Design of High-Speed SiGe HBT BiCMOS Circuits for Extreme Environment Applications

The objective of this work is to investigate the suitability of applying silicon-germanium (SiGe) heterojunction bipolar transistor (HBT) bipolar complementary metal oxide semiconductor (BiCMOS) technology to extreme environments and to design high-speed circuits in this technology to demonstrate their reliable operation under these conditions. This research focuses on exploring techniques for hardening SiGe HBT digital logic for single event upset (SEU) based on principles of radiation hardening by design (RHBD) as well as on the cryogenic characterization of SiGe HBTs and designing broadband amplifiers for operation at cryogenic temperatures. Representative circuits ranging from shift registers featuring multiple architectures to broadband analog circuits have been implemented in various generations of this technology to enable this effort.Ph.D.Committee Chair: Cressler, John; Committee Member: Kornegay, Kevin; Committee Member: Laskar, Joy; Committee Member: Morley, Thomas; Committee Member: Papapolymerou, Joh