A new InP-InGaAs HBT with a superlattice-collector structure

The dc characteristics of an interesting InP-InGaAs heterojunction bipolar transistor (HBT) with a superlattice (SL) structure incorporated in the base-collector (B-C) junction are demonstrated. In the SL structure, holes injected from the collector collide with holes confined in the SL and impact them out of the SL across the valence-band discontinuities. With a collector-emitter (C-E) voltage V/sub CE/ less than the C-E breakdown voltage BV/sub CE0/, the current gain can be increased at base-current inputs because the released holes from the SL inject into the base to cause the emitter-base junction operating under more forward-biased condition. An ac current gain up to 204 is obtained. At base-emitter voltage V/sub BE/ inputs, the released holes travel to the base terminal to decrease the base current. The studied HBT exhibits common-emitter current gains exceeding 47 at low current levels and useful gains spreading over seven orders of magnitude of collector current.     

高性能六边形发射极InGaP/GaAs异质结双极型晶体管

六边形发射极的自对准InGaP/GaAs异质结具有优异的直流和微波性能.采用发射极面积为2μm×10μm的异质结双极型晶体管,VCE偏移电压小于150mV,膝点电压为0.5V(IC=16mA),BVCEO大于9V,BVCBO大于14V,特征频率高达92GHz,最高振荡频率达到105GHz.这些优异的性能预示着InGaP/GaAs HBT在超高速数字电路和微波功率放大领域具有广阔的应用前景.     

Quantum-well resonant tunneling bipolar transistor operating at room temperature

The first resonant tunneling bipolar transistor (RBT) is reported. The AlGaAs/GaAs wide-gap emitter device, grown by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE), contains a GaAs quantum well and two AlAs barriers between the emitter and the collector. In the common emitter configuration, when the base current exceeds a threshold value, a large drop in the collector current (corresponding to a quenching of the current gain β) is observed at room temperature, along with a pronounced negative conductance as a function of the collector-emitter voltage. These striking characteristics are caused by the quenching of resonant tunneling through the double barrier as the conduction band edge in the emitter is raised above the bottom of the first quantized subband of the well. Single-frequency oscillations are observed at 300 K. The inherent negative transconductance of these new functional devices is extremely valuable for many logic and signal processing applications.     

High-linearity and small-chip AlGaAs/GaAs power HBTs for L-bandpersonal digital cellular applications

A high-linearity AlGaAs/GaAs power heterojunction bipolar transistor (HBT) is developed for personal digital cellular phones. For compact chip layout, thermal design was considered. To improve power performance, proton implantation, optimum alloy condition for collector electrodes, and multiple via holes were used. A 2400-μm²-emitter-area HBT fabricated on a 0.5×0.67 mm² substrate exhibits adjacent channel leakage powers below -53 dBc for 0.95- and 1.5-GHz π/4-shifted QPSK modulated input signals at a low collector-emitter voltage of 3.4 V. The HBT produces a 31.7-dBm output power, 50% power-added efficiency, and 15-dB linear power gain at 0.95 GHz, and produced a 31.3-dBm output power, 52% power-added efficiency, and 11.5-dB linear power gain at 1.5 GHz. These results were achieved on about one-fifth of the substrate area of conventional GaAs FETs     

Avalanche breakdown effects on AlGaAs/GaAs HBT performance

The performance of heterojunction bipolar transistors operating in the avalanche breakdown regime has been evaluated. The analysis shows that AlGaAs/GaAs HBT under avalanche breakdown has higher collector-base junction capacitance, lower Early voltage, higher device noise, lower power efficiency, lower cut-off frequency, reduced device switching speed, and degraded maximum frequency of oscillation.     

AlGaAs/GaAs double-heterostructure-emitter bipolar transistor(DHEBT)

An AlGaAs/GaAs double-heterostructure-emitter bipolar transistor (DHEBT) fabricated by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) is presented. The use of a structure symmetrical with respect to the base layer results in bidirectional transistor and switching behavior. Due to a significant area difference between emitter-base and base-collector junction, an asymmetrical property is observed. With an emitter edge-thinning design, the transistor performance may be further improved. A common-emitter current gain of up to 140 with a negligible collector-emitter offset voltage (~40 mV) is achieved. A bidirectional S-shaped negative-differential-resistance (NDA) phenomenon occurs at high V _CE bias voltage. The temperature dependence of the NDR is investigated. A three-terminal-controlled switching device is found to perform well when the control current is introduced into the base electrode     

电子辐照对GaAs HBT残余电压与饱和电压的影响

研究了GaAs HBT高能电子(～1MeV)辐照的总剂量效应。结果表明,电子辐照后GaAs HBT的基极电流增大,辐照损伤程度随辐照总剂量增加而增加,这和其他研究观察到的现象相同。所不同的是,实验中发现随辐照剂量增大器件集电极饱和电压、残余电压均增大。因此认为,高能电子辐照造成的位移损伤在GaAs HBT集电区和BC结内诱生的大量复合中心使集电极串联电阻增大,以及BE、BC结内形成的复合中心俘获结内载流子使载流子浓度降低造成BE、BC结自建电势差下降是集电极饱和电压和残余电压增加的主要原因。     

