The Evolution of Transistors for Power Amplifiers: 1947 to Today

Edward C. Niehenke.

Niehenke Consulting, Baltimore, Maryland 21075, USA

Abstract - This paper traces the development of transistors Laboratories by a team led by physicists John Bardeen, WaIter
for power amplifiers (PAs). Technological transistor innovations
Brattain, and William Shockley. The device was fabricated in
have raised output power levels, the frequency of operation and
Germanium (Ge). Over the next twenty years, transistors
the efficiency of power amplifiers. Devices to be discussed
include the bipolar junction transistor (BJT), heterojunction displaced tubes almost completely except for very high power
bipolar transistor (HBT), complimentary metal oxide uses.
semiconductor (CMOS), laterally diffused metal oxide Practical semi-conducting FET devices (the JFET, junction
semiconductor (LDMOS), metal-semiconductor field effect
gate field-effect transistor) were only developed much later
transistor (MESFET), high electron mobility transistor (HEMT),
after the bipolar transistor effect was observed. The MOSFET
and pseudomorphic high electron transistor (PHEMT).
Semiconductors for PAs include Silicon (Si), Gallium Arsenide (metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor), which
(GaAs), Indium Phosphide (InP), and Gallium Nitride (GaN) and largely superseded the JFET and had a more profound effect
the various heterojunctions of these semiconductors. on electronic development, was first proposed by Dawon
Kahng in 1960. In 1959 M. M. (John) Atalla and Dawon
Index Terms - Power amplifier (PA), bipolar junction
Kahng at Bell Labs achieved the first successful insulated-gate
transistor (BJT), metal-semiconductor field effect transistor
(MESFET), GaAs, Si, Ge, InP, GaN, high electron mobility field-effect transistor (FET), which had been long anticipated
transistor (HBT), pseudomorphic high electron transistor by Lilienfeld, Heil, Shockley and others by overcoming the
(PHEMT), metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistor "surface states" that blocked electric fields from penetrating
(MOSFET), laterally diffused metal oxide semiconductor
into the semiconductor material.
(LDMOS), complimentary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS).
Semiconductor elements used for transistors are found in
the III - IV and V group of the periodic table (Fig. 1).
I. INTRODUCTION Advances in semiconductor processes have led to fabrication
of the MESFET in GaAs, InP, and GaN as well as
The power amplifier (PA) is a critical element in modern
heterostructures leading to the high electron mobility
commercial and military applications. Their use in
transistor (HEMT), pseudomorphic high electron mobility
communication systems has experienced a tremendous growth
transistor (PHEMT), and metamorphic high electron mobility
over the last 30 years with the introduction of satellite
transistor (MHEMT). MESFET devices use materials from
communications, cell phones, global positioning systems,
the III - V group of semiconductors which include GaAs, InP,
wireless area networks, Bluetooth, satellite radio, and RF tag
Silicon Carbide (SiC), and GaN materials. The GaAs
systems. Radar and electronic warfare systems have also seen
MESFET device first appeared commercially in the 1970's.
growth with the introduction of solid state transmitters and
Charles Liechti presented an excellent review of recent work
phased array transmitters. The three terminal transistor has
on microwave at the time [1]. High mobility is one of the
made all these applications possible due to its small size, high
factors leading to high gain required for high power added
gain, high efficiency and wide frequency coverage. The
efficiency as well as low noise figure. GaAs offers higher
various semiconductor elements for the PA will be explored
mobility compared to Si and heterojunctions using Indium
including Si, GaAs, InP, and most recently, GaN as well as
have the highest value
the various transistor heterojunctions for performance
7
enhancements.
N
-

15

II. OVERVIEW OF THE HISTORY OF TRANSISTORS FOR POWER P

AMPLIFIER APPLICATIONS

Physicist Julius Edgar Lilienfeld filed a patent for a field

effect transistor (FET) in Canada in 1925 [US patent1745175]
and in the United States in 1926 [US patent 1900018] and
1928 [US patent 1877140]. In 1934, German inventor Oskar
Heil patented a similar device [Patent GB 439457]. However
no experimental devices were made and the technology to do Fig. 1. Elements of Group III, IV, and V of the Periodic Table
that did not exist in this early period. The bipolar junction
transistor (BJT) was invented in 1947 at Bell Telephone

978-1-4799-8275-2/15/$31.00 2015 IEEE

 III. BIPOLAR TRANSISTORS FOR POWER AMPLIFIERS

T e first BJT used was with the Germanium (Ge)

semIconductor. Although Ge has a higher mobility than Si, Si
replaced Ge due to its higher current gain, operating frequency
and voltage operation with lower leakage currents and less
susceptibility to thermal runaway. Fig. 2 illustrates the layout
Fig. 3. InGaP/GaAs HBT
and biasing of the bipolar transistor.

