%0 Journal Article
%T Characterization and Modeling of DHBT in InP/GaAsSb Technology for the Design and Fabrication of a Ka Band MMIC Oscillator
%A S. Laurent
%A J. C. Nallatamby
%A M. Prigent
%A M. Riet
%A V. Nodjiadjim
%J Active and Passive Electronic Components
%D 2012
%I Hindawi Publishing Corporation
%R 10.1155/2012/796973
%X This paper presents the design of an MMIC oscillator operating at a 38£¿GHz frequency. This circuit was fabricated by the III¨CV Lab with the new InP/GaAsSb Double Heterojunction Bipolar Transistor (DHBT) submicronic technology ( £¿nm). The transistor used in the circuit has a 15 ¦Ìm long two-finger emitter. This paper describes the complete nonlinear modeling of this DHBT, including the cyclostationary modeling of its low frequency (LF) noise sources. The specific interest of the methodology used to design this oscillator resides in being able to choose a nonlinear operating condition of the transistor from an analysis in amplifier mode. The oscillator simulation and measurement results are compared. A 38£¿GHz oscillation frequency with 8.6£¿dBm output power and a phase noise of £¿80£¿dBc/Hz at 100£¿KHz offset from carrier have been measured. 1. Introduction The developments in modern electronics (analog, digital, or mixed), whatever their intended applications (telecommunications, spectroscopy and astrophysics, plasma analysis, medical imaging, etc.) now concern applications operating from RF frequency spectrum up to the optical frequencies. In order to develop solid-state circuits operating in the millimeter wave range, new technological processes are emerging for manufacturing semiconductors operating in these domains. To achieve the performances required by such applications, a suitable solid-state technology must be available. III¨CV Lab provides a new InP/GaAsSb DHBT technology [1], which contains antimony in the base of the transistors and permits submicronic emitter sizes. The structure has been optimized to get an greater than 300£¿GHz and an equal to 200£¿GHz. In this context, the work presented in this paper demonstrates the feasibility of designing and manufacturing a low phase noise MMIC frequency source with this new technology. To provide the oscillator designer with the most relevant devices, various multifinger transistors have been measured, a number ranging from 2 to 8 have been compared and reported in [2]. For the higher-frequency applications, 2-finger devices were found to be best suited and selected for this design. In Section 2, we present the complete characterization and nonlinear modeling of the transistor, including its thermal behavior. Section 3 deals with the cyclostationary LF noise source modeling. Section 4 is devoted to the description of the oscillator design according to the new proposed methodology including the drawing of the MMIC layout. In Section 5, all the measurements are detailed and compared with the results predicted
%U http://www.hindawi.com/journals/apec/2012/796973/