Observation of resonant tunneling at room temperature inGaInP/GaAs/GaInP double-heterojunction bipolar transistor

Negative differential resistance (NDR) has been observed at room temperature in GaInP/GaAs double-heterojunction bipolar transistors (DHBTs). Both the common-emitter and common-base current-voltage characteristics and their magnetic field dependence have been studied to confirm that the observed NDR is due to resonant tunneling. The collector-base voltages at which the collector current resonances occur are calculated and are consistent with the measured values. The devices exhibit an offset voltage of 57 mV and saturation voltage of ⩽ 2-V, both of which are the lowest reported values for GaInP/GaAs DHBTs. The collector-base breakdown voltage in these DHBTs is 31 V, and its variation with junction temperature is measured and described     

Theoretical and experimental DC characterization of InGaAs-basedabrupt emitter HBT's

The DC characteristics of InP-InGaAs and InAlAs-InGaAs HBT's with abrupt emitter-base junctions are studied using a thermionic-field emission boundary-condition model. The model incorporates tunneling and thermionic emission into a one-dimensional drift-diffusion numerical scheme and accounts for breakdown and bulk recombination mechanisms. The effects of abrupt heterojunction transport and electrical junction displacement on the current gain h_FE and on the turn-on voltage are investigated. The simulations indicate that the spacer layer design has a profound effect on the DC behavior of these devices. A detailed performance comparison of different emitter structures indicates that InP-emitter HBT's show a more uniform h_FE than InAlAs-emitter HBT's especially at low current densities. Experimental data from a fabricated InAlAs-InGaAs abrupt emitter single HBT was compared to the theoretical predictions of the model. The analysis reveals that several injection and recombination mechanisms are responsible for the emitter-base forward characteristics. In the collector, the exact velocity-field profile and an anomalous multiplication factor are responsible for kinks in the output common-emitter characteristics and for soft breakdown of the collector-base junction     

Fully-planar AlGaAs/GaAs HBT's achieved by selective CBE regrowth

This paper describes a novel fully planar AlGaAs/GaAs heterojunction bipolar transistor (HBT) technology using selective chemical beam epitaxy (CBE). Planarization is achieved by a selective regrowth of the base and collector contact layers. This process allows the simultaneous metallization of the emitter, base and collector on top of the device. For the devices with an emitter-base junction area of 2×6 μm² and a base-collector junction area of 14×6 μm², a current gain cut off frequency of 50 GHz and a maximum oscillation frequency of 30 GHz are achieved. The common emitter current gain h_FE is 25 for a collector current density J_c of 2×10⁴ A/cm²     

Negative base current and impact ionization phenomena inAlGaAs/GaAs HBTs

Impact ionization phenomena in the collector region of AlGaAs/GaAs heterojunction bipolar transistors give rise to base current reduction and reversal. These phenomena can be characterized by extracting the M-1 coefficient, which can be evaluated by measuring base current changes. Measurements of M-1 are affected at low current densities by the presence of the collector-base junction reverse current I_CBO. At high current densities, three effects contribute to lower the measured M-1 value: voltage drops due to collector (R_C) and base (R_B) parasitic resistances, device self-heating, and lowering of the base-collector junction electric field due to mobile carriers. By appropriately choosing the emitter current value, parasitic phenomena are avoided and the behavior of M-1 as a function of the collector-base voltage V_CB in AlGaAs/GaAs HBTs is accurately characterized     

Current mode second breakdown in epitaxial planar transistors

Current mode second breakdown is a type of voltage "switchback" observed in epitaxial transistors. The phenomenon is initiated when the emitter is injecting at a collector voltage in excess of the collector-emitter sustaining voltage, and is characterized by delay and voltage fall times on the order of a nanosecond. The device can be sustained in the low voltage state only as long as there is sufficient charge to produce conductivity modulation within the collector-base depletion region. When the available charge is exhausted, the collector voltage will recharge at a rate determined by the external circuit. At some critical current density, the collector-base depletion region collapses toward the high conductivity substrate. The electric field within the depletion region increases as the depletion region width narrows, until avalanche occurs. The sustaining voltage will be determined by the bulk base-to-collector avalanche voltage. A consequence of this behavior is that most epitaxial transistors cannot operate stably in the LVCERmode, and switching-off unclamped inductive circuits with the emitter-base junction terminated in some finite resistance will lead to second breakdown.     