Fo.wa,rd
IV. MOSFET, LDMOS AND COMOS FETS FOR POWER AMPLIFIERS
N
Slnt<!

The metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistor

c 0
(MOSFET) is typically fabricated on Silicon and its geometry
is shown in Figure 4. The MOSFET with zero gate voltage is
a back biased PN junction. The drain is positively biased with
Fig. 2. The Bipolar Transistor Layout and Biasing
respect to the source. When a positive voltage is applied to
the gate, a negative charge exists on the other side of the oxide
The bipolar junction transistor (BJT) was the work horse of
layer under the gate flooding the P area making it an N region.
power amplifiers for many years. Both electrons and holes
Electron current now flows from the source to the drain. With
contribute to the operation. Electrons are injected from the
more positive bias, more current flows. The device only
emitter into a forward biased base to emitter diode junction of
requires a positive voltage on the drain and gate with respect
low impedance into a reverse biased high impedance base to
to the source.
collector diode junction where most of the electrons are
collected, resulting in gain.
The BJT amplifier has useful gain to about 3. 5 GHz with
g? O breakdown voltage of the base to collector allowing
bIasmg of 28V and higher. Typical powers of lOOW at 1
GHz can be obtained and for higher power devices with many
junctions, emitter ballasting resistors are used for uniform
current distribution. The BJT is thermally limited, so for short
pulses of low duty cycles, up to 10 times more power can be
Fig. 4. The n channel MOSFET Geometry
obtained.
The BJT have been improved by using different
The MOSFET is rugged and can withstand short circuits
semi onductor materials for the emitter and base regions,
applied to the output without permanent burnout. The
creatmg a heterojunction bipolar transistor (HBT) [2]. The
breakdown current is not amplified by as with the bipolar
HBT has higher frequency of operation. The idea of
transistor. Breakdown voltages can be high so operation with
employing a heterojunction is as old as the conventional BJT
28V is typical with powers of lOOW up to 700 MHz. For
dating back to a Shockley patent from 1951 [3]. The SiG higher frequencies the laterally diffused metal oxide
HBT incorporates a linear grading of Ge atoms across the base
semiconductor (LDMOS) transistor is used as shown in figure
region. As a result the base electrons move faster resulting in
5. Due to the construction, the effective gate length can be
higher operating frequency. The transistor gain is also
made very small (0.3 Ilm) extending operation to 2 GHz.
increased compared to a Si BJT.
This unit is widely used for cell phone base station PAs.
The newest technological BJT device is the SiGe:C HBT.
Small amounts of Carbon in addition to Ge are added to the Lgate

base which further improves the performance. This

technology was recently extended by Research Consortium
Imec in 2011 to the millimeter wave region with a SiGe:C
HBT with a fT of 245 GHz and fMAX of 450 GHz.
GaAs was introduced for the BJT and the InGaP/GaAs HBT
as shown in figure 3 has been found to be very reliable. The
-0...3--"1
bias voltage of this transistor is limited to around 5 volt bias so
Fig. 5. The n channel LOMOS Transistor Configuration
powers of a few watts are obtained. The knee voltage is
typically 0.5V, so efficiency is not degraded significantly for
Complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) is
low bias operation. These HBT's typically have lower third
used extensively in microprocessors, microcontrollers, static
order intermodulation distortion compared to BJT devices and
RAM, and several analog circuits such as image sensors, data
have found extensive usage in cell phones PAs with high
converters, and highly integrated transceivers for many types
power added efficiencies

