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.

Laser-Induced Single Event Transients in Local Oxidation of Silicon and Deep Trench Isolation Silicon-Germanium Heterojunction Bipolar Transistors

We present a study on the single event transient （SET） induced by a pulsed laser in different silicon-germanium （SiGe） heterojunction bipolar transistors （HBTs） with the structure of local oxidation of silicon （LOCOS） and deep trench isolation （DTI）. The experimental results are discussed in detail and it is demonstrated that a SiGe HBT with the structure of LOCOS is more sensitive than the DTI SiGe HBT in the SET. Because of the limitation of the DTI structure, the charge collection of diffusion in the DTI SiGe HBT is less than that of the LOCOS SiGe HBT. The SET sensitive area of the LOCOS SiGe HBT is located in the eollector-substrate （C/S） junction, while the sensitive area of the DTI SiGe HBT is located near to the collector electrodes.

Analytical base collector depletion capacitance in vertical SiGe heterojunction bipolar transistors fabricated on CMOS-compatible silicon on insulator

The base-collector depletion capacitance for vertical SiGe npn heterojunction bipolar transistors （HBTs） on silicon on insulator （SOI） is split into vertical and lateral parts. This paper proposes a novel analytical depletion capacitance model of this structure for the first time. A large discrepancy is predicted when the present model is compared with the conventional depletion model, and it is shown that the capacitance decreases with the increase of the reverse collector- base bias-and shows a kink as the reverse collector-base bias reaches the effective vertical punch-through voltage while the voltage differs with the collector doping concentrations, which is consistent with measurement results. The model can be employed for a fast evaluation of the depletion capacitance of an SOI SiGe HBT and has useful applications on the design and simulation of high performance SiGe circuits and devices.

Physical modeling based on hydrodynamic simulation for the design of InGaAs/InP double heterojunction bipolar transistors

A physical model for scaling and optimizing InGaAs/InP double heterojunction bipolar transistors（DHBTs） based on hydrodynamic simulation is developed.The model is based on the hydrodynamic equation,which can accurately describe non-equilibrium conditions such as quasi-ballistic transport in the thin base and the velocity overshoot effect in the depleted collector.In addition,the model accounts for several physical effects such as bandgap narrowing,variable effective mass,and doping-dependent mobility at high fields.Good agreement between the measured and simulated values of cutoff frequency,f t,and maximum oscillation frequency,f max,are achieved for lateral and vertical device scalings.It is shown that the model in this paper is appropriate for downscaling and designing InGaAs/InP DHBTs.

Hardening measures for bipolar transistors against microwave-induced damage

In the present paper we study the influences of the bias voltage and the external components on the damage progress of a bipolar transistor induced by high-power microwaves. The mechanism is presented by analyzing the variation in the internal distribution of the temperature in the device. The findings show that the device becomes less vulnerable to damage with an increase in bias voltage. Both the series diode at the base and the relatively low series resistance at the emitter, Re, can obviously prolong the burnout time of the device. However, Re will aid damage to the device when the value is sufficiently high due to the fact that the highest hot spot shifts from the base-emitter junction to the base region. Moreover, the series resistance at the base Rb will weaken the capability of the device to withstand microwave damage.

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.

Early effect modeling of silicon-on-insulator SiGe heterojunction bipolar transistors

Silicon germanium （SiGe） heterojunction bipolar transistor （HBT） on thin silicon-on-insulator （SOI） has recently been demonstrated and integrated into the latest SOI BiCMOS technology. The Early effect of the SOI SiGe HBT is analysed considering vertical and horizontal collector depletion, which is different from that of a bulk counterpart. A new compact formula of the Early voltage is presented and validated by an ISE TCAD simulation. The Early voltage shows a kink with the increase of the reverse base-collector bias. Large differences are observed between SOI devices and their bulk counterparts. The presented Early effect model can be employed for a fast evaluation of the Early voltage and is useful to the design, the simulation and the fabrication of high performance SOI SiCe devices and circuits.

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.

Angular dependence of proton-induced single event transient in silicon-germanium heterojunction bipolar transistors

We investigate the angular dependence of proton-induced single event transient(SET) in silicon-germanium heterojunction bipolar transistors. Experimental results show that the overall SET cross section is almost independent of proton incident angle. However, the proportion of SET events with long duration and high integral charge collection grows significantly with the increasing angle. Monte Carlo simulations demonstrate that the integral cross section of proton incident events with high ionizing energy deposition in the sensitive volume tends to be higher at larger incident angles, which is associated with the angular distribution of proton-induced secondary particles and the geometry of sensitive volume.

