HETEROJUNCTION BIOPLAR TRANSISTOR STRUCTURE WITH GaPSbAs BASE

Abstract

A heterojunction bipolar transistor (HBT) structure with GaPSbAs base is disclosed. The HBT structure generally includes a substrate, a subcollector layer, a collector layer, a base layer, an emitter layer, an emitter cap layer, and a contact layer laminated from bottom to top sequentially, and optionally may further comprise a buffer layer between the substrate and the subcollector layer. The subcollector layer includes heavily-doped GaAs; the collector layer includes GaAs, InGaP, or AlGaAs; the base layer includes GaPAsSb compound; the emitter layer includes InGaP or AlGaAs; the emitter cap layer includes GaAs; the contact layer includes InGaAs; and the substrate includes semi-insulating GaAs. Since the base having GaPSbAs compound has lower band gap energy, the turn-on voltage of the transistors can be reduced. Furthermore, the GaPSbAs can form a type II band alignment with InGaP and AlGaAs emitters, the potential spike of the conduction band at the emitter-base interface is eliminated and thus further reduces the turn-on voltage of the transistors and reduces power consumption. As a result of the type II band alignment, the collector layer can be InGaP, or AlGaAs and other wide band gap materials, which increases the breakdown voltage and reduces the offset voltage and hence improves the power performance of the transistors.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.