RF-power device
View Patent ↗An RF-power device includes a semiconductor substrate having a plurality of active regions arranged in an array. Each active region includes one or more RF-power transistors. The active regions are interspersed with inactive regions for reducing mutual heating of the RF-power transistors in separate active regions. The devices also includes at least one impedance matching component located in one of the inactive regions of the substrate.
1. An RF-power device comprising:
a semiconductor substrate having a plurality of active regions arranged in an array, wherein each active region comprises one or more RF-power transistors, and wherein the active regions are spaced apart by inactive regions for reducing mutual heating of the RF-power transistors in separate active regions; and
at least one impedance matching component located in one or more of the inactive regions wherein the impedance matching component is arranged to match the impedance of the RF-power transistors to external circuitry.
2. The device of claim 1 comprising a plurality of impedance matching components located in one of the inactive regions of the substrate.
3. The device of claim 2 comprising a plurality of impedance matching components in each of a plurality of inactive regions of the substrate.
4. The device of claim 1 , wherein the inactive regions are devoid of components other than impedance matching components.
5. The device of claim 1 , wherein the inactive regions are bordered by the active regions.
6. The device of claim 1 comprising a common gate connection and/or a common drain connection for the gates and/or drains of at least two RF-power transistors in separate active regions.
7. The device of claim 6 comprising one or more impedance matching components connected between the common gate connection and/or the common drain connection and a ground contact of the device.
8. The device of claim 6 comprising one or more impedance matching components connected between the common gate connection and the gate of at least one RF-power transistor and/or one or more impedance matching components connected between the common drain connection and the drain of at least one RF-power transistor.
9. The device of claim 6 , wherein the inactive regions of said device are bordered by the common gate connection and/or the common drain connection.
10. The device of claim 1 comprising one or more impedance matching components comprising a capacitor or an inductor.
11. The device of claim 1 , wherein the inactive regions occupy a greater area on the semiconductor substrate than the active regions.
12. The device of claim 11 , wherein the inactive regions occupy an area on the semiconductor substrate substantially 3 to 50 times greater than the area occupied by the active regions.
13. The device of claim 1 , wherein the impedance matching components provide input impedance matching for the device.
14. The device of claim 1 , wherein the impedance matching components provide output impedance matching for the device.