Parallel HV MOSFET high power stable amplifier

• US 6,046,641 A
• Filed: 07/22/1998
• Issued: 04/04/2000
• Est. Priority Date: 07/22/1998
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: MKS Instruments Incorporated
• Original Assignee: ENI Technology, Inc. (MKS Instruments Incorporated)
• Inventors: Chawla, Yogendra K., Covert, Craig A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Pascal, Robert
• Assistant Examiner(s): Nguyen, Patricia T.
• Application Number:
  US09/121,136
• Time in Patent Office: 622 Days
• Field of Search: 330/264, 330/269, 330/276, 330/307, 330/277
• US Class Current: 330/277
• CPC Class Codes: H03F 1/565 using inductive elements
• CPC Class Codes: H03F 2200/492 A coil being added in the source circuit of a transistor amplifier stage as degenerating element
• CPC Class Codes: H03F 2203/5042 the source circuit of the follower has one or more coils between source and supply
• CPC Class Codes: H03F 3/193 with field-effect devices H03F3/195 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H03F 3/211 using a combination of several amplifiers H03F3/60 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H03F 3/505 with field-effect devices

Abstract

A high power grounded-drain source follower RF amplifier circuit employs a high voltage MOSFET. The RF signal at the input is applied with respect to ground via an isolation transformer whose secondary feeds the signal between gate and source. The output is taken from the source with respect to drain, which is grounded. A 13.56 MHz 3 KW power amplifier topology with isolated RF input drive for each MOSFET die uses a pair of kilowatt power transistors or KPTs, in which there are multiple large area MOSFET dies, with the drain regions of the dies being formed over a major portion of the die lower surface. The drain regions are in direct electrical and thermal contact with the conductive copper flange. The source and gate regions are formed on the dies away from the flat lower surface. One or more pairs of multi-chip KPTs can be configured to design stable 2.5 KW, 5 KW and 10 KW RF plasma generators at 13.56 MHz. The generators employ a low pass/high pass filter arrangement (diplexer) at the output for low harmonic distortion and dissipative harmonic termination. The terminated high pass filter reduces the gate-to-source differential RF voltage and protects the MOSFETS from damage.

Claims

1. A high power push-pull RF amplifier for amplifying RF power in a given frequency band, comprising an RF input terminal, an RF output terminal, a DC power source, first and second kilowatt power transistor devices, each said kilowatt power transistor device including a thermally and electrically conductive flange, a multi-chip array formed of a plurality of semiconductor dies, each said die having a flat lower surface with a drain formed over a majority of said lower surface, a source and a gate formed respectively on portions of the die away from said flat lower surface, and means for seating the drains of the dies in direct thermal and electrical contact with said flange so that said flange serves as drain terminal and as heat sink for said dies;

first splitter means coupled to said RF input terminal for splitting an RF input drive signal into a forward phase portion and a reverse phase portion;

second splitter means for splitting said forward phase portion of the drive signal into a plurality of isolated signals for supplying to the gates of said first kilowatt power transistor device;

third splitter means for splitting said reverse phase portion into a plurality of isolated signals for supplying to the gates of said second kilowatt power transistor device;

for each of said semiconductor die of said first kilowatt power transistor device a respective gate-source input circuit which is RF coupled to an associated output of said second splitter means and which is floating with respect to the flange of said first kilowatt power transistor device;

for each said semiconductor die of said second kilowatt power transistor device a respective gate-source input circuit which is RF coupled to an associated output of said third splitter means but is floating with respect to the flange of said second kilowatt power transistor device;

combiner means having inputs coupled to the sources of said first and second kilowatt power transistor devices for combining amplified RF outputs therefrom to supply an amplified RF signal to said RF output terminal;

a supply of DC source voltage; and

filter means connecting the sources of said kilowatt power transistor devices to said supply of DC voltage, said filter means including choke means for blocking said amplified RF signal from said supply of DC voltage, and means for bypassing RF energy as may be picked up from the DC power supply or other circuitry.

2. The high power RF amplifier of claim 1 wherein said choke means of said filter means comprises an RF choke coil in series between the supply of DC voltage and the sources of one of said kilowatt power transistor devices.

