Reliability analysis of BiCMOS SiGe:C technology under aggressive conditions for emerging RF and mm-wave applications: proposal of reliability-aware circuit design methodology (original) (raw)

International Journal of Microwave and Wireless Technologies

In this contribution, the impact of extreme environmental conditions in terms of energy-level radiation of protons on silicon–germanium (SiGe)-integrated circuits is experimentally studied. Canonical representative structures including linear (passive interconnects/antennas) and non-linear (low-noise amplifiers) are used as carriers for assessing the impact of aggressive stress conditions on their performances. Perspectives for holistic modeling and characterization approaches accounting for various interaction mechanisms (substrate resistivity variations, couplings/interferences, drift in DC and radio frequency (RF) characteristics) for active samples are down to allow for optimal solutions in pushing SiGe technologies toward applications with harsh and radiation-intense environments (e.g. space, nuclear, military). Specific design prototypes are built for assessing mission-critical profiles for emerging RF and mm-wave applications.

Radiation damage of SiGe HBT Technologies at different bias configurations

SiGe BiCMOS technologies are being proposed for the Front-end readout of the detectors in the middle region of the ATLAS-Upgrade. The radiation hardness of the SiGe bipolar transistors is being assessed for this application through irradiations with different particles. Biasing conditions during irradiation of bipolar transistors or circuits have an influence on the damage and there is a risk of erroneous results. We have performed several irradiation experiments of SiGe devices from IHP in different bias conditions. We have observed a systematic trend in gamma irradiations, showing a smaller damage in transistors irradiated biased compared to shorted or floating terminals.

Use the electromagnetic field stress to study the reliability of the SiGe HBT

2010

In this paper, we investigate a new reliability damage mechanism in SiGe Heterojunction Bipolar transistor (HBTs).This study differs from conventional HBT/SiGe device reliability associated with other stress. Since it results from an Electromagnetic field aggression which consists of a new stress methodology. The near-field bench is used to disturb with electromagnetic field the Device Under test (DUT) on a localized area, contrary to the disturbance created in the TEM cell. We find that only the base is most sensitive to the disturbance caused, when compared to those on the package, collector and emitter. This is primarily due to the electromagnetic coupling phenomenon between the induced electromagnetic field and the microstrip line connecting the base of the transistor. Degradations in the base current and the current gain are identified. It is induced by a large IB leakage current due to hot carrier which introduces generation/recombination center traps and leads to excess non-i...

Loading...

Loading Preview

Sorry, preview is currently unavailable. You can download the paper by clicking the button above.