Substrate current based avalanche multiplication measurement in 120 GHz SiGe HBTs

Author

Jun Pan ; Guofu Niu ; Jin Tang ; Yun Shi ; Joseph, A.J. ; Harame, D.L.

Author_Institution

Electr. & Comput. Eng. Dept., Auburn Univ., AL, USA

Volume

24

Issue

12

fYear

2003

Firstpage

736

Lastpage

738

Abstract

A new substrate current-based technique for measuring the avalanche multiplication factor (M - 1) in high-speed SiGe heterojunction bipolar transistors (HBTs) is proposed. The technique enables M - 1 measurement at high operating current densities required for high-speed operation, where conventional techniques fail because of self-heating. Using the proposed technique, M - 1 was measured up to 10 mA/μm² on SiGe HBTs featuring 120 GHz peak f_T which occurs at J/sub C/ about 7 mA/μm². Implications for circuit applications are also discussed.

Keywords

Ge-Si alloys; avalanche breakdown; current density; heterojunction bipolar transistors; impact ionisation; millimetre wave bipolar transistors; semiconductor device breakdown; 120 GHz; SiGe; avalanche multiplication factor; breakdown voltage; collector-substrate junction; electron-hole pairs; high operating current densities; high-speed heterojunction bipolar transistors; hot carrier induced light; impact ionization; photocarrier generation; self-heating; substrate current-based technique; Circuits; Current density; Current measurement; Germanium silicon alloys; Heterojunction bipolar transistors; Measurement techniques; Microelectronics; Silicon germanium; Substrates; Voltage;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Electron Device Letters, IEEE

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0741-3106

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/LED.2003.820647

Filename

1254602