3. The high power RF amplifier of claim 2 wherein said means for bypassing includes an inductor between the RF choke coil and said sources, and an RF shunt capacitor between an RF ground and a junction of the inductor and the RF choke coil.

4. The high power RF amplifier of claim 1 wherein said filter means includes a series circuit formed of an inductor, an RF choke coil, and a resistor.

5. The high power RF amplifier of claim 4 wherein said resistor has a value of about 0.01 ohms.

6. The high power RF amplifier of claim 3 wherein said inductor has an inductance between 0.3 and 0.5 μ

H and said shunt capacitor has a value between about 0.1 and 1 μ

f.

7. A high power grounded-drain source follower RF amplifier circuit which comprises an input terminal;

a supply of DC voltage;

an output circuit; and

a high power, high voltage large-chip transistor which includes a thermally and electrically conductive flange having an upper surface, and a semiconductor transistor die having a lower surface, with a drain of the die being formed over a major portion of said lower surface, said drain being in direct electrical and thermal contact with said flange, a source and a gate formed respectively on said die away from said flat lower surface, said output circuit being coupled to said source; and

a DC-isolated input stage between said input terminal and said gate and which is floating with respect to said drain;

wherein said input stage includes an isolation transformer having a primary winding connected to said input terminal and an isolated secondary winding having first and second ends coupled respectively to said gate and said source.

8. The RF amplifier circuit of claim 7 wherein said output circuit includes a DC blocking output stage for passing RF signals in a predetermined RF frequency band.

9. The RF amplifier circuit of claim 8 comprising an RF blocking DC feed stage coupling said source to said supply of DC voltage.

10. The RF amplifier circuit of claim 9 wherein said feed stage includes RF shunt means for bypassing RF signals that otherwise appear at said source.

11. The RF amplifier circuit of claim 7 wherein said input stage includes a low value resistor between the first end of said secondary winding and said gate to limit gain of said transistor for unconditional stability.

12. The RF amplifier circuit of claim 11 wherein said semiconductor die has an input impedance between said source and said gate, and said resistor has an ohmic value less than said input impedance for the desired gain.

13. The RF amplifier circuit of claim 7 comprising a drain-gate feedback circuit coupled to said first end of said secondary winding and grounded to said drain.

14. The RF amplifier circuit of claim 13 wherein said drain-gate feedback circuit includes a resistor and a capacitor connected in series.

15. The RF amplifier circuit of claim 7 wherein said semiconductor die has an input impedance between said source and said gate, and comprising a gate-source return resistor connected between said source and said gate, and having an ohmic value that is very large in comparison with the input impedance.

16. The RF amplifier circuit of claim 7 wherein said input stage includes a gate-source termination circuit formed of a capacitor and resistor in series between said gate and said source.

17. A high power push-pull RF amplifier for amplifying RF power in a given frequency band, comprising an RF input terminal, an RF output terminal, a power source, first and second kilowatt power transistor devices, each said kilowatt power transistor device including a thermally and electrically conductive flange, a multi-chip array formed of a four semiconductor dies, each said die having a flat lower surface with a drain formed over a majority of said lower surface, a source and a gate formed respectively on portions of the die away from said flat lower surface, and means for seating the drains of the dies in direct thermal and electrical contact with said flange so that said flange serves as drain terminal and as heat sink for said dies;

first splitter means coupled to said RF input terminal for splitting an RF input drive signal into a forward phase portion and a reverse phase portion;

second splitter means for splitting said forward phase portion of the drive signal into a plurality of isolated signals for supplying to the gates of said first kilowatt power transistor device;

third splitter means for splitting said reverse phase portion into a plurality of isolated signals for supplying to the gates of said second kilowatt power transistor device;

for each of said semiconductor die of said first kilowatt power transistor device a respective gate-source input circuit which is RF coupled to an associated output of said second splitter means and which is floating with respect to the flange of said first kilowatt power transistor device;

for each said semiconductor die of said second kilowatt power transistor device a respective gate-source input circuit which is RF coupled to an associated output of said third splitter means but is floating with respect to the flange of said second kilowatt power transistor device;

combiner means having inputs coupled to the sources of said first and second kilowatt power transistor devices for combining amplified RF outputs therefrom to supply an amplified RF signal to said RF output terminal;

a supply of DC source voltage; and

DC feed means connecting the sources of said kilowatt power transistor devices to said supply of DC voltage, said DC feed means including choke means for blocking said amplified RF signal from said supply of DC voltage, and means for bypassing RF energy, wherein the four dies of each said kilowatt power transistor device are paralleled externally, and are DC matched so that their gate-source thresholds are matched to within 0.2 volt, their drain-source on resistances are matched within 8%, and their forward transconductances are within 1 Siemans.

