INVESTIGATION OF AN ALINAS GAINAS SUPERLATTICE-CONFINED EMITTER BIPOLAR-TRANSISTOR (SCEBT)/

A new AlInAs/GaInAs superlattice-confined emitter bipolar transistor ( SCEBT) structure with a 20-period superlattice confinement layer has b een successfully fabricated and demonstrated. In the studied SCEBT, th e 20-period AlInAs/GaInAs superlattice confinement layer is employed t o provide the electron injection through emitter-base (E-B) homojuncti on and block the hole back injection from base to emitter. An extremel y small offset voltage of 61 mV and the common-emitter current gain ab out 25 have been obtained at room temperature. From experimental resul ts, it is seen that the potential spike at the effective E-B junction is negligible. So, the proposed device provides a good promise for pra ctical circuit applications. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science S.A. All rights reserved.