RF Reliability of CMOS-Based Power Amplifier Cell for 5G mmWave Applications

RF reliability of 40-nm PDSOI nFET power amplifier (PA) cell at 26.5GHz is investigated. DC and RF stresses are applied in conducting and non-conducting hot carrier stress modes to study the PA cell RF and DC degradation behavior. The relationship between DC and large-signal RF performance under various RF stress conditions is investigated using DC and RF metrics. The degradation rate depends on RF power and terminal voltages, where ~8X lower degradation is observed at low VGS. During RF stress, the DC performance degradation rate is higher in the linear operating region than the saturation region. The impact of RF stress is amplified in the presence of DC stress, accelerating the degradation of PA cells. For different VGS under RF stress conditions, the lifetime of the PA cell is calculated and compared.