High speed AlGaAs/GaAs complementary HBT technology realized by multiple MBE growth and merged processing

Abstract

A high-performance monolithic Npn/Pnp complementary HBT (heterojunction bipolar transistor) technology involving multiple MBE (molecular beam epitaxy) growths has been developed. Many of the process steps have been merged to simplify concurrent fabrication of Npn and Pnp devices. Pnp devices exhibit f/sub T/=20 GHz and f/sub max/=19 GHz. Npn devices show f/sub T/=51 GHz and f/sub max/=60 GHz. These cutoff frequencies are 2 to 3 times values previously reported for monolithically integrated Npn and Pnp devices. For the first time, integrated circuits operating at microwave frequencies have been fabricated from both types of devices on the same wafer. Npn-based direct coupled feedback amplifiers (gain blocks) show a gain of 11 dB and a 3-dB bandwidth of 12 GHz. Pnp-based gain blocks show a gain of 8 dB and a 3-dB bandwidth of 6 GHz.<>