Reliability of AlInAs/GaInAs heterojunction bipolar transistors

Author

Hafizi, Madjid ; Stanchina, William E. ; Metzger, Robert A. ; Jensen, Joseph F. ; Williams, Freddie

Author_Institution

Hughes Res. Labs., Malibu, CA, USA

Volume

40

Issue

12

fYear

1993

fDate

12/1/1993 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

2178

Lastpage

2185

Abstract

The reliability of high-performance AlInAs/GaInAs heterojunction bipolar transistors (HBTs) grown by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) is discussed. Devices with a base Be doping level of 5×10¹⁹ cm^-3 and a base thickness of approximately 50 nm displayed no sign of Be diffusion under applied bias. Excellent stability in DC current gain, device turn-on voltage, and base-emitter junction characteristics was observed. Accelerated life-test experiments were performed under an applied constant collector current density of 7×10⁴ A/cm² at ambient temperatures of 193, 208, and 328°C. Junction temperature and device thermal resistance were determined experimentally. Degradation of the base-collector junction was used as failure criterion to project a mean time to failure in excess of 10⁷ h at 125°C junction temperature with an associated activation energy of 1.92 eV

Keywords

III-V semiconductors; aluminium compounds; failure analysis; gallium arsenide; heterojunction bipolar transistors; indium compounds; life testing; molecular beam epitaxial growth; semiconductor device testing; semiconductor epitaxial layers; semiconductor growth; 1.92 eV; 125 degC; 193 degC; 208 degC; 228 degC; AlInAs-GaInAs; AlInAs/GaInAs; DC current gain; activation energy; ambient temperatures; base Be doping level; base thickness; base-collector junction; base-emitter junction characteristics; constant collector current density; device thermal resistance; device turn-on voltage; failure criterion; heterojunction bipolar transistors; junction temperature; life-test experiments; mean time to failure; molecular beam epitaxy; stability; Acceleration; Current density; Doping; Heterojunction bipolar transistors; Molecular beam epitaxial growth; Stability; Temperature; Thermal degradation; Thermal resistance; Voltage;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Electron Devices, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9383

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/16.249462

Filename

249462