Improved circuit technique to reduce h/sub fe/ degradation in bipolar output drivers

h/sub fe/ degradation in bipolar transistors caused by reverse V/sub be/ stress decreases the reliability of BiCMOS circuits. In this paper, we present an improved circuit technique to limit reverse V/sub be/, and thus significantly increase BiCMOS reliability. The technique also reduces the base-emitter breakdown voltage constraint on BiCMOS technology design.>