A high-gain GaAs/AlGaAs n-p-n heterojunction bipolar transistor on

High-gain GaAs/AlGaAs n-p-n heterojunction bipolar transistors (HBT's) on Si substrates grown by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) have been fabricated and tested. In this structure, an n/sup +/-InAs emitter cap layer was grown in order to achieve a nonalloyed ohmic contact. Typical devices with an emitter dimension of 50*50 mu m/sup 2/ exhibited a current gain as high as 45 at a collector current density of 2*10/sup 3/ A/cm/sup 2/ with an ideality factor of 1.4. This is the highest current gain reported for HBT's grown on Si substrates. Breakdown voltages as high as 10 and 15 V were observed for the emitter-base and collector-base junctions respectively. The investigation on devices with varying emitter dimensions demonstrates that much higher current gains can be expected.<
>