Analyzing the Impact of FinFET Self-Heating on the Performance of RF Power Amplifiers

Nibedita Karmokar; Sai Wang Tam; Thanh Viet Dinh; Vidya A Chhabria; Ramesh Harjani; Sachin S. Sapatnekar

doi:10.1145/3676536.3676829

Analyzing the Impact of FinFET Self-Heating on the Performance of RF Power Amplifiers

Nibedita Karmokar
, Sai Wang Tam
, Thanh Viet Dinh
, Vidya A Chhabria
, Ramesh Harjani
, Sachin S. Sapatnekar

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution

Abstract

In FinFET nodes, high transistor power densities in a power amplifier (PA) lead to device self-heating (SH), degrading performance. This study investigates the impact of SH in large PA FinFET arrays. An encoder-decoder network, together with a long short-term memory model, is used for rapid and accurate thermal analysis. This fast analyzer helps better explore design optimizations than conventional computationally-expensive thermal solvers. The work explores methods for mitigating thermal effects in PAs by inserting dummy transistors within the array of active FinFET devices, and shows the impact of duty cycle and frequency on PA performance.

Original language	English (US)
Title of host publication	Proceedings of the 43rd IEEE/ACM International Conference on Computer-Aided Design, ICCAD 2024
Publisher	Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.
ISBN (Electronic)	9798400710773
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1145/3676536.3676829
State	Published - Apr 9 2025
Externally published	Yes
Event	43rd International Conference on Computer-Aided Design, ICCAD 2024 - New York, United States Duration: Oct 27 2024 → Oct 31 2024

Publication series

Name	IEEE/ACM International Conference on Computer-Aided Design, Digest of Technical Papers, ICCAD
ISSN (Print)	1092-3152

Conference

Conference	43rd International Conference on Computer-Aided Design, ICCAD 2024
Country/Territory	United States
City	New York
Period	10/27/24 → 10/31/24

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2024 Copyright is held by the owner/author(s).

Publisher link

10.1145/3676536.3676829

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Karmokar, N., Tam, S. W., Dinh, T. V., Chhabria, V. A., Harjani, R., & Sapatnekar, S. S. (2025). Analyzing the Impact of FinFET Self-Heating on the Performance of RF Power Amplifiers. In Proceedings of the 43rd IEEE/ACM International Conference on Computer-Aided Design, ICCAD 2024 Article 165 (IEEE/ACM International Conference on Computer-Aided Design, Digest of Technical Papers, ICCAD). Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.. https://doi.org/10.1145/3676536.3676829

Analyzing the Impact of FinFET Self-Heating on the Performance of RF Power Amplifiers. / Karmokar, Nibedita; Tam, Sai Wang; Dinh, Thanh Viet et al.
Proceedings of the 43rd IEEE/ACM International Conference on Computer-Aided Design, ICCAD 2024. Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc., 2025. 165 (IEEE/ACM International Conference on Computer-Aided Design, Digest of Technical Papers, ICCAD).

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution

Karmokar, N, Tam, SW, Dinh, TV, Chhabria, VA, Harjani, R & Sapatnekar, SS 2025, Analyzing the Impact of FinFET Self-Heating on the Performance of RF Power Amplifiers. in Proceedings of the 43rd IEEE/ACM International Conference on Computer-Aided Design, ICCAD 2024., 165, IEEE/ACM International Conference on Computer-Aided Design, Digest of Technical Papers, ICCAD, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc., 43rd International Conference on Computer-Aided Design, ICCAD 2024, New York, United States, 10/27/24. https://doi.org/10.1145/3676536.3676829

Karmokar N, Tam SW, Dinh TV, Chhabria VA, Harjani R , Sapatnekar SS. Analyzing the Impact of FinFET Self-Heating on the Performance of RF Power Amplifiers. In Proceedings of the 43rd IEEE/ACM International Conference on Computer-Aided Design, ICCAD 2024. Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc. 2025. 165. (IEEE/ACM International Conference on Computer-Aided Design, Digest of Technical Papers, ICCAD). doi: 10.1145/3676536.3676829

Karmokar, Nibedita ; Tam, Sai Wang ; Dinh, Thanh Viet et al. / Analyzing the Impact of FinFET Self-Heating on the Performance of RF Power Amplifiers. Proceedings of the 43rd IEEE/ACM International Conference on Computer-Aided Design, ICCAD 2024. Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc., 2025. (IEEE/ACM International Conference on Computer-Aided Design, Digest of Technical Papers, ICCAD).

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abstract = "In FinFET nodes, high transistor power densities in a power amplifier (PA) lead to device self-heating (SH), degrading performance. This study investigates the impact of SH in large PA FinFET arrays. An encoder-decoder network, together with a long short-term memory model, is used for rapid and accurate thermal analysis. This fast analyzer helps better explore design optimizations than conventional computationally-expensive thermal solvers. The work explores methods for mitigating thermal effects in PAs by inserting dummy transistors within the array of active FinFET devices, and shows the impact of duty cycle and frequency on PA performance.",

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Analyzing the Impact of FinFET Self-Heating on the Performance of RF Power Amplifiers

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