A New InP/InGaAs Double Heterojunction Bipolar Transistor With a Step-Graded InAlGaAs Collector Structure

Abstract

An interesting InP/InGaAs double heterojunction bipolar transistor with a step-graded InAlGaAs layer at the base-collector (B-C) heterojunction is fabricated and studied. Simulated results reveal that the potential spike at the B-C heterointerface is completely eliminated. Experimentally, the operation regime is wider than 11 decades in magnitude of the collector current (I C = 10 −12 A to I C = 10 −1 A). Furthermore, the studied device exhibits a relatively high common-emitter breakdown voltage and low output conductance even at high temperature. In the microwave characteristics, the unity current gain cutoff frequency f T = 72.7 GHz and the maximum oscillation frequency f max = 50 GHz are achieved for a nonoptimized device (A E = 6 × 6 µm 2 ).