WElE-6

A Compact Network for Eliminating Parametric

Oscillations in High Power MMIC Amplifiers
Douglas Teeter, Aryeh Platzker, Ron Bourque
Raytheon Microelectronics, Advanced Device Center
362 Lowell Street, Andover MA 01810

Abstract - High power pHEMT (and
HBT) power amplifiers frequently have
oscillations that occur only when the
amplifier is driven near compression; under
small signal conditions, oscillations are
not present. We have developed a compact
RC network that effectively eliminates
drive dependent subharmonic and spurious
conventional approach. This compact network has
successfully eliminated parametric oscillations in
several MMIC power amplifiers. Due to its compact
size, it can be easily incorporated in existing MMIC
designs with little or no need for additional tuning of
the design.
PA263oB. C980917-5, Chip 2344

oscillations in pHEMT power amplifiers. 20

VdsrZV. Vpl-4.562 V. 15-580 mA. Pini15.4 dBm. Poul-24.3 dBm
'&**6Lt' " ' " ' " ' " ' '''l'~'l'''l''~
The circuit is very compact and can be 10 4-12 GHz Signal
incorporated in existing MMIC power
amplifier designs with little or n o 0
additional tuning to the circuit.

I. INTRODUCTION

Drive and bias dependent oscillations are a common

problem in pHEMT and HBT high power MMIC
amplifiers. Such oscillations are referred to as 8 12 16 20
parametric oscillations since they depend on Frequency (GHz)
variations of a particular external parameter (bias,
frequency, input drive). While the amplifier may Figure 1: Subharmonic parametric oscillation -
appear perfectly stable under small signal conditions, Vds=2 V, Vgs=-0.562 V, Pin=15.4 dBm, f0=12 GHz.
oscillations can appear as the amplifier is driven
harder. These oscillations tend to be very sensitive to
input drive, bias conditions, and operating frequency. PA26348. C980017-5. Chip 2304
Several typical observations are shown in figures 1 to VdSi2V. Vpls4.507 V. 16.608 mA, Pin-13.9 dBm. Pout-21.8 dBm

4. Figure 1 shows subharmonic f12 and 3fl2

oscillations. Figure 2 shows a 200 MHz spurious
oscillation that appeared as the amplifier was driven
about 0.5 dB into compression. Figures 3 and 4 show
further examples of troublesome spurious oscillations
under power drive. Additional examples may be found
in [l]. Existence of parametric oscillations can be a
major problem in wide band radar applications, where
the oscillation tones could be mistaken for false
signals. Elimination of parametric oscillations is
8 12 16 20
essential for the system to work properly. Frequency (GHz)

Parallel RC networks are commonly used to

eliminate parametric oscillations [2]. These networks
are generally placed on the gate manifold of the unit
cell device in the amplifier, somewhat removed from
the intrinsic device. In this work, we utilize a
compact RC network that connects to pairs of gate
fingers in each device. In a typical power amplifier,
there will be 30 to 50 compact RC networks in
parallel as opposed to 4 to 8 networks using the
Figure 2 : Spurious parametric oscillation. Vds=
2V, Vgs=-0.507 V, P k 1 3 . 9 dBm, f0=12 GHz
In this paper, we describe the new compact RC
network, describe why it effectively eliminates
parametric oscillations, and discuss measured results
for MMIC power amplifiers with and without the RC
network.

967
0-7803-5135-5/99/$10.00 0 1999 IEEE 1999 IEEE MTT-S Digest

Figure 3: Spurious oscillation at Vd-2 V, Vgs=-
0.525 V, Pin=13.9 dBm, fo=9.5 GHz
Figure 4: Spurious oscillations at Vds=2 V, Vgs=-
0.627 V, Pin=13.9 dBm, fo=9.5 GHz
11. THEORY
Drive dependent oscillations were first studied in the
1920s and 30s for tube amplifiers. Van Der Pol first
studied how nonlinear resistance can introduce forced
oscillations [3],[4 p. 2411. Mandelstam and Papalexi
further investigated subharmonic oscillations in
electron tubes [4 p.4691. Over the years, numerous
authors have investigated the subject of large signal
oscillations [5-81.
Subharmonic oscillations (f/2, 3f/2, etc.) have been
investigated in depth and many parallels to pumped
varactor diodes can be made to explain the
phenomenon in pHEMT devices. It is well known
that a pumped varactor diode gives rise to sub-
harmonic components due to the nonlinear
capacitance [6-91. To first order, the gate of a FBT can
be analyzed as a pumped varactor diode; a primary
contributor to sub-harmonic oscillations being the
nonlinearity in Cgs and Cgd[2,10]. Assuming the
nonlinear capacitance varies as:
968
C(t)= CO+ C,sin(2wot)
where the pumping frequency (input drive frequency)
is 2w0, oscillations will arise at half the drive
h u e n c y provided
where 2w0 is the input signal frequency, wo is the
frequency of the f/2 parametric oscillation, Rs is the
series resistance of the diode (analogous to Rg), Z1 is
the load impedance seen by the diode at 00
(analogous to the impedance looking back from the
gate of the FET), CO is the small signal capacitance,
and C2 is the nonlinear component of the varactor
capacitance. Despite the oversimplification of this
theory [5], it qualitatively describes the behavior of
pHEMT power amplifiers. Sub-harmonic oscillations
will not appear under low drive (C2 --> 0), or if Rs is
high enough. Adding the RC network increases the
input resistance enough at low frequencies to
eliminate oscillations under drive.
The subject of spurious parametric oscillations has
been studied less, but is also due to nonlinearities in
the transistor. Some insight into spurious parametric
oscillations may be found in reference [5]. The
authors in [5] view the amplifier as the superposition
of a nonlinear amplifier and a linear amplifier with
the bias point determined by input drive. The
nonlinear amplifier causes sub-harmonic oscillations
while linear amplifier component causes spurious
oscillations. Driving the device hard results in a
negative input impedance which in turn can cause
oscillations. The resistance in the RC network offsets
the negative resistance in the device, thereby
suppressing any oscillation.
We found a resistance of 10 ohms per pair of gate
fingers to be adequate. The capacitance was chosen so
that the capacitive reactance was equal to the
resistance at the low end of the band. For our case,
using 1.67 pF per pair of gate fingers placed the 3 d3
frequency of the RC at 9.5 GHz.
111. COMPACT RC NETWORK
Figure 5 illustrates the compact RC network. It
consists of capacitor bottom metal (CB) followed by
SiN dielectric. Tantalum is placed on top of the
dielectric and serves both as the resistor layer (6
ohms/sq) and capacitor top. A final layer of thick
metal (TM) is placed over the part of the TA not used
in the resistor. In order to minimize the size of the
 8 compact RC networks
16x150 urn FET 16x150urn FET

