Thermal resistance matrix representation of thermal effects and thermal design in multi-finger power heterojunction bipolar transistors

The thermal resistance matrix including self-heating thermal resistance and thermal coupling resistance is presented to describe the thermal effects of multi-finger power heterojunction bipolar transistors. The dependence of thermal resistance matrix on finger spacing is also investigated. It is shown that both self-heating thermal resistance and thermal coupling resistance are lowered by increasing the finger spacing, in which the downward dissipated heat path is widened and the heat flow from adjacent fingers is effectively suppressed. The decrease of self-heating thermal resistance and thermal coupling resistance is helpful for improving the thermal stability of power devices. Furthermore, with the aid of the thermal resistance matrix, a 10-finger power heterojunction bipolar transistor (HBT) with non-uniform finger spacing is designed for high thermal stability. The optimized structure can effectively lower the peak temperature while maintaining a uniformity of the temperature profile at various biases and thus the device effectively may operate at a higher power level.     

采用发射极非均匀指间距技术改善功率异质结双极晶体管热稳定性的研究

为了提高多发射极功率异质结双极晶体管的热稳定性,本文利用耦合热阻表征发射极指间距变化对发射极指间热耦合作用的影响,得到了耦合热阻与发射极指间距之间的变化关系,提出了发射极非均匀指间距技术.通过热电反馈模型对采用发射极非均匀指间距技术的功率HBT进行热稳定性分析,得到了多发射极指上的温度分布.结果表明,多发射极HBT在采用非均匀发射极指间距技术后,峰值温度明显下降,温度变化幅度更加平缓,有效地提高了器件的热稳定性. 关键词： 异质结双极晶体管 耦合热阻 指间距     

能带工程对射频功率SiGe异质结双极晶体管热性能的改善

众所周知,基区"能带工程"可以改善Si_1-xGe _{x 基区异质结双极晶体管(HBT)的直流、频率和噪声等特性,但"能带工程"对HBT热学特性的影响的研究还很少。本文基于三维热电反馈模型,分析了"能带工程"对射频功率SiGe HBT热性能的影响。考虑到电流增益随温度的变化以及发射结电压负温度系数,给出了器件热稳定所需最小镇流电阻(REmin)的表达式,在此基础上给出了非均匀镇流电阻的设计,进一步提高了SiGe HBT的热稳定性 关键词： SiGe HBT Ge组分 热电反馈 镇流电阻}     

Thermal stability improvement of a multiple finger power SiGe heterojunction bipolar transistor under different power dissipations using non-uniform finger spacing

A method of non-uniform finger spacing is proposed to enhance thermal stability of a multiple finger power SiGe heterojunction bipolar transistor under different power dissipations. Temperature distribution on the emitter fingers of a multi-finger SiGe heterojunction bipolar transistor is studied using a numerical electro-thermal model. The results show that the SiGe heterojunction bipolar transistor with non-uniform finger spacing has a small temperature difference between fingers compared with a traditional uniform finger spacing heterojunction bipolar transistor at the same power dissipation. What is most important is that the ability to improve temperature non-uniformity is not weakened as power dissipation increases. So the method of non-uniform finger spacing is very effective in enhancing the thermal stability and the power handing capability of power device. Experimental results verify our conclusions.     

Designing power heterojunction bipolar transistors with non-uniform emitter finger lengths to achieve high thermal stability

With the aid of a thermal-electrical model,a practical method for designing multi-finger power heterojunction bipolar transistors with finger lengths divided in groups is proposed.The method can effectively enhance the thermal stability of the devices without sacrificing the design time.Taking a 40-finger heterojunction bipolar transistor for example,the device with non-uniform emitter finger lengths is optimized and fabricated.Both the theoretical and the experimental results show that,for the optimum device,the peak temperature is lowered by 26.19 K and the maximum temperature difference is reduced by 56.67% when compared with the conventional heterojunction bipolar transistor with uniform emitter finger length.Furthermore,the ability to improve the uniformity of the temperature profile and to expand the thermal stable operation range is strengthened as the power level increases,which is ascribed to the improvement of the thermal resistance in the optimum device.A detailed design procedure is also summarized to provide a general guide for designing power heterojunction bipolar transistors with non-uniform finger lengths.