Distortion Analysis of CE and CB SiGe HBT Power-Cells with fmax beyond 220 GHz for Millimeter-Wave Applications

High frequency (h.f.) harmonic distortion (HD) of advanced SiGe heterojunction bipolar transistor (HBT) power-cells in common-emitter CE and commonbase CB configurations with optimized metallization interconnections between were systematically investigated. Nonlinearity sources were analyzed with a compact model. Single-tone harmonics, load-pull at 10, 20, 30, 50 and 220 GHz were analyzed. Investigated devices yielded good linearity in matched conditions at high frequencies (P
_1dB
=3 dBm at 30 GHz) and exhibited power gain of 1.5 dB at 220 GHz in matched conditions.