The objective of the proposed research is to characterize the safe-operating-area of silicon-germanium (SiGe) heterojunction bipolar transistors (HBTs) under radiofrequency (RF) operation and extreme environments. The degradation of SiGe HBTs due to mixed-mode DC and RF stress has been modeled for the first time. State-of-the-art 200 GHz SiGe HBTs were first characterized, and then DC and RF stressed. Excess base leakage current was modeled as a function of the stress current and voltage. This physics-based stress model was then designed as a sub-circuit in Cadence, and incorporated into SiGe power amplifier design to predict the DC and RF stress-induced excess base current. Based on these studies, characterization of RF safe-operating-area for SiGe HBTs using devices and circuits is proposed.

The objective of the dissertation is to combine the recent Mixed-Mode reliability stress studies into a single text. The thesis starts with a review of silicon-germanium heterojunction bipolar transistor fundamentals, development trends, and the conventional reliability stress paths used in industry, after which the new stress path, Mixed-Mode stress, is introduced. Chapter 2 is devoted to an in-depth discussion of damage mechanisms that includes the impact ionization effct and the selfheating effect. Chapter 3 goes onto the impact ionization effect using two-dimensional calibrated MEDICI simulations. Chapter 4 assesses the reliability of SiGe HBTs in extreme temperature environments by way of comprehensive experiments and MEDICI simulations. A comparison of the device lifetimes for reverse-EB stress and mixed-mode stress indicates different damage mechanisms govern these phenomena. The thesis concludes with a summary of the project and suggestions for future research in chapter 5.

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As Si-manufacturing compatible SiGe HBTs are making rapid in-roads into RF through mm-wave circuit applications, with performance levels steadily marching upward, the use of these devices under extreme environment conditions are being studied extensively. In this work, test structures of SiGe HBTs were designed and put into extremely low temperatures, and a new negative differential resistance effect and a novel collector current kink effect are investigated in the cryogenically-operated SiGe HBTs. Theory based on an enhanced positive feedback mechanism associated with heterojunction barrier effect at deep cryogenic temperatures is proposed. The accumulated charge induced by the barrier effect acts at low temperatures to enhance the total collector current, indirectly producing both phenomena. This theory is confirmed using calibrated 2-D DESSIS simulations over temperature. These unique cryogenic effects also have significant impact on the ac performance of SiGe HBTs operating at high-injection. Technology evolution plays an important role in determining the magnitude of the observed phenomena, and the scaling implications are addressed. Circuit implication is discussed.

Extreme environment applications impose stringent demands on technology platforms that are incorporated in electronic systems. Space is a classic extreme environment, encompassing both large temperature fluctuations as well as intense radiation fields. Silicon-germanium technology has emerged as a competitive platform for space-based applications, owing to its excellent low-temperature performance and total ionizing dose tolerance. This technology has however been repeatedly shown to be vulnerable to single event phenomena induced by galactic cosmic rays as well as trapped particles within the earth's geomagnetic field. To improve the radiation tolerance of systems incorporating SiGe components, modifications to fabrications steps (Radiation Hardening by Process, RHBP) and/or device/circuit topologies (Radiation Hardening by Design, RHBD) may be employed. For this thesis, two methodologies are analyzed, both RHBD techniques which come at no additional power/area penalty for implementation.

Next generation mobile communication systems require the use of linear RF power amplifier for higher data transmission rates. However, linear RF power amplifiers are inherently inefficient and usually require additional circuits or further system adjustments for better efficiency. This dissertation focuses on the development of new efficiency enhancement schemes for linear RF power amplifiers. The multistage Doherty amplifier technique is proposed to improve the performance of linear RF power amplifiers operated in a low power level. This technique advances the original Doherty amplifier scheme by improving the efficiency at much lower power level. The proposed technique is supported by a new approach in device periphery calculation to reduce AM/AM distortion and a further improvement of linearity by the bias adaptation concept. The device periphery adjustment technique for efficiency enhancement of power amplifier integrated circuits is also proposed in this work. The concept is clearly explained together with its implementation on CMOS and SiGe RF power amplifier designs. Furthermore, linearity improvement technique using the cancellation of nonlinear terms is proposed for the CMOS power amplifier in combination with the efficiency enhancement technique. In addition to the efficiency enhancement of power amplifiers, a scalable large-signal MOSFET model using the modified BSIM3v3 approach is proposed. A new scalable substrate network model is developed to enhance the accuracy of the BSIM3v3 model in RF and microwave applications. The proposed model simplifies the modeling of substrate coupling effects in MOS transistor and provides great accuracy in both small-signal and large-signal performances.

