Charaterisation of Dynamic Effects in Compact GaN Microwave Front Ends
Licentiatavhandling, 2024

GaN HEMT technology exhibits dynamic behaviour due to thermal and electrical memory effects, which reduce the performance of GaN MMICs used in compact microwave front ends. Addressing these challenges requires careful characterisation under realistic operating conditions to identify, mitigate, or compensate for these effects. This thesis investigates the thermal and electrical effects in two main ways.

The characterisation of thermal effects focuses on accurately monitoring on-chip hotspots caused by high-power operations. The surrounding thermal environment, including packaging and thermal management components, complicates this task. The proposed solution involves the use of on-chip sensors integrated into both dedicated test structures and actual circuits, enabling real-time, package-independent, and electrical measurements for thermal characterisation of device operation.

The trapping-induced effects risk unpredictable performance degradation, especially in GaN HEMT switch devices, where drift conditions are not yet fully characterised. The second part of this thesis aims to develop a method for determining the impact of trapping on the recovery time of GaN HEMT switches used in front-
end applications. This method quantifies the effects of recovery, allowing for comparing different devices and technologies.

Trapping

Thermal

HEMT

Transient

Dynamic effects

GaN MMIC

Luftbryggan MC2
Opponent: Dr. Olle Axelsson, Ericsson AB

Författare

Andreas Divinyi

Chalmers, Mikroteknologi och nanovetenskap, Mikrovågselektronik

Center for III Nitride semiconductor technology (C3NiT) fas2

VINNOVA (2022-03139), 2022-11-21 -- 2027-12-31.

Infrastruktur

Kollberglaboratoriet

Ämneskategorier

Annan elektroteknik och elektronik

Technical report MC2 - Department of Microtechnology and Nanoscience, Chalmers University of Technology: 467

Utgivare

Chalmers

Luftbryggan MC2

Online

Opponent: Dr. Olle Axelsson, Ericsson AB

Mer information

Senast uppdaterat

2024-12-03