AlGaAs/Ge/GaAs heterojunction bipolar transistors grown bymolecular beam epitaxy

An N-Al_0.22Ga_0.78As emitter, p-Ge base, and n-GaAs collector (AlGaAs/Ge/GaAs) heterojunction bipolar transistor (HBT) in the emitter-up configuration grown by molecular beam epitaxy is discussed. Devices exhibited common-emitter current gains of as high as 300 at a collector current density of 2000 A/cm² and a collector voltage of 4 V. As the device area is reduced from 50×50 to 10×40 μm, the current gain did not show significant changes, suggesting a low surface recombination velocity in the Ge base     

AlGaAs/GaAs pnp heterojunction bipolar transistor with carbon-doped collector and emitter grown by atomic layer epitaxy

The first AlGaAs/GaAs pnp heterojunction bipolar transistor (HBT) grown entirely by atomic layer epitaxy (ALE) is reported. Carbon was used as the p-type dopant in the emitter and collector. The use of carbon, with its low diffusivity and the potential for very heavy doping, will lead to reduced emitter and collector resistances in a pnp structure. For the devices reported here, a common emitter current gain over 100 was obtained, with good I/V characteristics.<>     

A collector-up AlGaAs/GaAs heterojunction bipolar transistorfabricated using three-stage MOCVD

A new collector-up AlGaAs/GaAs heterojunction bipolar transistor (HBT) is reported. This structure is designed to minimize parasitic capacitance and to eliminate trenches for making contacts. The emitter, external base, and intrinsic base and collector have been grown in three stages using metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD). The current gain of this collector-up HBT (C-up HBT) with a 5×14-μm² collector is 15     

Novel Delta-Doped InAlGaP/GaAs Heterojunction Bipolar Transistor

The first successful demonstration of a delta-doped InAlGaP/GaAs heterojunction bipolar transistor (HBT) is reported. A comparison to a baseline InAlGaP/GaAs HBT without a delta-doping layer is made. Both of these devices exhibit near-ideal current gain (beta) versus the collector current (I _C) characteristics (i.e., beta independent of I _C) at high currents. The delta-InAlGaP/GaAs HBT exhibits a 40% reduction in offset voltage (V _{CE, offset}) and a 250-mV reduction in knee voltage (V _k) without sacrificing beta compared with the baseline InAlGaP/GaAs HBT. At a higher I _C, the decrease in beta of the InAlGaP/GaAs HBTs with increasing temperature is significantly smaller than the corresponding effect measured in the formerly reported GaAs-based HBTs. The rather temperature-insensitive characteristics of these two InAlGaP/GaAs HBTs originate from their large valence-band discontinuity (DeltaE _V) at the emitter-base (E-B) junction. Furthermore, at intermediate base current I _B levels (0.4-1.6 mA), V _{CE, offset} falls as I _B increases, which is a trend contrary to that of most HBTs in the literature. Finally, the experimental dependence of V _{CE, offset} on temperature, I _B, and the effective barrier height at the E-B junction is explained with reference to an extended large-signal model.     

Influence of buffer layer thickness on DC performance ofGaAs/AlGaAs heterojunction bipolar transistors grown on siliconsubstrates

The DC performance of GaAs/AlAs heterojunction bipolar transistors (HBTs) grown on silicon substrates with buffer layers ranging from 0 to 5 μm was investigated. Current gain, collector-emitter breakdown voltage, emitter-base and collector-base diode ideality factors, and breakdown voltages were measured as the buffer layer thickness was varied between 0 and 5 μm. The current gain steadily increases with increasing buffer layer thickness until the layer reaches 3 μm. However, the other DC parameters are relatively insensitive to the buffer layer thickness. A small-signal current gain of 60 is typically achieved for devices with 6×6-μm² emitters at a density of 6×10⁴ A/cm² when the buffer layer is ⩾3 μm     

Temperature investigation of the gate-drain diode of power GaAs MESFET with low-temperature-grown (Al)GaAs passivation

We have investigated the breakdown-temperature characteristics of the gate-drain diode of a GaAs metal semiconductor field-effect transistor with low-temperature-grown (LTG) GaAs/AlGaAs passivation. An anomalous decrease in the breakdown voltage as a function of the temperature is observed. This behavior leads us to propose an explanation of how LTG passivation leads to a high breakdown voltage at room temperature; and this explanation in turn allows us to predict the power performance of the passivated devices.     

A physics-based, analytical heterojunction bipolar transistormodel, including thermal and high-current effects

A detailed, analytical model for predicting the DC and high-frequency performance of AlGaAs/GaAs graded heterojunction bipolar transistors (HBTs) is presented. The model is developed based on the relevant device physics, such as current-induced base pushout and thermal effects. The current gain, cutoff frequency, and maximum frequency versus the collector current density, which is a function of the applied voltage as well as the corresponding temperature in the HBT, are calculated. The results suggest that the conventional HBT model, which assumes the HBT temperature is the same as that of the ambient, can overestimate the three figures of merit considerably when the collector current density is high. Furthermore, it is shown that the present model correctly explains such experimentally observed HBT high-current behavior as the rapid falloff of the current gain and cutoff frequency. The model predictions compare favorably with the results obtained from a model which solves numerically the Poisson and continuity equations coupled with the lattice heat equation