Complementary thin-base symmetric lateral bipolar transistors on SOI

Abstract

CMOS and bipolar technologies are intrinsically distinct. To take advantage of the beneficial attributes of both will drive expensive high mask count processes. We present a bipolar device architecture that will naturally integrate into an existing CMOS process flow without adding the complexity of vertical scaling present in the conventional high performance bipolar technologies. Symmetric thin-base silicon on insulator (SOI) lateral bipolar transistor is proposed. It overcomes the problems associated with conventional bipolar transistors including performance degradation at high current density and slow switching speed in saturation and fabricated samples show immunity to base-push-out effect. Simulation results suggest that THz f <inf xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">MAX</inf> is possible with current lithography capability and SOI thickness of 20 nm. Primary applications for low voltage and memory applications are discussed.