Novel npn bipolar transistor with high gain, high Early voltage, and high BVceo in an advanced SmartMOS technology

Abstract

A high performance npn bipolar transistor has been demonstrated in a 0.13μm SOI SmartMOS™ technology. This novel bipolar transistor consists of a shallow emitter confined by shallow trench isolation (STI), a base with multiple regions each serving a different purpose without compromising one another, and a lightly doped collector region surrounded by continuous p-type regions biased with the base potential. The base region below the emitter has a relatively low dopant concentration and is crucial to the carrier transport; the relatively more heavily-doped and deep base region between the emitter and collector effectively confines the depletion of the collector; and the p-type region above the collector as well as the p-epi surrounding the collector enable the collector to be fully depleted when the collector is biased high. Attributed to these unique features, the npn bipolar transistor exhibits superior characteristics, including a high current gain of 83, a high Early voltage of 1750V, and a high BVceo of 59V.