Antonio Tazón Puente

An accurate photonic capacitance model for GaAs MESFETs

A new set of pseudoempirical equations is presented in order to simulate the optical and bias dependencies of GaAs MESFET junction capacitances, which is valid for the whole I-V plane. The variations induced in the small-signal equivalent circuit by the optical illumination are extracted from on-wafer scattering parameter measurements. New linear and quasi-logarithmic variations versus the incident optical power are shown for gate-drain and gate-source (Cgd and Cgs) capacitances. Furthermore, experimental results are in very good agreement with the simulated values for a wide range of optical power and bias conditions. Large signal MESFET models show a better fit with measured S-parameters than those previously published, leading to a greater degree of confidence in the design of photonic monolithic microwave integrated circuits.

Smoothing the canonical piecewise-linear model: an efficient and derivable large-signal model for MESFET/HEMT transistors

In this paper we present the smoothed piecewise-linear (SPWL) model as a useful tool in the device modeling field. The SPWL model is an extension of the well-known canonical piecewise-linear model proposed by Chua, which substitutes the abrupt absolute value function for a smoothing function (the logarithm of hyperbolic cosine), thus providing the model with several interesting properties. In particular, this function makes the model derivable, which is important to predict the intermodulation distortion behavior. Moreover, it allows one to control the smoothness of the global model by means of a single smoothing parameter. The parameters of the model are adapted to fit the nonlinear function, while the smoothing parameter is selected according to derivative constraints. The applied learning algorithm is a second-order gradient method. The proposed SPWL model is successfully applied to model a microwave HEMT transistor under optical illumination using real measurements. The model receives as input the bias voltages of the transistor, the instantaneous voltages, and the optical power and provides the drain to source current. The performance and computational burden of the SPWL model is compared with an empirical model and with some neural networks-based alternatives.

Measurement of mobility in HEMT devices using high-order derivatives

In this paper, a novel approach to the measurement of mobility of GaAs HEMT devices is presented. The new approach employs high-order derivatives as a means of determining the parameters of the proposed new mobility equation. The new approach is compared to established mobility measurement methods, and shown to offer better accuracy. The results presented also consider the behavior of mobility in the linear and saturation bias regions. The mobility value extracted by this new method has permitted improvements to the MESFET/HEMT model when simulating the behavior of the device in the linear region. This is critical in many applications, such as in low current linear-mixing applications.