Evidence of failure at high temperatures by metal penetration in Al/sub 0.3/Ga/sub 0.22/In/sub 0.48/P/GaAs HBTs

作者：W.M. Shu, W.D. Gu, J. Wu, Guoqi Xia, P.A. Houston · 年份：2002 · DOI：10.1109/icsict.1998.785961 · 研究领域：Advancements in Semiconductor Devices and Circuit Design、Semiconductor materials and devices、Semiconductor Quantum Structures and Devices

Al/sub x/Ga/sub 0.52-x/In/sub 0.48/P/GaAs HBTs have both high gain and excellent temperature stability due to the large valence bandgap. In this paper, the transfer characteristics of an Al/sub 0.3/Ga/sub 0.22/In/sub 0.48/P/GaAs HBT device are measured at 673 K to show good performance at the beginning but degrade rapidly until it fails unrecoverably. Measurements of the emitter-base diode and base-collector diode characteristics show that the collector junction fails prior to the emitter junction. The reason lies in the metal penetration of the base ohmic contact through the thin base, which is proved by the secondary ion mass spectroscopy.