How to Consider SEEs When Designing a SiGe Low-Noise Amplifier-An Overview

• Published in: IEEE transactions on nuclear science Vol. 71; no. 8; pp. 1663 - 1674
• Main Authors: Teng, Jeffrey W., Nergui, Delgermaa, Mensah, Yaw A., Ildefonso, Adrian, Cressler, John D.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York IEEE 01.08.2024; The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE)
• Subjects: Amplifiers; BiCMOS; CAD; Computer aided design; Design flow; Heterojunction bipolar transistors; Integrated circuit modeling; Load modeling; low-noise amplifier (LNA); microwave; Mixed mode simulation; Radiation hardening; radiation-hardening by design (RHBD); Radio frequency; Semiconductor process modeling; Silicon germanides; Silicon germanium; Single Event Effects; Single event upsets; single-event transient (SET); Superhigh frequencies; technology computer-aided design (TCAD); Transistors
• ISSN: 0018-9499; 1558-1578
• DOI: 10.1109/TNS.2024.3371329

The application of radiation-hardening by design (RHBD) to the low-noise amplifier (LNA) in an RF communications receiver has promise for improving data fidelity in applications subject to single-event effects (SEEs). In order to overcome the challenges of empirically modeling single-event transient (SET) propagation in RF receivers, calibrated technology computer-aided design (TCAD) is used to perform mixed-mode simulations and identify viable RHBD approaches for SiGe cascode LNAs. Example results at X-band (8-12 GHz) are used to demonstrate these approaches. Finally, the findings in the present work are organized into a proposed radiation-hardening design flow to aid circuit and system engineers who wish to consider single-event-upset (SEU) rates in the performance of their LNAs.