Using bandgap engineering, silicon-germanium (SiGe) BiCMOS technology effectively combines III-V transistor performance with the cost and integration advantages associated with CMOS manufacturing. The suitability of SiGe technology for cryogenic and radiation-intense environments is well known, yet SiGe has been generally overlooked for applications involving extreme high temperature operation. This work is an investigation into the potential capabilities of SiGe technology for operation up to 300°C, including the development of packaging and testing procedures to enable the necessary measurements. At the device level, SiGe heterojunction bipolar transistors (HBTs), field-effect transistors (FETs), and resistors are verified to maintain acceptable functionality across the temperature range, laying the foundation for high temperature circuit design. This work also includes the characterization of existing bandgap references circuits, redesign for high temperature operation, validation, and further optimization recommendations. In addition, the performance of temperature sensor, operational amplifier, and output buffer circuits under extreme high temperature conditions is presented. To the author's knowledge, this work represents the first demonstration of functional circuits from a SiGe technology platform in ambient temperatures up to 300°C; furthermore, the optimized bandgap reference presented in this work is believed to show the best performance recorded across a 500°C range in a bulk-silicon technology platform.

This work investigates the fundamental device limits related to operational voltage constraints and linearity in state-of-the-art silicon-germanium (SiGe) heterojunction bipolar transistors (HBTs) in order to support the design of robust next-generation high-frequency transceivers. This objective requires a broad understanding of how much "usable" voltage exists compared to conventionally defined breakdown voltage specifications, so the role of avalanche-induced current-crowding (or "pinch-in") effects on transistor performance and reliability are carefully studied. Also, the effects of intermodulation distortion are examined at the transistor-level for new and better understanding of the limits and trade-offs associated with achieving enhanced dynamic range and linearity performance on existing and future SiGe HBT technology platforms. Based on these investigations, circuits designed for superior dynamic range performance are presented.

Ce travail de thèse présente une étude concernant la caractérisation des effets électrothermiques dans les transistors bipolaires à hétérojonction (HBT) en SiGe. Lors de ces travaux, deux procédés technologiques BiCMOS à l’état de l’art ont été analysés: le B11HFC de Infineon Technologies (130nm) et le B55 de STMicroelectronics (55nm).Des structures de test dédiées ont étés conçues, pour évaluer l’impact électrothermique du back end of line (BEOL) de composants ayant une architecture à un ou plusieurs doigts d’émetteur. Une caractérisation complète a été effectuée en régime continu et en mode alternatif en petit et en grand signal. De plus, une extraction des paramètres thermiques statiques et dynamiques a été réalisée et présentée pour les structures de test proposées. Il est démontré que les figures de mérite DC et RF s’améliorent sensiblement en positionnant des couches de métal sur le transistor, dessinées de manière innovante et ayant pour fonction de guider le flux thermique vers l’extérieur. L’impact thermique du BEOL a été modélisé et vérifié expérimentalement dans le domaine temporel et fréquentiel et aussi grâce à des simulations 3D par éléments finis. Il est à noter que l’effet du profil de dopage sur la conductivité thermique est analysé et pris en compte.Des topologies de transistor innovantes ont étés conçues, permettant une amélioration des spécifications de l’aire de sécurité de fonctionnement, grâce à un dessin innovant de la surface d’émetteur et du deep trench (DTI).Un modèle compact est proposé pour simuler les effets de couplage thermique en dynamique entre les émetteurs des HBT multi-doigts; ensuite le modèle est validé avec de mesures dédiées et des simulations TCAD.Des circuits de test ont étés conçus et mesurés, pour vérifier la précision des modèles compacts utilisés dans les simulateurs de circuits; de plus, l’impact du couplage thermique entre les transistors sur les performances des circuits a été évalué et modélisé. Finalement, l’impact du dissipateur thermique positionné sur le transistor a été étudié au niveau circuit, montrant un réel intérêt de cette approche. / This work is focused on the characterization of electro-thermal effects in advanced SiGe hetero-junction bipolar transistors (HBTs); two state of the art BiCMOS processes have been analyzed: the B11HFC from Infineon Technologies (130nm) and the B55 from STMicroelectronics (55nm).Special test structures have been designed, in order to evaluate the overall electro-thermal impact of the back end of line (BEOL) in single finger and multi-finger components. A complete DC and RF electrical characterization at small and large signal, as well as the extraction of the device static and dynamic thermal parameters are performed on the proposed test structures, showing a sensible improvement of the DC and RF figures of merit when metal dummies are added upon the transistor. The thermal impact of the BEOL has been modeled and experimentally verified in the time and frequency domain and by means of 3D TCAD simulations, in which the effect of the doping profile on the thermal conductivity is analyzed and taken into account.Innovative multi-finger transistor topologies are designed, which allow an improvement of the SOA specifications, thanks to a careful design of the drawn emitter area and of the deep trench isolation (DTI) enclosed area.A compact thermal model is proposed for taking into account the mutual thermal coupling between the emitter stripes of multi-finger HBTs in dynamic operation and is validated upon dedicated pulsed measurements and TCAD simulations.Specially designed circuit blocks have been realized and measured, in order to verify the accuracy of device compact models in electrical circuit simulators; moreover the impact on the circuit performances of mutual thermal coupling among neighboring transistors and the presence of BEOL metal dummies is evaluated and modeled.

