Power amplifier modules including bipolar transistor with grading and related systems, devices, and methods

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9520835-B2
Application number	US-201514686585-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 14, 2015
Priority date	Jun 14, 2012
Publication date	Dec 13, 2016
Grant date	Dec 13, 2016

Abstract

One aspect of this disclosure is a power amplifier module that includes a first die including a power amplifier and a passive component, the power amplifier including a bipolar transistor having a collector, a base abutting the collector, and an emitter, the collector having a doping concentration of at least about 3×10 16 cm −3 at an interface with the base, the collector also having a grading in which doping concentration increases away from the base; and a second die including a bias circuit configured to generate a bias signal based at least partly on an indication of an electrical property of the passive component of the first die and to provide the bias signal to the power amplifier. Other embodiments of the module are provided along with related methods and components thereof.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A power amplifier module comprising:
a first die including a power amplifier and a passive component having an electrical property that depends on a condition of the first die, the power amplifier including a bipolar transistor having a collector, a base, and an emitter, the collector having a doping concentration of at least about 3×10 16 cm −3 at an interface with the base, the collector also having a grading in which doping concentration increases away from the base; and
a second die in communication with the first die, the second die including a bias circuit configured to generate a bias signal based at least partly on an indication of the electrical property of the passive component of the first die and to provide the bias signal to the power amplifier.

2. The power amplifier module of claim 1 wherein the passive component includes a resistor and the electrical property is a resistance.

3. The power amplifier module of claim 2 wherein the bipolar transistor is a heterojunction bipolar transistor, the first die is a III-V semiconductor die that includes a semiconductor resistor having a resistive layer formed of a material that is substantially the same as a material of a selected layer of the heterojunction bipolar transistor above a sub-collector of the heterojunction bipolar transistor, and the restive layer is disposed laterally from and is electrically isolated from the selected layer.

4. The power amplifier module of claim 3 wherein the emitter includes the selected layer.

5. The power amplifier module of claim 3 wherein the base includes the selected layer.

6. The power amplifier module of claim 1 wherein the condition is temperature of the first die.

7. The power amplifier module of claim 1 wherein the condition is a process variation associated with the first die.

8. The power amplifier module of claim 1 wherein the condition is a beta parameter associated with the first die.

9. The power amplifier module of claim 1 wherein the collector further includes second grading in which doping concentration increases away from the base at a different rate than in the grading.

10. The power amplifier module of claim 1 wherein the doping concentration of the collector at the interface with the base is in a range from about 5×10 16 cm −3 to 9×10 16 cm −3 .

11. An apparatus comprising:
a first die including a power amplifier, the power amplifier including a heterojunction bipolar transistor having a collector, a base, and an emitter, the collector having a doping concentration of at least about 3×10 16 cm −3 at an interface with the base, the collector also having a grading in which doping concentration increases away from the base, and the first die further including a semiconductor resistor having a resistive layer that is formed from substantially same material as a layer of the heterojunction bipolar transistor; and
a second die in communication with the first die, the second die including a bias circuit configured to generate a bias signal based at least partly on an indication of a resistance of the semiconductor resistor of the first die and to provide the bias signal to the power amplifier.

12. The apparatus of claim 11 wherein the layer of the heterojunction bipolar transistor includes the base.

13. The apparatus of claim 11 wherein the heterojunction bipolar transistor includes a sub-collector and the layer of the heterojunction bipolar transistor includes the sub-collector.

14. The apparatus of claim 11 wherein the heterojunction bipolar transistor is a GaAs transistor and the second die is a silicon die.

15. The apparatus of claim 11 wherein the doping concentration of the collector at the interface with the base is at least about 5×10 16 cm −3 .

16. The apparatus of claim 11 wherein the doping concentration of the collector at the interface with the base is in a range from about 5×10 16 cm −3 to 9×10 16 cm −3 .

17. The apparatus of claim 11 wherein the collector further includes a second grading in which doping concentration increases away from the base at a different rate than in the grading.

18. A power amplifier module comprising:
a packaging substrate configured to receive a plurality of components;
a first die mounted on the packaging substrate, the first die including a power amplifier including a GaAs bipolar transistor having a collector, a base, and an emitter, the collector having a doping concentration of at least about 3×10 16 cm −3 at an interface with the base, the collector also having a grading in which doping concentration increases away from the base, and the first die further including a passive component having an electrical property that depends on a condition of the first die; and
a second die mounted on the packaging substrate and in communication with the first die, the second die including a bias circuit configured to generate a bias signal based at least partly on an indication of the electrical property of the passive component of the first die and to provide the bias signal to the power amplifier.

19. The power amplifier module of claim 18 wherein the doping concentration of the collector at the interface with the base is in a range from about 5×10 16 cm −3 to 9×10 16 cm −3 .

20. The power amplifier module of claim 19 wherein the passive component includes a resistor and the electrical property is a resistance.

Assignees

• Skyworks Solutions Inc

Inventors

• Ko Tin Myint
• Lehtola Philip John
• Ozalas Matthew Thomas
• Ripley David Steven
• Shao Hongxiao
• Zampardi Jr Peter J

Classifications

• H10W42/276

  the arrangements being on an external surface of the package, e.g. on the outer surface of an encapsulation · CPC title

• H10W20/0242

  comprising etching via holes from the back sides of the chips, wafers or substrates · CPC title

• H10W20/0234

  comprising etching via holes that stop on pads or on electrodes · CPC title

• H10W72/552

  comprising metals or metalloids, e.g. silver · CPC title

• H10W74/00

  Encapsulations, e.g. protective coatings · CPC title