InAs bipolar transistors: a path to high-performance cryogenic electronics

Author

Dodd, Paul E. ; Melloch, M.R. ; Lundstrom, Mark S. ; Woodall, Jerry M. ; Pettit, D.

Author_Institution

Sch. of Electr. Eng., Purdue Univ., West Lafayette, IN

Volume

40

Issue

11

fYear

1993

fDate

11/1/1993 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

2141

Abstract

Summary form only given. The authors present the first demonstration of npn InAs bipolar transistors operating under room temperature and cryogenic conditions. The development of InAs HBTs (heterojunction bipolar transistors) has been hindered by the lack of a suitable wide bandgap emitter. This problem is circumvented by using the pseudo-HBT concept, which relies on the Burnstein shift to effectively widen the bandgap in the n-emitter and bandgap narrowing in the heavily doped p-type base to effectively shrink the base bandgap. For low temperature operation, the resulting bandgap difference should be more than sufficient for a wide-gap emitter as demonstrated by the current gains of more than 100 observed in GaAs pseudo-HBTs operating at 35 K

Keywords

III-V semiconductors; cryogenics; heterojunction bipolar transistors; indium compounds; 35 K; Burnstein shift; InAs bipolar transistor; bandgap narrowing; current gains; heavily doped p-type base; heterojunction bipolar transistors; high-performance cryogenic electronics; pseudo-HBT concept; semiconductor; wide bandgap emitter; Bipolar transistors; Circuit testing; Cryogenic electronics; Electronic equipment testing; Indium phosphide; Leakage current; Photonic band gap; Substrates; Temperature; Tunneling;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Electron Devices, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9383

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/16.239828

Filename

239828