978-1-4799-8275-2/15/$31.00 2015 IEEE

of communication. Frank Wanlass patented CMOS in 1967 was developed. The invention of the HEMT is usually
(US patent 3,356,858). CMOS circuits use a combination of p attributed to Takashi Mimura [5] (Fujitsu, Japan). In America,
type and n-type metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect Ray Dingle and his co-workers in Bell Laboratories also
transistors. CMOS power amplifiers are generally limited to played an important role in the invention of the HEMT. In
lower power due to the low breakdown voltages of the Europe, Daniel Delagebeaudeuf and Trong Linh Nuyen from
transistors. An example of such a CMOS power amplifier is Thomson-CSF (France) filed for a patent of this device on the
described in [3] which delivers 29. 5 dBm of power at 2. 4 GHz 28th of March 1979. The band gap for AlGaAs is 1. 8 eV,
with 47 % PAE using 45 nm CMOS. while GaAs is 1. 4 eV. This potential difference causes the
The advantages of the BJT have been combined with the electrons to flow in the undoped GaAs region near the thin
CMOS in a BICMOS processing solution. For example IBM layer of undoped AlGaAs. Electrons flow in this region with
offers O.13).tm features size 8HP process with an fr of 200 high mobility due to the fact that in this region, electrons do
GHz 5th generation SiGe technology for advanced Radar and not have the influence of donor atoms with the associated free
millimeter wave applications. They also offer an 8WL electrons present which slow down the speed of the injected
process with an fr of 103 GHz for reduced performance, cost electrons. The electrons flow in this region is called a two
effective technology for wireless applications. dimensional gas with high mobility (Fig. 7).

s
V. MESFET TRANSISTORS AND THEIR HETEROJUNCTIONS FOR
HIGHER FREQUENCY POWER AMPLIFIERS N N

- ---- ----------
GaAs MESFET with its Schottky (metal-semiconductor) a u nCioped AI.. a..1A'
gate, introduced in the mid 1970's, provided amplification at
::pe
higher microwave frequencies not achievable with the BJT s.ml ..... ul.aang GaA.. Sub:atraNi
(Fig. 6).

2...olmen,lon.ijl1 Electron Gn
Dep letion
Area
(D ielectriC) Fig. 7. High Electron Mobility Transistor (HEMT)
-
Channel
N Type r---"--..i
Semicon The next development of the MESFET is the
ductor

Buffer Pseudomorphic High Electron Mobility Transistor (PHEMT)

Fig. 6. The GaAs MESFET Geometry
The input signal is placed on the gate to source terminals
which modulates the drain to source current providing gain.
The critical dimensions are the gate length which determines
the gain and noise figure and the gate width, which determines
the current and power capability. The breakdown voltage is
much lower than that of the BJT with a typical drain to source
voltage maximum of 9 volts. So the device is voltage limited
in obtaining high power. Reduced noise figures and higher
frequency of operation progressed as the gate
decreased from 0. 5 j.tm to 0. 1 ).tm and lower. The use of a
recessed gate provides a lower source resistance (lower noise
figure), higher gain, lower pinch off voltage, and higher drain
to-source breakdown voltage compared to the planar structure
[4] further improving the device performance. Additionally,
the doping can be profiled for higher breakdown voltage and
also for constant transconductance for various gate and drain
currents. Power level of 8W is obtained in power amplifiers.
(Fig. 8). The PHEMT uses the higher mobility InGaAs in the
region of the two dimensional gas to further speed up the
electrons resulting in ever higher transconductance. The
InGaAs is not latticed matched to GaAs, and it experiences a
strain. It has been found making this layer the proper
thickness ( 200A) and limiting the amount of Indium to
about 30 % results in good electrical performance without
mechanical problems due to the strain. The PHEMT is
presently the premier device for high frequency operation with
low noise figures.
lengths
Fig. 8. The PHEMT Transistor

Due to advances of semiconductor processing, such as The MESFET transistors discussed so far are power
molecular bean epitaxy (MBE) and Metal-Organic Chemical limited due to voltage breakdown limitations. This is not the
Vapor Deposition (MOCVD), thin layers of various case with the GaN power amplifier which can be operated up
semiconductor can be laid down on the GaAs substrate. With to about 40V. Table 1 illustrates the properties of the various
this technology, the high electron mobility transistor (HEMT) semiconductors.

