Device and package level thermal modeling of GaAs Power Amplifiers

Author

Vijayakumar, Bhuvaneshwaran ; Burton, Richard ; Guo, Yifan

Author_Institution

Skyworks Solutions Inc.,, Irvine, CA, USA

fYear

2004

fDate

1-4 June 2004

Firstpage

291

Abstract

In this paper an accurate finite element modeling methodology for Gallium Arsenide (GaAs) Power Amplifier (PA) modules is presented. A device level finite element model is developed to simulate the thermal performance of a single HBT device accurately. This model can be used to evaluate the effects of different device parameters on thermal performance. The effect of metallization thickness on a device is presented with excellent measurement correlation. This model is also utilized as a super element used in package level simulations. Two different power amplifier designs, one on a Metal Lead Frame (MLF) package and another on a 4×4 mm Multi Chip Module (MCM) package are used as examples to illustrate the package level simulations. The simulation results for these two packages show good agreement with the experimental measurements.

Keywords

III-V semiconductors; finite element analysis; gallium arsenide; heterojunction bipolar transistors; multichip modules; power amplifiers; semiconductor device models; semiconductor device packaging; thermal management (packaging); GaAs; GaAs power amplifier modules; HBT device; MCM package; device parameter; finite element modeling; metal lead frame package; metallization thickness; multi chip module package; package level simulation; package level thermal modeling; power amplifier design; super element; thermal performance; Finite element methods; Gallium arsenide; Heterojunction bipolar transistors; Lead; Packaging; Power amplifiers; Predictive models; Temperature; Thermal conductivity; Thermal resistance;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Thermal and Thermomechanical Phenomena in Electronic Systems, 2004. ITHERM '04. The Ninth Intersociety Conference on

Print_ISBN

0-7803-8357-5

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/ITHERM.2004.1319187

Filename

1319187