3-W SiGe power HBTs for wireless applications

High-performance SiGe power HBTs are developed using 4-metal industry SiGe BiCMOS platform for 1.9 GHz portable wireless communications. The values of ballasting resistors are carefully selected to ensure thermally stable operation of these devices at high power levels. Three-Watt RF power with concurrent 67% PAE and power gain of 9.8 dB is achieved from 0.9 μm emitter finger power SiGe HBTs, resulting in a RF power density of 1.13 mW/μm2. The power performance of these devices under different bias conditions are also studied. These results show the great potential of SiGe HBTs for on-chip high-power amplifications.