Precise and simple DC-electrothermal characterization of MMIC power amplifiers

Author

Torregrosa-Penalva, Germán ; Asensio-López, Alberto ; Blanco-Del-Campo, Alvaro ; Ortega-Gonzalez, Francisco Javier

Author_Institution

Departamento de Fisica y Arquitectura de Computadores, Univ. Miguel Hernandez, Alicante, Spain

fYear

2003

fDate

11-13 March 2003

Firstpage

112

Lastpage

118

Abstract

A new indirect electrical method for the thermal characterization of microwave monolithic integrated circuit (MMIC) power amplifiers is presented. Unlike other methods previously proposed, the suggested procedure is easy to apply on power amplifiers with complex structures, formed by the combination of several amplifying stages on the same die. The new technique is specially indicated for MMICs formed by FET devices and mounted with epoxy attachment. The procedure uses the thermal coupling response between multiple amplifying stages to characterize the thermal behavior of the complete MMIC structure. It is a non-invasive method and requires the amplifier to operate under normal working conditions. Experimental results are given to demonstrate the precision and usefulness of this new procedure. The technique was applied to a commercial X-band MMIC power amplifier under different bias, temperature and mounting conditions.

Keywords

MMIC power amplifiers; field effect transistor circuits; integrated circuit measurement; integrated circuit modelling; temperature measurement; MMIC power amplifiers; X-band MMIC; amplifying stages thermal coupling response; epoxy attachment mounted FET devices; microwave monolithic integrated circuits; power amplifier DC-electrothermal characterization; thermal characterization; Employee welfare; FETs; MMICs; Microwave amplifiers; Microwave devices; Microwave theory and techniques; Power amplifiers; Predictive models; Temperature measurement; Temperature sensors;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Semiconductor Thermal Measurement and Management Symposium, 2003. Ninteenth Annual IEEE

ISSN

1065-2221

Print_ISBN

0-7803-7793-1

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/STHERM.2003.1194347

Filename

1194347