Temperature dependence of single-event transients in SiGe heterojunction bipolar transistors for cryogenic applications

We experimentally demonstrate that the dominant mechanism of single-event transients in silicon-germanium heterojunction bipolar transistors(SiGe HBTs)can change with decreasing temperature from+20℃to-180℃.This is accomplished by using a new well-designed cryogenic experimental system suitable for a pulsed-laser platform.Firstly,when the temperature drops from+20℃to-140℃,the increased carrier mobility drives a slight increase in transient amplitude.However,as the temperature decreases further below-140℃,the carrier freeze-out brings about an inflection point,which means the transient amplitude will decrease at cryogenic temperatures.To better understand this result,we analytically calculate the ionization rates of various dopants at different temperatures based on Altermatt's new incomplete ionization model.The parasitic resistivities with temperature on the charge-collection pathway are extracted by a two-dimensional(2D)TCAD process simulation.In addition,we investigate the impact of temperature on the novel electron-injection process from emitter to base under different bias conditions.The increase of the emitter-base junction's barrier height at low temperatures could suppress this electron-injection phenomenon.We have also optimized the built-in voltage equations of a high current compact model(HICUM)by introducing the impact of incomplete ionization.The present results and methods could provide a new reference for effective evaluation of single-event effects in bipolar transistors and circuits at cryogenic temperatures,and could provide a new evidence of the potential of SiGe technology in applications in extreme cryogenic environments.

Comparison of total dose effects on SiGe heterojunction bipolar transistors induced by different swift heavy ion irradiation

The degradations in NPN silicon-germanium （SiGe） heterojunction bipolar transistors （HBTs） were fully studied in this work, by means of 25-MeV Si, 10-MeV C1, 20-MeV Br, and 10-MeV Br ion irradiation, respectively. Electrical parameters such as the base current （IB）, current gain （β）, neutral base recombination （NBR）, and Early voltage （VA） were investigated and used to evaluate the tolerance to heavy ion irradiation. Experimental results demonstrate that device degradations are indeed radiation-source-dependent, and the larger the ion nuclear energy loss is, the more the displacement damages are, and thereby the more serious the performance degradation is. The maximum degradation was observed in the transistors irradiated by 10-MeV Br. For 20-MeV and 10-MeV Br ion irradiation, an unexpected degradation in Ic was observed and Early voltage decreased with increasing ion fluence, and NBR appeared to slow down at high ion fluence. The degradations in SiGe HBTs were mainly attributed to the displacement damages created by heavy ion irradiation in the transistors. The underlying physical mechanisms are analyzed and investigated in detail.

Substrate bias effects on collector resistance in SiGe heterojunction bipolar transistors on thin film silicon-on-insulator

An analytical expression for the co/lector resistance of a novel vertical SiGe heterojunction bipolar transistor （HBT） on thin film silicon-on-insulator （SOI） is obtained with the substrate bias effects being considered. The resistance is found to decrease slowly and then quickly and to have kinks with the increase of the substrate-collector bias, which is quite different from that of a conventional bulk HBT. The model is consistent with the simulation result and the reported data and is useful to the frequency characteristic design of 0.13 μtm millimeter-wave SiGe SOI BiCMOS devices.

Heavy Ion and Laser Microbeam Induced Current Transients in SiGe Heterojunction Bipolar Transistor

Silicon-germanium （SiGe） hereto-junction bipolar transistor current transients induced by pulse laser and heavy iron are measured using a real-time digital oscilloscope. These transients induced by pulse laser and heavy iron exhibit the same waveform and charge collection time except for the amplitude of peak current. Different laser energies and voltage biases under heavy ion irradiation also have impact on current transient, whereas the waveform remains unchanged. The position-correlated current transients suggest that the nature of the current transient is controlled by the behavior of the C/S junction.

A single-event transient induced by a pulsed laser in a silicon-germanium heterojunction bipolar transistor

A study on the single event transient （SET） induced by a pulsed laser in a silicon-germanium （SiGe） heterojunction bipolar transistor （HBT） is presented in this work. The impacts of laser energy and collector load resistance on the SET are investigated in detail. The waveform, amplitude, and width of the SET pulse as well as collected charge are used to characterize the SET response. The experimental results are discussed in detail and it is demonstrated that the laser energy and load resistance significantly affect the SET in the SiGe HBT. Furthermore, the underlying physical mechanisms are analyzed and investigated, and a near-ideal exponential model is proposed for the first time to describe the discharge of laser-induced electrons via collector resistance to collector supply when both base-collector and collector-substrate junctions are reverse biased or weakly forward biased. Besides, it is found that an additional multi-path discharge would play an important role in the SET once the base-collector and collector-substrate junctions get strongly forward biased due to a strong transient step charge by the laser pulse.