A device model for thin silicon-on-insulator SiGe heterojunction bipolar transistors with saturation effects

In this paper, we describe the saturation effect of a silicon germanium （SiGe） heterojunction bipolar transistor （HBT） fabricated on a thin silicon-on-insulator （SOI） with a step-by-step derivation of the model formulation. The collector injection width, the internal base-collector bias, and the hole density at the base-collector junction interface are analysed by considering the unique features of the internal and the external parts of the collector, as they are different from those of a bulk counterpart.

Thermal resistance matrix representation of thermal effects and thermal design in multi-finger power heterojunction bipolar transistors

The thermal resistance matrix including self-heating thermal resistance and thermal coupling resistance is presented to describe the thermal effects of multi-finger power heterojunction bipolar transistors. The dependence of thermal resistance matrix on finger spacing is also investigated. It is shown that both self-heating thermal resistance and thermal coupling resistance are lowered by increasing the finger spacing, in which the downward dissipated heat path is widened and the heat flow from adjacent fingers is effectively suppressed. The decrease of self-heating thermal resistance and thermal coupling resistance is helpful for improving the thermal stability of power devices. Furthermore, with the aid of the thermal resistance matrix a 10-finger power heterojunction bipolar transistor （HBT） with non-uniform finger spacing is designed for high thermal stability. The optimized structure can effectively lower the peak temperature while maintaining a uniformity of the temperature profile at various biases and thus the device effectively may operate at a higher power level.

An electromagnetic simulation assisted small signal modeling method for InP double-heterojunction bipolar transistors

We present a convenient and practical electromagnetic(EM)assisted small-signal model extraction method for InP double-heterojunction bipolar transistors(DHBTs).Parasitic parameters of pad and electrode fingers are extracted by means of 3D EM simulation.The simulations with a new excitation scheme are closer to the actual on-wafer measurement conditions.Appropriate simulation settings are calibrated by comparing measurement and simulation of OPEN and SHORT structures.A simplerπ-type topology is proposed for the intrinsic model,in which the base-collector resistance Rμ,output resistance Rce are deleted,and a capacitance Cce is introduced to characterize the capacitive parasitic caused by the collector finger and emitter ground bar.The intrinsic parameters are all extracted by exact equations that are derived from rigorous mathematics.The method is characterized by its ease of implementation and the explicit physical meaning of extraction procedure.Experimental validations are performed at four biases for three InGaAs/InP HBT devices with 0.8×7μm,0.8×10μm and 0.8×15μm emitter,and quite good fitting results are obtained in the range of 0.1-50 GHz.

Designing power heterojunction bipolar transistors with non-uniform emitter finger lengths to achieve high thermal stability

With the aid of a thermal-electrical model, a practical method for designing multi-finger power heterojunction bipolar transistors with finger lengths divided in groups is proposed. The method can effectively enhance the thermal stability of the devices without sacrificing the design time. Taking a 40-finger heterojunction bipolar transistor for example, the device with non-uniform emitter finger lengths is optimized and fabricated. Both the theoretical and the experimental results show that, for the optimum device, the peak temperature is lowered by 26.19 K and the maximum temperature difference is reduced by 56.67% when compared with the conventional heterojunction bipolar transistor with uniform emitter finger length. Furthermore, the ability to improve the uniformity of the temperature profile and to expand the thermal stable operation range is strengthened as the power level increases, which is ascribed to the improvement of the thermal resistance in the optimum device. A detailed design procedure is also summarized to provide a general guide for designing power heterojunction bipolar transistors with non-uniform finger lengths.

Weak avalanche multiplication in SiGe heterojunction bipolar transistors on thin film silicon-on-insulator

In this paper, we propose an analytical avalanche multiplication model for the next generation of SiGe silicon- on-insulator （SOI） heterojunction bipolar transistors （HBTs） and consider their vertical and lateral impact ionizations for the first time. Supported by experimental data, the analytical model predicts that the avalanche multiplication governed by impact ionization shows kinks and the impact ionization effect is small compared with that of the bulk HBT, resulting in a larger base-collector breakdown voltage. The model presented in the paper is significant and has useful applications in the design and simulation of the next generation of SiCe SOI BiCMOS technology.

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.

