Heterojunction bipolar transistor

The heterojunction bipolar transistor (HBT) is a type
of bipolar junction transistor (BJT) which uses diering
semiconductor materials for the emitter and base regions,
creating a heterojunction. The HBT improves on the BJT
in that it can handle signals of very high frequencies, up
to several hundred GHz. It is commonly used in modern
ultrafast circuits, mostly radio-frequency (RF) systems,
and in applications requiring a high power eciency, such
as RF power ampliers in cellular phones. The idea of
employing a heterojunction is as old as the conventional
BJT, dating back to a patent from 1951.[1]
arsenide, and indium phosphide / indium gallium ar-
senide are used for the epitaxial layers. Wide-bandgap
semiconductors such as gallium nitride and indium gal-
lium nitride are especially promising.
In SiGe graded heterostructure transistors, the amount of
germanium in the base is graded, making the bandgap
narrower at the collector than at the emitter. That taper-
ing of the bandgap leads to a eld-assisted transport in
the base, which speeds transport through the base and in-
creases frequency response.

2 Fabrication
1 Materials
Due to the need to manufacture HBT devices with ex-
tremely high-doped thin base layers, molecular beam epi-
n G taxy is principally employed. In addition to base, emitter
and collector layers, highly doped layers are deposited on
p either side of collector and emitter to facilitate an ohmic
n contact, which are placed on the contact layers after expo-
sure by photolithography and etching. The contact layer
underneath the collector, named subcollector, is an active
p part of the transistor.
n Other techniques are used depending on the material sys-
tem. IBM and others use UHV CVD for SiGe; other
techniques used include MOVPE for III-V systems.
Normally the epitaxial layers are lattice matched (which
Bands in graded heterojunction npn bipolar transistor. Barriers
restricts the choice of bandgap etc). If they are near-
indicated for electrons to move from emitter to base, and for holes
to be injected backward from base to emitter; Also, grading of
lattice-matched the device is pseudomorphic, and if the
bandgap in base assists electron transport in base region; Light layers are unmatched (often separated by a thin buer
colors indicate depleted regions. layer) it is metamorphic.

The principal dierence between the BJT and HBT is

in the use of diering semiconductor materials for the 3 Limits
emitter-base junction and the base-collector junction,
creating a heterojunction. The eect is to limit the injec- A pseudomorphic heterojunction bipolar transistor devel-
tion of holes from the base into the emitter region, since oped at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign,
the potential barrier in the valence band is higher than in built from indium phosphide and indium gallium arsenide
the conduction band. Unlike BJT technology, this allows and designed with compositionally graded collector, base
a high doping density to be used in the base, reducing the and emitter, was demonstrated to cut o at a speed of 710
base resistance while maintaining gain. The eciency of GHz.[3][4]
the heterojunction is measured by the Kroemer factor,[2] Besides being record breakers in terms of speed, HBTs
named after Herbert Kroemer who was awarded a Nobel made of InP/InGaAs are ideal for monolithic optoelec-
Prize in 2000 for his work in this eld at the University tronic integrated circuits. A PIN-type photo detector is
of California, Santa Barbara. formed by the base-collector-subcollector layers. The
Materials used for the substrate include silicon, gallium bandgap of InGaAs works well for detecting 1550 nm-
arsenide, and indium phosphide, while silicon / silicon- wavelength infrared laser signals used in optical commu-
germanium alloys, aluminium gallium arsenide / gallium nication systems. Biasing the HBT to obtain an active de-

1
2 6 EXTERNAL LINKS

vice, a photo transistor with high internal gain is obtained.

Among other HBT applications are mixed signal circuits
such as analog-to-digital and digital-to-analog converters.

4 See also
High electron mobility transistor (HEMT)

MESFET

5 References
[1] W. Shockley: 'Circuit Element Utilizing Semiconductive
Material', United States Patent 2,569,347, 1951.

[2] The phototransistor eect: The Kroemer factor is a func-

tion of the physical parameters of the materials making up
the heterojunction, and can be expressed in the following
way [formula given]"

[3] 12.5 nm base pseudomorphic heterojunction bipo-

lar transistors achieving fT=710GHz fT=710GHz and
fMAX=340GHz Hafez et al, Appl. Phys. Lett. 87,
252109, 2005 doi:10.1063/1.2149510

[4] Indium Phosphide: Transcending frequency and integra-

tion limits. Semiconductor Today. Vol 1 Issue 3. Sept
2006

6 External links
NCSR HBT at the Wayback Machine (archived
April 4, 2008)

HBT Optoelectronic Circuits developed in the Tech-

nion (15Mb, 230p)
New Material Structure Produces Worlds Fastest
Transistor 604 GHz Early 2005
 3

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