News: Microelectronics
21 January 2020
UMS’ GaN & GaAs PDKs for Pathwave ADS support enhanced thermal capability
United Monolithic Semiconductors (UMS), which designs and produces RF and millimeter-wave components and ICs at its facilities in Orsay, France and Ulm, Germany, says that the Pathwave ADS process design kit (PDK) for its 0.25µm gallium nitride (GH25) process will now support the new ElectroThermal capability (ETH) offered by Pathwave ADS (Advanced Design System) from Keysight Technologies Inc of Santa Rosa, CA, USA. This new functionality is not only included for the GH25 GaN PDK but also on the UMS PPH15X-20 gallium arsenide (GaAs) power pHEMT process PDK.
Designing packaged high-power amplifiers is a challenging task, since GaAs and GaN devices dissipate large amounts of power in a very small area, notes UMS. There are hence considerable thermal challenges. Device temperature can rise based on continuous-wave (CW) or pulsed operating conditions, different package materials used or the assembly process used. In addition, the temperature inside the transistor can also impact its properties and performance.
ADS’ thermal simulation coupled with its electrical simulation allows full and complete analysis of the electro-thermal behavior of the device and optimization of the monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC) inside its package, enabling users to extract the best performance from the RF GaN devices, says UMS.
Foundry customers can get the full electro-thermal simulation of their systems by specifying thermal parameters of their own assembly solution. UMS says that this provides an elegant method to simplify the calculation of the junction temperature, which is a critical step of MMIC design assessment. Implementation of thermal data in UMS’ PDKs has been possible due to a strong partnership with Keysight experts and development teams. UMS says that this partnership with Keysight is a key element that contributes to its foundry customers’ satisfaction through regular innovative upgrades of the MMIC design tools.