18. The high power RF amplifier of claim 17, wherein the four dies for each said kilowatt power transistor device are selected from adjacent wafer locations on the same semiconductor wafer, to ensure that there is good temperature and current tracking between the four dies.

19. The high power RF amplifier of claim 17, wherein said first and second kilowatt power transistor devices have their groups of four dies selected from adjacent chip locations of a single semiconductor wafer, to ensure there is good temperature and current tracking from one of said kilowatt power transistor devices to the other.

20. The high power RF amplifier of claim 19, wherein the difference in average RF gain between the first and second kilowatt power transistor devices is within about 0.5 dB.

21. The high power RF amplifier of claim 19, wherein the difference in RF efficiency between the first and second kilowatt power transistor devices is within about 1%.

22. The high power RF amplifier of claim 17, wherein said first splitter means is directly coupled to the second splitter means and the first kilowatt power transistor device, and is inductively coupled to the third splitter means and the second kilowatt power transistor device;

and the first kilowatt power transistor device has an average gate threshold higher than that of the second kilowatt power transistor device.

23. The high power RF amplifier of claim 22, wherein the average gate threshold of the first kilowatt power transistor device is about 0.2 to 0.4 volt higher than that of the second kilowatt power transistor device.

24. The high power RF amplifier of claim 17, wherein the dies of each of said first and second kilowatt power transistor devices each have a respective series gate input resistor of about 1 to 2 ohms.

25. The high power RF amplifier of claim 17, wherein the dies of each of said first and second kilowatt power transistor devices each have a respective input RF termination between its gate and its source, the input RF terminations each being formed of a series resistor-capacitor combination.

26. The high power RF amplifier of claim 17, wherein the dies of each of said first and second kilowatt power transistor devices each have a respective DC termination resistor between its source and its gate, the DC termination resistor having a value on the order of 30 to 40 kilohms.

27. The high power RF amplifier of claim 17, wherein the dies of each of said first and second kilowatt power transistor devices each have a respective source-drain RF feedback circuit, each said RF feedback circuit being formed of a resistor-capacitor series combination, with a resistance value on the order of 400 to 560 ohms.

28. The high power RF amplifier of claim 17, wherein the sources of each of said kilowatt power transistor devices are direct coupled in parallel to said combiner means.

29. The high power RF amplifier of claim 28, wherein said combiner means includes an output balun transformer having an interface impedance of 18 ohms.

30. The high power RF amplifier of claim 17, further comprising, for each of said first and second kilowatt power transistor devices, a resonator circuit for dynamically compensating for the combined source-drain output capacitances of the dies of the respective kilowatt power transistor device;

said resonator circuit including a series inductor-capacitor combination between source and ground to permit resonant circulating RF current to flow therein.

31. The high power RF amplifier of claim 17, wherein said DC feed means includes for each said first and second kilowatt power transistor device a respective inductor-capacitor combination, including a series inductor between said supply and the sources of said respective kilowatt power transistor device, and a parallel combination of an RF capacitor and a low frequency bypass capacitor.

32. The high power RF amplifier of claim 29, wherein the impedance of the output balun transformer is matched from 18 ohms to 50 ohms, with one of a single 3:

5 turn ratio transformer or a pair of 2;

3 turn ratio transformers, within a VSWR of less than 1.25;

1.

33. The high power RF amplifier of claim 17, further comprising a low pass/high pass diplexer filter arrangement situated between said combiner means and said RF output terminal for reducing harmonic distortion and providing a dissipative harmonic termination;

It reduces the gate-to-source different RF voltage and protects the MOSFETS from damage.