Title:  New Approaches to Wideband RF Switching in Silicon-Germanium Technology

Committee:

Dr. John Cressler, ECE, Chair , Advisor

Dr. Farrokh Ayazi, ECE

Dr. Shaolan Li, ECE

Dr. Adilson Cardoso, GTRI

Dr. Wooyeol Choi, Oklahoma State

Abstract: The objective of this research is to develop and investigate radio frequency (RF) switches utilizing silicon-germanium (SiGe) heterojunction bipolar transistors (HBTs) to provide a novel design approach for next-generation wideband circuits and systems. SiGe HBTs offer relatively small parasitic capacitance, making them suitable for wideband RF switching transistors with low insertion loss. Despite the available performance, the effective utilization of SiGe HBTs as RF series switches remains largely unexplored. The research presented in this dissertation introduces a novel RF series switch architecture, namely an anti-parallel (AP) SiGe HBT pair, as a potential wideband switching element for next-generation systems. The benefits of this novel RF series switch architecture are investigated, as well as insightful optimization techniques and an analysis of its operational principles. The dissertation then provides implemented design examples and develops design techniques leveraging properties possessed by the AP SiGe HBT pair.