Electron cyclotron resonance hydrogen and nitrogen plasma surface passivation of AlGaAs/GaAs heterojunction bipolar transistors

Abstract

Electron cyclotron resonance (ECR) hydrogen (H) and nitrogen (N) plasma surface passivation on an AlGaAs/GaAs heterojunction bipolar transistor (HBT) is reported. As a result of the plasma processing, the base current ideality factor is improved from 2.67 to 1.96, and the maximum current gain is increased from 720 to 1000. In the low-current regime, the base current is reduced by two orders of magnitude. The nitride layer grown by nitrogen plasma passivates the GaAs surface and appears to be thermally stable without significant degradation.< <ETX xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">&gt;</ETX>