DC temperature measurements for power gain monitoring in RF power amplifiers

Abstract

In this paper we demonstrate that the steady state temperature increase due to the power dissipated by the circuit under test can be used as observable to test the gain of a 2GHz linear class A Power Amplifier. As a proof of concept, we use two strategies to monitor the temperature: a temperature sensor embedded within the same silicon die, which can be used for a BIST approach, and an Infra Red camera, with applications to failure analysis and product debugging.