An investigation of the damage mechanisms in impact ionization-induced "mixed-mode" reliability stressing of scaled SiGe HBTs

Author

Chendong Zhu ; Qingqing Liang ; Al-Huq, R. ; Cressler, J.D. ; Joseph, A. ; Johansen, J. ; Tianbing Chen ; Guofu Niu ; Freeman, G. ; Jae-Sung Rieh ; Ahlgren, D.

Author_Institution

Sch. of Electr. & Comput. Eng., Georgia Inst. of Technol., Atlanta, GA, USA

fYear

2003

fDate

8-10 Dec. 2003

Abstract

A robust, time-dependent stress methodology for investigating "mixed-mode" (simultaneous high J/sub C/ and high V/sub CB/) reliability degradation in advanced SiGe HBTs is introduced. We present comprehensive stress data on scaled 120 GHz SiGe HBTs, and use specially designed test structures with variable emitter-to-shallow trench spacing to shed light on the resultant damage mechanisms. We also employ calibrated MEDICI simulations using the hot carrier injection current technique to better understand the damage mechanisms, and conclude by assessing the impact of mixed-mode stress in aggressively scaled 200 GHz SiGe HBTs.

Keywords

Ge-Si alloys; heterojunction bipolar transistors; hot carriers; impact ionisation; millimetre wave bipolar transistors; semiconductor device measurement; semiconductor device models; semiconductor device reliability; semiconductor materials; 120 GHz; 200 GHz; SiGe; hot carrier injection current technique; impact ionization induced stressing; mixed-mode reliability stressing; reliability damage mechanism; reliability degradation; scaled SiGe HBT; variable emitter-to-shallow trench spacing; CMOS technology; Degradation; Germanium silicon alloys; Heterojunction bipolar transistors; Impact ionization; Microelectronics; Physics computing; Reliability engineering; Silicon germanium; Stress;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Electron Devices Meeting, 2003. IEDM '03 Technical Digest. IEEE International

Conference_Location

Washington, DC, USA

Print_ISBN

0-7803-7872-5

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/IEDM.2003.1269209

Filename

1269209