Extrinsic base surface passivation in GaInP/GaAs heterojunction bipolar transistors

Author

Liu, William ; Beam, Edward ; Henderson, Timothy ; Fan, Shou-Kong

Author_Institution

Texas Instrum. Inc., Dallas, TX, USA

Volume

14

Issue

6

fYear

1993

fDate

6/1/1993 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

301

Lastpage

303

Abstract

The authors demonstrate excellent passivation of the extrinsic base surfaces in GaInP/GaAs heterojunction bipolar transistors (HBTs) having small emitter areas. Passivated devices with an area as small as 4*20 mu m/sup 2/ exhibit the highest reported current gain value of 2690 for GaInP/GaAs HBTs, while unpassivated 4*20- mu m/sup 2/ devices exhibit a current gain of only 500. Measured current gains as a function of collector current density are almost identical for devices with varying emitter widths of 4, 6, 8, 12, 16, and 100 mu m. The current gains are also nearly identical for devices with varying passivation ledge widths of 1, 2, 3, and 6 mu m. These results are contrasted with those of a previously published study reporting surface passivation for a GaInP/GaAs HBT with a large emitter area.<>

Keywords

III-V semiconductors; gallium arsenide; gallium compounds; heterojunction bipolar transistors; indium compounds; passivation; 1 to 6 micron; 4 to 100 micron; GaInP-GaAs; HBTs; collector current density; current gain; emitter widths; extrinsic base surface passivation; heterojunction bipolar transistors; passivation ledge widths; Current density; Current measurement; Degradation; Density measurement; Gain measurement; Gallium arsenide; Gold; Heterojunction bipolar transistors; Molecular beam epitaxial growth; Passivation;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Electron Device Letters, IEEE

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0741-3106

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/55.215205

Filename

215205