Machine learning-based analyses for total ionizing dose effects in bipolar junction transistors

Machine learning methods have proven to be powerful in various research fields.In this paper,we show that research on radiation effects could benefit from such methods and present a machine learning-based scientific discovery approach.The total ionizing dose(TID)effects usually cause gain degradation of bipolar junction transistors(BJTs),leading to functional failures of bipolar integrated circuits.Currently,many experiments of TID effects on BJTs have been conducted at different laboratories worldwide,producing a large amount of experimental data which provides a wealth of information.However,it is difficult to utilize these data effectively.In this study,we proposed a new artificial neural network(ANN)approach to analyze the experimental data of TID effects on BJTs An ANN model was built and trained using data collected from different experiments.The results indicate that the proposed ANN model has advantages in capturing nonlinear correlations and predicting the data.The trained ANN model suggests that the TID hardness of a BJT tends to increase with base current I.A possible cause for this finding was analyzed and confirmed through irradiation experiments.

High breakdown voltage InGaAs/InP double heterojunction bipolar transistors with f_(max)=256 GHz and BV_(CEO)= 8.3 V

An InGaAs/InP DHBT with an InGaAsP composite collector is designed and fabricated using triple mesa structural and planarization technology. All processes are on 3-inch wafers. The DHBT with an emitter area of 1×15 μm2 exhibits a current cutoff frequency ft = 170 GHz and a maximum oscillation frequency fmax = 256 GHz. The breakdown voltage is 8.3 V, which is to our knowledge the highest BVcEo ever reported for InGaAs/InP DHBTs in China with comparable high frequency performances. The high speed InGaAs/InP DHBTs with high breakdown voltage are promising for voltage-controlled oscillator and mixer applications at W band or even higher frequencies.

Radiation-induced 1/f noise degradation of PNP bipolar junction transistors at different dose rates

It is found that ionizing-radiation can lead to the base current and the 1/f noise degradations in PNP bipolar junction transistors. In this paper, it is suggested that the surface of the space charge region of the emitter-base junction is the main source of the base surface 1/f noise. A model is developed which identifies the parameters and describes their interactive contributions to the recombination current at the surface of the space charge region. Based on the theory of carrier number fluctuation and the model of surface recombination current, a 1/f noise model is developed. This model suggests that 1/f noise degradations are the result of the accumulation of oxide-trapped charges and interface states. Combining models of ELDRS, this model can explain the reason why the 1/f noise degradation is more severe at a low dose rate than at a high dose rate. The radiations were performed in a Co60 source up to a total dose of 700 Gy（Si）. The low dose rate was 0.001 Gy（Si）/s and the high dose rate was 0.1 Gy（Si）/s. The model accords well with the experimental results.

Bulk and surface damages in complementary bipolar junction transistors produced by high dose irradiation

Two complementary types NPN and PNP of bipolar junction transistors （BJTs） were exposed to higll dose of neutrons and gamma rays. The change in the base and collector currents, minority carriers lifetime, and current gain factor/3 with respect to the dose were analyzed. The contributions of the base current according to the defect types were also reported. It was declared that the radiation effect of neutrons was almost similar between the two transistor types, this effect at high dose may decrease the value of/3 to less than one. The Messenger-Spratt equation was used to describe the experimental results in this case. However, the experimental data demonstrated that the effect of gamma rays was generally higher on NPN than PNP transistors. This is mainly attributed to the difference in the behavior of the trapped positive charges in the SiO2 layers. Meanwhile, this difference tends to be small for high gamma dose.

Radiation effects of 50-MeV protons on PNP bipolar junction transistors

The effects of radiation on 3 CG110 PNP bipolar junction transistors(BJTs)are characterized using 50-Me V protons,40-Me V Si ions,and 1-Me V electrons.In this paper,electrical characteristics and deep level transient spectroscopy(DLTS)are utilized to analyze radiation defects induced by ionization and displacement damage.The experimental results show a degradation of the current gain and an increase in the types of radiation defect with increasing fluences of 50-Me V protons.Moreover,by comparing the types of damage caused by different radiation sources,the characteristics of the radiation defects induced by irradiation show that 50-Me V proton irradiation can produce both ionization and displacement defects in the 3 CG110 PNP BJTs,in contrast to 40-Me V Si ions,which mainly generate displacement defects,and 1-Me V electrons,which mainly produce ionization defects.This work provides direct evidence of a synergistic effect between the ionization and displacement defects caused in PNP BJTs by 50-Me V protons.