978-1-4799-8275-2/15/$31.00 2015 IEEE

 TABLE I
SEMICONDUCTOR PROPERTIES FOR POWER AMPLIFIERS

Milltwiiill ndGiilp Critic .. 1 Thermiill Mobility S.. tur .... d RelilltM

Energy Conductlnce (Cm2N_.) Velocity Di.lectric
(eV) Field Iw/cmoKj (107Cm/S) Constant
(MV/em) "
SI 1.1 0.3 1.5 1300 11.9

GaAs 1.4 0.4 0.5 5000 1.3 12.5

4HSIC 3.2 3.5 3.7 260 2.0 10

GoN 3.4 2.0 1.5 1500 2.7 9.5

Fig. II. HRL GaN HEMT
GaN offers a high band gap energy of 3. 4 eV for high
7
temperature operation, a high saturated velocity of 2.7 10
VI. SUMMARY
cm/s for high peak current, high breakdown field of 2 MVfcm
for high breakdown voltage and finally a moderate thermal Table II summarizes the power performance of the various
o
conductance of 1. 5 Wfcm- K. When fabricated on 4H high transistors versus frequency. Higher powers are achievable by
thermal conductivity SiC substrate, high power operation the power combining of devices.
results with low junction temperature rise. Fabricated on TABLE II
lower cost Si substrate, the peak junction temperature needs to TRANSISTOR POWER PERFORMANCE VERSUS FREQUENCY
be reduced for high reliability. For example for an MTBF of
Fp2:!!:K
7 1000
10 , the Cree devices fabricated on SiC can operate at a

junction temperature of 225 C, while the Nitronics devices 100

fabricated on Si can operate at a junction temperature of

10
160 C. Fig. 9 depicts the GaN HEMT structure.

Gate
I
0.1

0.01
0.1 10 100
Frequency (GHz)

,..... Itl , .,.,

8IC CONCLUSIONS

Transistors have evolved over the years and as new

Fig. 9. The GaN HEMT layout. innovations in transistor development emerge, the new
transistor replaces the old ones. An example is the GaN
Many GaN HEMTs use a field place as shown in Fig. 10 for transistor which is replacing many PA transistor devices and is
a Cree device on SiC which increases the breakdown voltage, being used in numerous applications today.
lowers the feedback capacitance and reduces the effects of
traps but increases the input capacitance.
REFERENCES

[I] C. A. Liechti, "Microwave field-effect transistors-1976," IEEE

Trans. Microwave Theory Tech., vol. MTT-24, pp. 279-300,
June 1976.
[2] W. Shockley, "Circuit Element Utilizing Semiconductive
Material", United States Patent 2,569,347, 1951.
[3] A. Banerjee, and R. Hezar, " A 29. 5 dBm class-E out phasing
RF power amplifier with performance enhancement circuits in
45nm CMOS, " 2014 European Solid State Circuits Conference
Digest, pp. 467- 470.
Fig. 10. GaN HEMT With and Without a Field Plate
[4] K. Ohata, H. Itoh, F. Hasegawa, and Y. Kujiki, "Super Low
Noise GaAs MESFET's With a Deep Recess Structure," IEEE
A Review of GaN on SiC High Electron-Mobility Power Trans. Electron Devices, Vol. ED27, June 1980, pp. 1029-1034.
Transistors and MMICs is found in [6]. BAE with their 0.2 J.lm gate [5] Takashi Mimura: "The Early History of the High Electron
Mobility Transistor (HEMT)," IEEE Transactions on
length MMIC GaN HEMT process achieved an fT = 50 GHz, fMAX =

Microwave Theory and Techniques, Vol. 50, No. 3, March

220 GHz, 5WImm, and 46% PAE at 30 GHz.
2002.
An example of higher frequency GaN HEMT is shown in Fig. II [6] R. S. Pengelly, S. M. Wood, J. W. Milligan, S. T. Sheppard, W.
by HRL. Features include a gate length of 0.15 J.lm, double L. Pribble, "A Review of GaN on SiC High Electron-Mobility
heterojunction structure for electron confinement which alleviates Power Transistors and MMICs," IEEE Transactions on
Microwave Theory and Techniques, Vol. 60 , Issue: 6 , June
short channel effects, and fMAX > 160 GHz.
2012, pp. 1764 - 1783.

978-1-4799-8275-2/15/$31.00 2015 IEEE