Double-polysilicon self-aligned SiGe HBT architecture based on nonselective epitaxy and polysilicon reflow

Author

Mertens, H. ; Magnée, P. H C ; Donkers, J.J.T.M. ; van Dalen, R. ; Brunets, I. ; Van Huylenbroeck, S. ; Vleugels, F. ; Vanhoucke, T.

Author_Institution

NXP Semicond. Res., Leuven, Belgium

fYear

2012

fDate

Sept. 30 2012-Oct. 3 2012

Firstpage

1

Lastpage

4

Abstract

This paper describes a self-aligned SiGe heterojunction bipolar transistor (HBT) based on a standard double-polysilicon architecture and nonselective epitaxial growth (i.e. DPSA-NSEG). Emitter-base self-alignment is realized by polysilicon reflow in a hydrogen ambient after emitter window patterning. The fabricated self-aligned SiGe HBTs, with emitter widths of 0.3-0.4 μm, exhibit 20% lower base resistance and 15% higher maximum oscillation frequency f_max than non-self-aligned reference devices. The minimum noise figure of a Ku-band low-noise amplifier is reduced from 0.9 to 0.8 dB by emitter-base self-alignment.

Keywords

BiCMOS integrated circuits; Ge-Si alloys; epitaxial growth; heterojunction bipolar transistors; low noise amplifiers; microwave amplifiers; oscillations; semiconductor epitaxial layers; semiconductor growth; Ku-band low-noise amplifier; SiGe; double-polysilicon self-aligned HBT architecture; emitter window patterning; emitter-base self-alignment; hydrogen ambient; lower base resistance; maximum oscillation frequency; noise figure; nonselective epitaxial growth; nonselective epitaxy; nonself-aligned reference devices; polysilicon reflow; self-aligned heterojunction bipolar transistor; size 0.3 mum to 0.4 mum; standard double-polysilicon architecture; Annealing; Epitaxial growth; Heterojunction bipolar transistors; Hydrogen; Resistance; Silicon; Silicon germanium; Silicon bipolar/BiCMOS process technology; heterojunction bipolar transistor;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Bipolar/BiCMOS Circuits and Technology Meeting (BCTM), 2012 IEEE

Conference_Location

Portland, OR

ISSN

1088-9299

Print_ISBN

978-1-4673-3020-6

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/BCTM.2012.6352615

Filename

6352615