Collector optimization for tradeoff between breakdown voltage and cut-off frequency in SiGe HBT

As is well known, there exists a tradeoff between the breakdown voltage BVcEO and the cut-off frequency fT for a standard heterojunction bipolar transistor （HBT）. In this paper, this tradeoff is alleviated by collector doping engineering in the SiGe HBT by utilizing a novel composite of P＋ and N- doping layers inside the collector-base （CB） space-charge region （SCR）. Compared with the single N-type collector, the introduction of the thin P＋ layers provides a reverse electric field weakening the electric field near the CB metallurgical junction without changing the field direction, and the thin N layer further effectively lowers the electric field near the CB metallurgical junction. As a result, the electron temperature near the CB metallurgical junction is lowered, consequently suppressing the impact ionization, thus BVcEO is improved with a slight degradation in fT. The results show that the product of fTXBVcEo is improved from 309.51 GHz.V to 326.35 GHz.V.

Improved high-frequency equivalent circuit model based on distributed effects for SiGe HBTs with CBE layout

In this paper, we present an improved high-frequency equivalent circuit for SiGe heterojunction bipolar transistors（HBTs） with a CBE layout, where we consider the distributed effects along the base region. The actual device structure is divided into three parts： a link base region under a spacer oxide, an intrinsic transistor region under the emitter window,and an extrinsic base region. Each region is considered as a two-port network, and is composed of a distributed resistance and capacitance. We solve the admittance parameters by solving the transmission-line equation. Then, we obtain the smallsignal equivalent circuit depending on the reasonable approximations. Unlike previous compact models, in our proposed model, we introduce an additional internal base node, and the intrinsic base resistance is shifted into this internal base node,which can theoretically explain the anomalous change in the intrinsic bias-dependent collector resistance in the conventional compact model.

Analysis, Design and Implementation of SiGe Wideband Dual-Feedback Low Noise Amplifier

A wideband dual-feedback low noise amplifier （LNA） was analyzed, designed and implemented using SiGe heterojunction bipolar transistor （HBT） technology. The design analysis in terms of gain, input and output matching, noise and poles for the amplifier was presented in detail. The area of the complete chip die, including bonding pads and seal ring, was 655 μm × 495 μm. The on-wafer measurements on the fabricated wideband LNA sample demonstrated good performance： a small-signal power gain of 33 dB with 3-dB bandwidth at 3.3 GHz was achieved; the input and output return losses were better than - 10 dB from 100 MHz to 4 GHz and to 6 GHz, respectively; the noise figure was lower than 4.25 dB from 100 MHz to 6 GHz; with a 5 V supply, the values of OPtdB and OIP3 were 1.7 dBm and 11 dBm at 3-dB bandwidth, respectively.

3-D simulation of angled strike heavy-ion induced charge collection in silicon–germanium heterojunction bipolar transistors

This paper presents 3-D simulation of angled strike heavy-ion induced charge collection in domestic silicon-germanium heterojunction bipolar transistors （SiGe HBTs）. 3D damaged model of SiGe HBTs single-event effects （SEE） is built by TCAD simulation tools to research ions angled strike dependence. We select several different strike angles at variously typical ions strike positions. The charge collection mechanism for each terminal is identified based on analysis of the device structure and simulation results. Charge collection induced by angled strike ions presents a complex situation. Whether the location of device ions enters, as long as ions track through the sensitive volume, it will cause vast charge collection. The amount of charge collection of SiGe HBT is not only related to length of ions track in sensitive volume, but also influenced by STI and distance between ions track and electrodes. The simulation model is useful to research the practical applications of SiGe HBTs in space, and provides a theoretical basis for the further radiation hardening.

Design and optimization of Ge profiles for improved thermal stability of SiGe HBTs

The impact of the three state-of-the-art germanium（Ge） profiles（box,trapezoid and triangular） across the base of SiGe heterojunction bipolar transistors（HBTs） under the condition of the same total amount of Ge on the temperature dependence of current gainβand cut-off frequency f_T,as well as the temperature profile,are investigated.It can be found that although theβof HBT with a box Ge profile is larger than that of the others,it decreases the fastest as the temperature increases,while theβof HBT with a triangular Ge profile is smaller than that of the others,but decreases the slowest as the temperature increases.On the other hand,the f_T of HBT with a trapezoid Ge profile is larger than that of the others,but decreases the fastest as the temperature increases,and the f_T of HBT with a box Ge profile is smaller than that of the others,but decreases the slowest as temperature increases.Furthermore,the peak and surface temperature difference between the emitter fingers of the HBT with a triangular Ge profile is higher than that of the others.Based on these results,a novel segmented step box Ge profile is proposed,which has modestβand f_T,and trades off the temperature sensitivity of current gain and cut-off frequency,and the temperature profile of the device.