Electrical stress damage reversal in nonpassivated fully self-aligned InP HBTs by ozone surface treatment

The authors report that the degradation of device characteristics due to electrical stressing in non-passivated fully self-aligned InP based heterostructure bipolar transistors (HBTs) can be reversed by a simple surface treatment in ozone. The technique is demonstrated on MOCVD-grown InP/GaAs_0.51Sb_0.49/InP double heterostructure bipolar transistors (DHBTs) with a C-doped base. and on conventional MBE-grown InP/Ga_0.47In_0.53As single heterostructure bipolar transistors (SHBTs) with a Be-doped base. This is the first report of the reversibility of bias stress damage in the extrinsic region of III-V HBTs: the experiments presented confirm that stress damage occurs at the exposed emitter periphery. Thus explaining the success of emitter ledge passivation techniques