InGaPHBT technology for RF and microwave instrumentation

An InGaP emitter HBT IC process developed for RF and microwave instrumentat ion is described. The process is based on MOCVD epitaxial material, 1 mu m critical dimension (CD), G-line, stepper aligned lithography and SiCl4 base d reactive ion etching. F-t and F-max values of 65 and 75 GHz, respectively are achieved. The HBT technology is well suited for instrument application s in that it can simultaneously achieve both excellent reliability and high performance in terms of broad bandwidth, low phase noise, high gain and li nearity. Circuits designed in the process include a Darlington feedback amp lifier, which achieves 9.8 dB gain from de to 20 GHz and de to 16 GHz divid ers. The circuits have been utilized in numerous instrument applications an d have resulted in improvements in dynamic range, bandwidth and time-domain jitter. Extensive reliability testing of the InGaP emitter process indicat es that MTTF values at T-j = 150 degrees C and J(C) = 6 x 10(4) A/cm(2) are greater than 4 x 10(5) h and are an order of magnitude larger than MTTF va lues for AlGaAs emitter devices. (C) 1999 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd . All rights reserved.