Mechanically Strained Si–SiGe HBTs

Abstract

The current gain (/spl beta/=I/sub C//I/sub B/) variations of the mechanically strained Si-SiGe heterojunction bipolar transistor (HBT) and Si bipolar junction transistor (BJT) devices are investigated experimentally and theoretically. The /spl beta/ change of HBT is found to be 4.2% and -7.8 under the biaxial compressive and tensile mechanical strain of 0.028%, respectively. For comparison, there are 4.9% and -5.0 /spl beta/ variations for BJT under the biaxial compressive and tensile mechanical strain of 0.028%, respectively. In HBT, the mechanical stress is competing with the compressive strain of SiGe base, inherited from the lattice misfit between SiGe and Si. The current change due to externally mechanical stress is the combinational effects of the dependence of the mobility and the intrinsic carrier concentration on strain.