a) no RC network b) €ET with compact RC

Figure 6: Zoomed in section of a MMIC power amplifier showing a version of the amplifier without (6a) and with
(6b) the RC network. Due to its compact size, using the RC network causes no increase in the size of the circuit.
Both circuits used identical input, interstage, and output networks. The only difference between them was the RC
network shown in 6a and 6b.
four 2.4 mm (16x150 um) pHEMTs. All devices use
network, the TA area serves both as the resistive Raytheon’s standard 0.25 um gate length power
layer, and as part of the capacitor. At low frequencies, pHEMT process.
the circuit sees only the resistor. In band, the PA263-04 (RC) vs PA263-06 (no RC)
capacitor begins to short out the resistor so that the C980917-5 Vds=7 V, lds=700 m A
gain is not degraded too much. 1 8
16
Thick 14
Metal Cap Bottom .3 12
-
(1 1 0
“ 8
8
Z 6
= 4
2 2
0
9.5 10 10.5 11 11.5 12 12.5
PA263-WvsMSS gm pllMTT Frequency (GHz)
Figure 7: Small signal performance of the MMIC
power amplifier with and without the RC network.
Vds=7 V, Ids=700 mA (14 5% Imax).
Figure 5: Diagram of compact RC network. This The RC network reduces the small signal gain by
circuit has eliminated parametric oscillations in all about 1.5 dB,as shown in figure 7. However, the
circuits we have tested it in. large signal performance of the amplifier is not
affected much by the RC network, as shown in figure
IV. MMIC CIRCUIT EXAMPLES 8.
We have successfully used the compact RC network Extensive stability evaluation revealed that circuits
to eliminate parametric oscillations in several MMIC without the RC network exhibited parametric
power amplifiers. Figures 6a and 6b show a oscillations under drive. Typical examples of these
zoomed in region of a MMIC amplifier with and oscillations are shown in figures 1 and 2 for the
without the RC network. The circuits are identical amplifier described in figures 7 and 8. A second
(same input, interstage, and output match) except for similar amplifier design exhibited the oscillations
the use of the compact RC network (figure 6b). Both shown in figures 3 and 4 along with similar behavior
chips use two 1.5 mm pHEMTs (14x107 um) driving to that shown in figures 1 and 2. All designs studied

969
were perfectly stable at all DC bias points under low
or no RF drive. This is a critical point because it
shows that use of standard techniques for analyzing
stability in linear circuits (K factor, return ratio, and
normalized determinant function methods[ 113) m
unable to predict these oscillations. The oscillations
were very sensitive to bias, frequency, and input
drive. Amplifiers with the RC network showed no
signs of parametric oscillations at any bias,
frequency, or power. Tests of circuits from several
wafers showed consistent results - the RC network
consistently eliminated parametric oscillations. We
have successfully used this compact RC network to
eliminate parametric oscillations in several Merent
MMIC power amplifiers.
l-"
s RC Pin=24dBm
Figure 8: Large signal performance of the MMIC
amplifiers with and without RC network. Vds=7 V,
Idso=700 mA (14 % ' Imax), Pin=24 dBm. RC
network does not degrade large signal performance for
a fixed input drive.
V. CONCLUSION
High power pHEMT amplifiers can have
subharmonic and spurious parametric oscillations
under drive. These oscillations are verv sensitive to
bias, operating frequency, and input power and are a
direct consequence of the nonlinearities inherent in the
transistor. Under small signal conditions, the
resistance looking into the transistor is positive and
no oscillations are observed. However, as the device
is driven harder, negative resistance may appear at
certain frequencies and oscillations can develop. In
this paper, we describe a compact RC network that
eliminates subharmonic and spurious parametric
oscillations by minimizing (or eliminating) the
negative input resistance to the point that oscillation
is no longer possible. The network is compact
enough to be easily incorporated in existing MMIC
designs with little or no additional tuning to the
circuit.
970
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This work was paid for in part by the MAFET II
program contract No. N62269-96-0042. The authors
would like to thank David Heston from Raytheon TI
Systems for providing some useful literature
references used at the start of this work. We would
also like to thank George Jerinic from Raytheon's
Advanced Device Center for technical support and Ken
Wilson for providing layout support and advice.
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Millliwatts to Kilowatts . . . Cool Devices with Hot
Performance, 'I Short Course Notes, 1998 GaAs IC
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