Maximum safe reverse emitter voltage in bipolar transistors for reliable 10 year operation

Author

Scarpulla, John ; Dunkley, James ; Lemke, Steven ; Sabin, Edwin ; Young, Mike

Author_Institution

Silicon Syst. Inc., Tustin, CA, USA

fYear

1997

fDate

8-10 Apr 1997

Firstpage

34

Lastpage

43

Abstract

Bipolar transistors used in applications such as read/write amplifiers are subjected to reverse emitter-base stress. This stress degrades the current gain of the transistor which ultimately can lead to circuit failure. We have developed a method by which an acceptable level of degradation may be specified based upon circuit considerations. A statistical model is then used to determine the maximum allowed emitter base reverse stress voltage. The model allows the specification of the allowed fraction of failures (for example, 1000 ppm) after a specified time (for example, 10 years). The derivation of the statistical model and its application to two types of bipolar transistors are shown

Keywords

bipolar transistors; failure analysis; semiconductor device models; semiconductor device reliability; statistical analysis; 10 year; bipolar transistors; circuit failure; current gain degradation; fraction of failures; maximum safe reverse emitter voltage; read/write amplifiers; reliable 10 year operation; reverse emitter-base stress; statistical model; Bipolar transistors; Circuits; Current density; Degradation; Electric breakdown; Operational amplifiers; Predictive models; Silicon; Stress; Voltage;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Reliability Physics Symposium, 1997. 35th Annual Proceedings., IEEE International

Conference_Location

Denver, CO

Print_ISBN

0-7803-3575-9

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/RELPHY.1997.584231

Filename

584231