HOT-CARRIER-INDUCED BIPOLAR-TRANSISTOR DEGRADATION DUE TO BASE DOPANTCOMPENSATION BY HYDROGEN - THEORY AND EXPERIMENT

New experimental and analytical results are presented which show that extrinsic and intrinsic base dopant compensation by hydrogen is respon sible for large changes in the bipolar transistor parameters of emitte r-base breakdown voltage (V(ebo)), forward collector current (I(c)) an d series base resistance (R(bx)) when such transistors are operated un der avalanche and inverted mode stress conditions. A new physical mode l has been developed to explain the observed changes in V(ebo) and I(c ) as a function of stress time, and the analytical results are shown t o be well correlated with the experimental data. Lastly, the effects o f degradation on transistor voltage gain bandwidth (f(max)) and emitte r coupled bipolar comparator delay (tau(delay)) are assessed and discu ssed in terms of circuit performance degradation.