Linearity and power characteristics of SiGe HBTs at high temperatures for RF applications

In this paper, the power gain, power-added efficiency (PAE) and linearity of power SiGe heterojunction-bipolar transistors at various temperatures have been presented. The power characteristics were measured using a two-tone load-pull system. For transistors biased with fixed base voltage, the small-signal power gain and PAE of the devices increase with increasing temperature at low base voltages, while they decrease at high base voltages. Besides, the linearity is improved at high temperature for all voltage biases. However, for devices with fixed collector current, the small-signal power gain, PAE, and linearity are nearly unchanged with temperature. The temperature dependence of power and linearity characteristics can be understood by analyzing the cutoff frequency, the collector current, Kirk effect and nonlinearities of transconductance at different temperatures.