Minority carrier properties of carbon-doped GaInAsN bipolar transistors

We have developed an InGaP/GaInAsN/GaAs double heterojunction bipolar transistor technology that substantially improves upon existing GaAs-based HBTs. Band-gap engineering with dilute nitride GaInAsN alloys is utilized to enhance a variety of key device characteristics, including lower operating voltages, improved temperature stability and increased RF performance. Furthermore, GaInAsN-based HBTs are fully compatible with existing high-volume MOVPE and IC fabrication processes. While poor lifetimes have limited the applicability of dilute nitride materials in photovoltaic applications, we achieve minority carrier characteristics that approach those of conventional GaAs HBTs. We have found that a combination of growth algorithm optimization and compositional grading are critical for improving minority carrier properties in GaInAsN. In this work, we characterize the impact of both carbon and nitrogen doping on minority carrier lifetimes in GaInAsN base layers. Minority carrier lifetimes are extracted from direct measurements on bipolar transistor device structures. Specifically, lifetime is derived from the DC current gain, or β, taken in the bias regime dominated by neutral base recombination. Lifetimes extracted using this technique are observed to be inversely proportional to both carbon and nitrogen doping. As with conventional C-doped GaAs HBTs, current soaking (i.e. burn-in) is found to have a significant impact on GaInAsN HBTs. While we can replicate poor as-grown lifetimes consistent with those reported in photovoltaic dilute nitride materials, our best material to date exhibits nearly 30 × higher lifetime after current soaking.