Unconditionally thermally stable cascode GaAs HBTs for microwave applications

Author

Bayraktaroglu, Burhan ; Salib, Mike

Author_Institution

Northrop Grumman Corp., Baltimore, MD, USA

Volume

7

Issue

7

fYear

1997

fDate

7/1/1997 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

187

Lastpage

189

Abstract

The authors describe the performance of a thermally stabilized cascode-heterojunction bipolar transistor (TSC-HBT) that exhibits unconditional thermal stability without the use of ballast resistors. A thermal isolation inserted between the current source (CE stage) and the power stage (CB stage) eliminates the positive electrothermal feedback that causes thermal runaway in bipolar transistors. The TSC-HBT cell designs with f_max values in excess of 100 GHz demonstrated about 300% improvement in DC power dissipation capability compared to conventional cascode HBTs in a direct comparison

Keywords

III-V semiconductors; bipolar MMIC; circuit stability; gallium arsenide; heterojunction bipolar transistors; microwave bipolar transistors; thermal stability; 100 GHz; GaAs; GaAs HBT; MMIC applications; heterojunction bipolar transistor; microwave applications; thermal isolation; thermally stable cascode HBTs; unconditional thermal stability; Bipolar transistors; Electronic ballasts; Feedback; Fingers; Gallium arsenide; Heterojunction bipolar transistors; Resistors; Temperature; Thermal resistance; Voltage;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Microwave and Guided Wave Letters, IEEE

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

1051-8207

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/75.594859

Filename

594859