78 K are 387/350 and 420/410 GHz, respectively. The P 1 dB and OIP3 linearity metrics for both configurations are comparable. Source-and load-pull measurements were performed at each temperature at 8 and 18 GHz, with the devices biased at a J C of 18 mA/μm 2 . Two-tone measurements over bias were also performed at 300 and 78 K with 50-terminations for the source and load impedances. The 50 results follow a similar response to the source-and load-pull measurements at 300 and 78 K, and demonstrate that the small-signal linearity of the SiGe HBTs is not adversely impacted by operation at cryogenic temperatures. The CBEBC configuration demonstrated the most consistent RF linearity performance at cryogenic temperature out of the two layout options.

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confidence: 82%

On the Cryogenic RF Linearity of SiGe HBTs in a Fourth-Generation 90-nm SiGe BiCMOS Technology

Cardoso

Omprakash

Chakraborty

et al. 2015

IEEE Trans. Electron Devices

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“…The power amplifier (PA) is a critical component of wireless communication systems, and previous studies have shown that cryogenic effects can significantly impact its operation by changing transistor parameters and causing performance deviations from nominal operating characteristics [2], [3], [4]. Although there have been few works in the literature addressing PA design for environments with extreme temperatures, a significant amount of research has been done on cryogenic low-noise amplifier (LNA) design for very low-noise applications, either through the use of alternative technologies like SiGe HBTs or by incorporating cryogenic MOSFET modeling data into the design process [5], [6], [7], [8], [9], [10]. In this paper, we propose leveraging a reinforcement learning agent to program a highly configurable PA design that can operate across a wide temperature range.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Deep Reinforcement Learning on FPGA for Self-Healing Cryogenic Power Amplifier Control

Shen

et al. 2023

IEEE Open J. Circuits Syst.

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Wireless sensing and communication for space exploration in areas inaccessible to human often suffer from severe performance degradation due to the cryogenic effects on the transmitters' circuits. To survive extreme temperatures, programmable radio frequency (RF) power amplifiers (PA) can be built into the transmitter, and intelligent PA controllers need to be integrated into the system to interact with the environment and restore the PA's functionalities. This problem can be modeled as the controller acts (control the PA) in an environment to maximize the reward (signal quality), and it is most suitable to use reinforcement learning as a solution. This paper presents a cryogenic and energy-efficient reinforcement learning (RL) module on Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGA) that can directly program the PA. By characterizing a self-healing PA in a liquid nitrogen environment, we generated an RF signal data set and built an interactive RL environment to model the PA's behaviors across its configurations and cryogenic temperatures down to −197 • C. We developed a deep RL model with a high generalization capability introduced by the neural networks to control the PA and restore its performance. The RL model with fixed-point training and inference is implemented on FPGA to survive the cryogenic conditions and carry out fast and low-power training and inference for PA control. All functionalities of the programmed FPGA operate correctly in the cryogenic testing environment.INDEX TERMS Deep reinforcement learning, quantized neural networks, quantized training, fixed-point arithmetic, FPGA, power amplifier, cryogenic circuits.

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“…In addition, SiGe HBTs demonstrate great performance robustness at cryogenic temperatures. [5][6][7][8][9][10] The inherent radiation tolerance characteristics as well as the low-cost of SiGe HBTs make them a suitable candidate for space or other extreme environment applications even without any intentional radiation hardening. [9][10][11][12][13] Research has been done on the detailed damage mechanisms of low-power, high-speed SiGe HBTs under proton irradiation.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

EXPERIMENTAL CHARACTERIZATION OF PROTON RADIATED SiGe POWER HBTs AT EXTREME TEMPERATURES

Qin

Jiang

et al. 2013

J CIRCUIT SYST COMP

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The performances of proton irradiated silicon-germanium (SiGe) power heterojunction bipolar transistors (HBTs) at extreme temperatures (liquid nitrogen temperature and high stagetemperature of 120 C with junction temperature over 160 C) are reported in this work. SiGe power HBTs with total emitter area of $ 1460 m 2 are fabricated in a commercial BiCMOS process, and irradiated with proton at di®erent°uences from 1 Â 10 12 p/cm 2 to 5 Â 10 13 p/cm 2 . Experimental characterizations are conducted for pre-and post-radiation devices at room temperature, cryogenic temperature and high temperature. The results demonstrate that the proton-irradiated SiGe power HBTs are naturally suitable for electronic operations at extreme temperatures. Speci¯cally, investigation of proton radiation on SiGe power HBTs at liquid nitrogen temperature (77 K) indicates a signi¯cant potential for space applications. In addition, SiGe power HBTs show better tolerance of proton radiation at high temperature of 120 C (junction temperature over 160 C). SiGe power HBTs demonstrate great potential in power ampli¯cation for wireless communication systems under severe radiation and extreme temperature environment (cryogenic and high temperatures) even without any intentional radiation hardening.

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Cryogenic operation of a 24 GHz MMIC SiGe HBT medium power amplifier

Cited by 6 publications

References 17 publications

On the Cryogenic RF Linearity of SiGe HBTs in a Fourth-Generation 90-nm SiGe BiCMOS Technology

On the Cryogenic RF Linearity of SiGe HBTs in a Fourth-Generation 90-nm SiGe BiCMOS Technology

Deep Reinforcement Learning on FPGA for Self-Healing Cryogenic Power Amplifier Control

EXPERIMENTAL CHARACTERIZATION OF PROTON RADIATED SiGe POWER HBTs AT EXTREME TEMPERATURES

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