Experimental Verification of RF Stress Effect on Cascode Class-E PA Performance and Reliability

Author

Yuan, Jiann-shiun ; Yen, Hsuan-Der ; Chen, Shuyu ; Wang, Ruey-Lue ; Huang, Guo-Wei ; Juang, Ying-Zong ; Tu, Chih-Ho ; Yeh, Wen-Kuan ; Ma, Jun

Author_Institution

Dept. of Electr. Eng. & Comput. Sci., Univ. of Central Florida, Orlando, FL, USA

Volume

12

Issue

2

fYear

2012

fDate

6/1/2012 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

369

Lastpage

375

Abstract

A cascode class-E power amplifier (PA) operating at 5.2 GHz has been designed using Advanced Design System simulation. RF circuit performances such as output power and power-added efficiency before and after RF stress have been experimentally investigated. The measured output power, power-added efficiency, and linearity after high-input-power RF stress at elevated supply voltage show significant circuit degradations. The impact of hot-carrier injection and gate oxide soft breakdown on cascode class-E PA reliability is discussed.

Keywords

hot carriers; integrated circuit reliability; microwave power amplifiers; PA reliability; RF circuit performances; advanced design system simulation; cascode class-E PA performance; frequency 5.2 GHz; gate oxide soft breakdown; high-input-power RF stress; hot-carrier injection; output power; power amplifier; power-added efficiency; Logic gates; Power amplifiers; Power generation; Radio frequency; Stress; Stress measurement; Transistors; Cascode class E; gate oxide breakdown; output power; power amplifier (PA); power efficiency; reliability;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Device and Materials Reliability, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

1530-4388

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/TDMR.2011.2179548

Filename

6104126