Electrical determination of bandgap narrowing in bipolar transistors with epitaxial Si, epitaxial Si/sub 1-x/Ge/sub x/, and ion implanted bases

The apparent bandgap narrowing in bipolar transistors with epitaxial Si, epitaxial SiGe and ion implanted bases is measured from the temperature dependence of the collector current density J/sub c/(T). A graph of InJ/sub c/(T)/J/sub o/(T) as a function of reciprocal temperature is plotted, and the apparent bandgap narrowing obtained from the slope. For epitaxial base transistors, in which the boron base profiles are abrupt, a linear J/sub c/(T)/J/sub o/(T) characteristic is obtained, which allows the unambiguous determination of the apparent bandgap narrowing. The measured values for epitaxial Si bases are in good agreement with the theoretical model of Klaassen over a range of base doping concentrations. For Si/sub 0.88/Ge/sub 0.12/ and Si/sub 0.87/Ge/sub 0.13/ epitaxial base heterojunction bipolar transistors (HBT's), values of bandgap narrowing of 119 and 121 meV are obtained due to the presence of the Ge, which can be compared with theoretical values of 111 and 118 meV. For the implanted base transistor, the J/sub c/(T)/J/sub o/(T) characteristic is not linear, and its slope is larger at high temperatures than at low. This behaviour is explained by the presence of a tail on the ion implanted profile, which dominates the Gummel number of the transistor at low temperatures.