Device characteristics of the -D BiCMOS technology using selective epitaxial growth and lateral solid phase epitaxy

Device characteristics of the BiCMOS technology using selective epitaxial growth (SEG) and lateral solid phase epitaxy (LSPE) are reported. Results indicate that the current drive of the PMOS devices on the LSPE layer is only 13% lower than that of the bulk PMOS devices, and the propagation delay of the three-dimensional (3-D) inverter built using this technology is 23% faster than that of the conventional bulk inverter. The bipolar transistors fabricated in the SEG regions also provide good performance with a peak f_T of 17 GHz and BV_CEO of 4.3∼5.3 V. The SEG/LSPE technique for 3-D integration has the advantages of low cost, low thermal budget, and good material quality for device fabrication. This 3-D BiCMOS technology is very promising for lower power, high-density, and high-speed integrated circuits (ICs) applications.