SEM and TEM observations of emitter‐collector pipes in bipolar transistors

Abstract

SUMMARY The EBIC mode of the SEM has been used to identify the sites of emitter—collector pipes in diffused npn bipolar transistors. After thinning, the same devices were studied in the TEM at 1 MV. A one‐to‐one correlation was found between the sites of the pipes and the arms of complex dislocations originating from the emitter diffusion‐induced dislocation network and looping down into the collector. The white EBIC contrast at pipes was often accompanied by adjacent black contrast due to the recombination of electrons at parts of the dislocation in the base region.