Investigation of double-emitter reduced-surface-field horizontal current bipolar transistor breakdown mechanisms

Breakdown behavior of double-emitter reduced-surface-field horizontal current bipolar transistor is extensively analyzed by measurements and 3D device simulations. By the addition of the 2nd drift region, BV
_CEO
of double-emitter structure is improved from 12 V up to 36 V and can be tuned by the length of the drift region. By increasing the length of the drift region, positive feedback loop of the common-emitter soft-breakdown can be completely broken making the BV
_CEO
independent on transistor current gain. Transistors with BV
_CEO
and BV
_CBO
equal to the collector-substrate breakdown voltage are demonstrated. We also report that base current reversal in forced-V
_BE
measurement does not occur and cannot be used for accurate determination of BV
_CEO
of analyzed structures.