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3, MARCH 2006 577

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A Super Beta Bipolar Transistor Using SiGe-Base

Surface Accumulation Layer Transistor
(SALTran) Concept: A Simulation Study
M. Jagadesh Kumar and Preeti Singh

Abstract—Current gain is an important design parameter of bipolar

transistors. While a SiGe base is commonly used to increase the cur-
rent gain, the recently reported surface accumulation layer transistor
(SALTran) concept has been shown to give a similar current gain enhance-
ment. Using two-dimensional numerical simulation studies, we show for
the first time that a combination of the SiGe base and the SALTran concept
can be used to realize super beta bipolar transistors with peak current
gains more than 12000.
Index Terms—Bipolar transistor, current gain, SiGe base, simulation,
surface accumulation layer transistor (SALTran).
I. INTRODUCTION
Bipolar transistors (BJTs) play an important role in analog circuit
Fig. 1. (a) Cross section and (b) doping profiles of SiGe SALTran, SiGe BJT,
Si SALTran, and Si BJT structures.
II. DEVICE STRUCTURE AND SIMULATION METHODOLOGY
The n-p-n bipolar transistor structure, generated using the process
simulator ATHENA [9] and used in our simulations, is shown in
Fig. 1(a). We have considered four cases: 1) SiGe SALTran, 2) SiGe
BJT, 3) Si SALTran, and 4) Si BJT and their corresponding doping
profiles are shown in Fig. 1(b). All four transistor structures have
identical base and collector dopings. To realize the SiGe base, we
have introduced a 14% uniform germanium content in the base region
design. The common–emitter current gain  is one of the important
parameters in the design of bipolar transistors. A large current gain
can be traded off to improve the speed of the device by decreasing
the base width and increasing the base doping [1]. The use of SiGe
base is well known for increasing the current gain of bipolar transistors
[2]. Recently, a new surface accumulation layer transistor (SALTran)
concept has been reported [3]–[8] to increase the current gain of the
bipolar transistors using a lightly doped emitter and an emitter contact
metal with a work function lower than that of the silicon. In this paper,
using two-dimensional simulation, we demonstrate that by combining
the SiGe base (to enhance the collector current) and the SALTran con-
cept (to suppress the base current), we can realize bipolar transistors
with a super beta not reported so far in literature. Our results show
that the current gain of the conventional silicon bipolar transistor with
a current gain of approximately 40 can be increased to approximately
12 800 using the proposed SiGe SALTran structure.
Manuscript received November 14, 2005. The review of this brief was ar-
ranged by Editor J. N. Burghartz.
The authors are with the Department of Electrical Engineering, Indian Insti-
tute of Technology, New Delhi 110 016, India (e-mail: mamidala@ieee.org).
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TED.2005.863538
0018-9383/$20.00 © 2006 IEEE
of the SiGe BJT and SiGe SALTran. The emitter doping of the SiGe
SALTran and Si SALTran structures is fixed at ND = 4 2 1014 cm03 .
The emitter doping of the SiGe BJT and Si BJT structures is fixed at
ND = 5 2 1019 cm03 . In all the four cases, the emitter metal is chosen
to have a work function of 3.9 eV. In the case of Si SALTran, with a
lightly doped emitter, an emitter metal contact with a work function
lower than that of silicon will result in an electron accumulation at the
metal–semiconductor interface resulting in a large electric field which
opposes the movement of holes entering the emitter region from the
base [3]. The electric field, acting as a reflecting boundary at the emitter
contact, reduces the hole current and hence the base current, resulting in
a large current gain enhancement. On the other hand, in a SiGe base BJT,
due to the bandgap difference between the emitter and the base regions,
the potential barrier for electrons moving from the emitter into the
base decreases leading to an increase in the electron current and hence
the collector current, resulting in a large current gain enhancement.
Therefore, if a SiGe base is applied to the Si SALTran, it is expected
that the base current should decrease and the collector current should
increase resulting in a significant current gain enhancement.
III. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
We have used the device simulator ATLAS [10] to evaluate the per-
formance of the above four structures. The models selected for the sim-
ulations include concentration and field dependent mobility, SRH and
578 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ELECTRON DEVICES, VOL. 53, NO. 3, MARCH 2006

Fig. 3. Comparison of (a) Gummel plots and (b) current gain variation of SiGe
SALTran, SiGe BJT, Si SALTran, and Si BJT structures at VCE = 1 V.
Fig. 2. Comparison of (a) alectron concentration and (b) alectric field in the
emitter region of SiGe SALTran, SiGe BJT, Si SALTran, and Si BJT structures.

Auger recombination, bandgap narrowing, and Klassen’s concentra-

tion-dependent lifetime model as discussed in [3]. The work function
of the metal for the emitter contact is 3.9 eV, which is lower than that of
silicon. This forms 1) a tunneling Ohmic contact for the highly doped
emitters (Si BJT and SiGe BJT) and 2) an accumulation of electrons at
the metal contact for the lightly doped emitters (Si SALTran and SiGe
SALTran) as confirmed by the simulation results shown in Fig. 2(a).
The nonuniform distribution of electrons in the case of the Si SALTran
and SiGe SALTran structures results in an electric field, as shown in
Fig. 2(b), which acts as a reflecting boundary opposing the flow of mi-
nority holes from the base into the emitter. The electron accumulation
at the metal–semiconductor interface is observed only in Si SALTran
and SiGe SALTran structures and is more significant in the latter. The
effect of the reflecting boundary in the emitter of SALTran on the col-
lector current and the effect of SiGe base on the base current, can be Fig. 4. Output characteristics of SiGe SALTran.
observed from the Gummel plots shown in Fig. 3(a). In the case of SiGe
BJT and SiGe SALTran, the collector current is larger than that of the Si
BJT due to the emitter–base heterojunction, which reduces the barrier BJT and Si SALTran, making it a useful device for low power applica-
for the electrons moving from the emitter into the base. However, the tions. The simulated output characteristics of the SiGe SALTran shown
base current of Si SALTran and SiGe SALTran is smaller than that of in Fig. 4 indicate a good transconductance and output conductance.
the Si BJT due to the reflecting boundary at the metal–semiconductor
interface. In other words, in the case of SiGe SALtran, the base current IV. CONCLUSION
reduces, and the collector current increases when compared to that of
the Si BJT resulting in a significant current gain enhancement as shown Using two-dimensional simulation, for the first time, we have
in Fig. 3(b). The peak current gain of SiGe SALTran is 12 800 and is demonstrated a super beta BJT combining both the SiGe base and
345 times larger than that of Si BJT. The peak current gain of SiGe BJT the SALTran concept. While the peak current gains of SiGe BJT and
(with 14% uniform Ge content) and Si SALTran is approximately iden- Si SALTran are comparable ( 550), we have shown that the SiGe
tical at 550 and is 15 times that of the Si BJT whose peak current gain SALTran exhibits a peak current gain of  12 800, which is about
for the chosen doping profiles is approximately 37. From Fig. 3(b), we 345 times greater than that of a conventional silicon bipolar transistor
notice that the SiGe SALTran exhibits a current gain of 500 even at two ( 37). The proposed SiGe SALTran is expected to be of great
orders of magnitude lower collector current when compared to the SiGe practical use in high performance low-power analog applications [11].
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ELECTRON DEVICES, VOL. 53, NO. 3, MARCH 2006
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