Invention Grant
- Patent Title: Methodology for assessing degradation due to radio frequency excitation of transistors
- Patent Title (中): 评估由于晶体管射频激发引起的退化的方法
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Application No.: US12013221Application Date: 2008-01-11
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Publication No.: US07974595B2Publication Date: 2011-07-05
- Inventor: Vijay Kumar Reddy , Andrew Marshall , Siraj Akhtar , Srikanth Krishnan , Karan Singh Bhatia
- Applicant: Vijay Kumar Reddy , Andrew Marshall , Siraj Akhtar , Srikanth Krishnan , Karan Singh Bhatia
- Applicant Address: US TX Dallas
- Assignee: Texas Instruments Incorporated
- Current Assignee: Texas Instruments Incorporated
- Current Assignee Address: US TX Dallas
- Agent Warren L. Franz; Wade J. Brady, III; Frederick J. Telecky, Jr.
- Main IPC: H04B17/00
- IPC: H04B17/00 ; H03C1/62

Abstract:
One embodiment relates to an on-chip power amplifier (PA) test circuit. In one embodiment, a PA test circuit comprises a controllable oscillator (CO) configured to generate a radio frequency (RF) signal, a parallel resonant circuit tuned to the radio frequency, a pre-power amplifier (PPA) coupled to the CO and the parallel resonant circuit, the PPA configured to amplify and drive the RF signal from an output of the PPA into a load. The test circuit may further comprise a first transmission gate configured to couple the RF signal from the CO to an input of the PPA. One testing methodology for a PA test circuit comprises stressing the PPA with an RF signal, measuring a characteristic of the PPA, determining stress degradation from the characteristic measurements, and repeating the stressing and characteristic measurements until a maximum stress degradation is achieved or a maximum stress has been applied.
Public/Granted literature
- US20090167429A1 METHODOLOGY FOR ASSESSING DEGRADATION DUE TO RADIO FREQUENCY EXCITATION OF TRANSISTORS Public/Granted day:2009-07-02
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