L'objectif principal de cette thèse est de proposer et d'évaluer une nouvelle architecture de Transistor Bipolaire à Héterojonction (TBH) Si/SiGe s’affranchissant des limitations de l'architecture conventionnelle DPSA-SEG (Double-Polysilicium Self-Aligned, Selective Epitaxial Growth) utilisée dans la technologie 55 nm Si/SiGe BiCMOS (BiCMOS055) de STMicroelectronics. Cette nouvelle architecture est conçue pour être compatible avec la technologie 28-nm FD-SOI (Fully Depleted Si-licon On Insulator), avec pour objectif d'atteindre la performance de 400 GHz de fT et 600 GHz de fMAX dans ce noeud. Pour atteindre cet objectif ambitieux, plusieurs études complémentaires ont été menées: 1/ l'exploration et la comparaison de différentes architectures de TBH SiGe, 2/ l'étalonnage TCAD en BiCMOS055, 3/ l'étude du budget thermique induit par la fabrication des technologies BiCMOS, et finalement 4/ l'étude d'une architecture innovante et son optimisation. Les procédés de fabrication ainsi que les modèles physiques (comprenant le rétrécissement de la bande interdite, la vitesse de saturation, la mobilité à fort champ, la recombinaison SRH, l'ionisation par impact, la résistance distribuée de l'émetteur, l'auto-échauffement ainsi que l’effet tunnel induit par piégeage des électrons), ont été étalonnés dans la technologie BiCMOS055. L'étude de l’impact du budget thermique sur les performances des TBH SiGe dans des noeuds CMOS avancés (jusqu’au 14 nm) montre que le fT maximum peut atteindre 370 GHz dans une prochaine génération où les profils verticaux du BiCMOS055 seraient ‘simplement’ adaptés à l’optimisation du budget thermique total. Enfin, l'architecture TBH SiGe EXBIC, prenant son nom d’une base extrinsèque épitaxiale isolée du collecteur, est choisie comme la candidate la plus prometteuse pour la prochaine génération de TBH dans une technologie BiCMOS FD-SOI dans un noeud 28 nm. L'optimisation en TCAD de cette architecture résulte en des performances électriques remarquables telles que 470 GHz fT et 870 GHz fMAX dans ce noeud technologique. / The ultimate objective of this thesis is to propose and evaluate a novel SiGe HBT architec-ture overcoming the limitation of the conventional Double-Polysilicon Self-Aligned (DPSA) archi-tecture using Selective Epitaxial Growth (SEG). This architecture is designed to be compatible with the 28-nm Fully Depleted (FD) Silicon On Insulator (SOI) CMOS with a purpose to reach the objec-tive of 400 GHz fT and 600 GHz fMAX performance in this node. In order to achieve this ambitious objective, several studies, including the exploration and comparison of different SiGe HBT architec-tures, 55-nm Si/SiGe BiCMOS TCAD calibration, Si/SiGe BiCMOS thermal budget study, investi-gating a novel architecture and its optimization, have been carried out. Both, the fabrication process and physical device models (incl. band gap narrowing, saturation velocity, high-field mobility, SRH recombination, impact ionization, distributed emitter resistance, self-heating and trap-assisted tunnel-ing, as well as band-to-band tunneling), have been calibrated in the 55-nm Si/SiGe BiCMOS tech-nology. Furthermore, investigations done on process thermal budget reduction show that a 370 GHz fT SiGe HBT can be achieved in 55nm assuming the modification of few process steps and the tuning of the bipolar vertical profile. Finally, the Fully Self-Aligned (FSA) SiGe HBT architecture using Selective Epitaxial Growth (SEG) and featuring an Epitaxial eXtrinsic Base Isolated from the Collector (EXBIC) is chosen as the most promising candidate for the 28-nm FD-SOI BiCMOS genera-tion. The optimization of this architecture results in interesting electrical performances such as 470 GHz fT and 870 GHz fMAX in this technology node.