An analysis of small-signal and large-signal base resistances for submicrometer BJT's

Small-signal and large-signal base resistances for submicrometer BJT's have been analyzed in detail by using a two-dimensional device simulator. It has been clarified that the small-signal base resistance cannot be obtained from the input impedance semicircle in the complex plane accurately due to the effect of the emitter resistance at low frequencies, and also due to the reduction of the base-emitter junction resistance and the diffusion capacitance at high frequencies. A new method for extracting an accurate value of the small-signal base resistance is proposed. The extracted small-signal base resistance not only differed from the large-signal base resistance extracted from the dc characteristics of a BJT, but also agreed with the differential resistance. It has been shown that, for a 0.6 /spl mu/m emitter-width BJT, the measured value of the small-signal base resistance is less than half that of the large-signal base resistance in the bias region in which actual BJT circuits operate.<
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