On the RF properties of weakly saturated SiGe HBTs and their potential use in ultralow-voltage circuits

Sachin Seth; Laleh Najafizadeh; John D. Cressler

doi:10.1109/LED.2010.2087313

On the RF properties of weakly saturated SiGe HBTs and their potential use in ultralow-voltage circuits

Sachin Seth, Laleh Najafizadeh, John D. Cressler

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

13 Scopus citations

Abstract

We investigate, for the first time, the feasibility of operating silicongermanium (SiGe) heterojunction bipolar transistors (HBTs) in a weakly saturated bias regime to enable ultralow-voltage RF front-end design. Measured dc, ac, and RF characteristics of third-generation high-performance SiGe HBTs operating in weak saturation are presented. Robust RF operation of 0.12× 6.0μm² SiGe HBTs are demonstrated in a commonemitter configuration at collector-to-emitter voltages above 0.15 V. A noise figure of 1.33 dB and an input third-order intercept point above -8 dBm for a 3-GHz input tone are achieved at 0.30 V. These results have potential implications for RF circuits used in severely power-constrained systems.

Original language	English (US)
Article number	5640643
Pages (from-to)	3-5
Number of pages	3
Journal	IEEE Electron Device Letters
Volume	32
Issue number	1
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1109/LED.2010.2087313
State	Published - Jan 2011
Externally published	Yes

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

Electronic, Optical and Magnetic Materials
Electrical and Electronic Engineering

Keywords

Biomedical telemetry
RF circuit design
SiGe HBTs
heterojunction bipolar transistors (HBTs)
low-voltage operation
silicongermanium (SiGe)

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10.1109/LED.2010.2087313

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abstract = "We investigate, for the first time, the feasibility of operating silicongermanium (SiGe) heterojunction bipolar transistors (HBTs) in a weakly saturated bias regime to enable ultralow-voltage RF front-end design. Measured dc, ac, and RF characteristics of third-generation high-performance SiGe HBTs operating in weak saturation are presented. Robust RF operation of 0.12× 6.0μm2 SiGe HBTs are demonstrated in a commonemitter configuration at collector-to-emitter voltages above 0.15 V. A noise figure of 1.33 dB and an input third-order intercept point above -8 dBm for a 3-GHz input tone are achieved at 0.30 V. These results have potential implications for RF circuits used in severely power-constrained systems.",

keywords = "Biomedical telemetry, RF circuit design, SiGe HBTs, heterojunction bipolar transistors (HBTs), low-voltage operation, silicongermanium (SiGe)",

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AU - Seth, Sachin

AU - Najafizadeh, Laleh

AU - Cressler, John D.

PY - 2011/1

Y1 - 2011/1

N2 - We investigate, for the first time, the feasibility of operating silicongermanium (SiGe) heterojunction bipolar transistors (HBTs) in a weakly saturated bias regime to enable ultralow-voltage RF front-end design. Measured dc, ac, and RF characteristics of third-generation high-performance SiGe HBTs operating in weak saturation are presented. Robust RF operation of 0.12× 6.0μm2 SiGe HBTs are demonstrated in a commonemitter configuration at collector-to-emitter voltages above 0.15 V. A noise figure of 1.33 dB and an input third-order intercept point above -8 dBm for a 3-GHz input tone are achieved at 0.30 V. These results have potential implications for RF circuits used in severely power-constrained systems.

AB - We investigate, for the first time, the feasibility of operating silicongermanium (SiGe) heterojunction bipolar transistors (HBTs) in a weakly saturated bias regime to enable ultralow-voltage RF front-end design. Measured dc, ac, and RF characteristics of third-generation high-performance SiGe HBTs operating in weak saturation are presented. Robust RF operation of 0.12× 6.0μm2 SiGe HBTs are demonstrated in a commonemitter configuration at collector-to-emitter voltages above 0.15 V. A noise figure of 1.33 dB and an input third-order intercept point above -8 dBm for a 3-GHz input tone are achieved at 0.30 V. These results have potential implications for RF circuits used in severely power-constrained systems.

KW - Biomedical telemetry

KW - RF circuit design

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KW - low-voltage operation

KW - silicongermanium (SiGe)

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On the RF properties of weakly saturated SiGe HBTs and their potential use in ultralow-voltage circuits

Abstract

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

Keywords

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