Extraction of the intrinsic base region sheet resistance in bipolar transistors

A new method for extracting the intrinsic base sheet resistance in bipolar transistors is presented. In contrast to existing methods, which give the sheet resistance at a given forward bias, the method proposed here allows the determination of the zero-bias sheet resistance of the intrinsic base which is an important parameter in both process characterization and circuit design. Furthermore, the new method is not restricted to a narrow range of biases and emitter widths as in existing methods, since the effects of current crowding, base conductivity modulation and base width modulation are accurately taken into account in the extraction procedure.