US20050029626A1 - Base for a NPN bipolar transistor - Google Patents
Base for a NPN bipolar transistor Download PDFInfo
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- US20050029626A1 US20050029626A1 US10/944,234 US94423404A US2005029626A1 US 20050029626 A1 US20050029626 A1 US 20050029626A1 US 94423404 A US94423404 A US 94423404A US 2005029626 A1 US2005029626 A1 US 2005029626A1
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- APFVFJFRJDLVQX-UHFFFAOYSA-N indium atom Chemical compound [In] APFVFJFRJDLVQX-UHFFFAOYSA-N 0.000 claims abstract description 99
- 239000002019 doping agent Substances 0.000 claims abstract description 95
- 229910052738 indium Inorganic materials 0.000 claims abstract description 93
- ZOXJGFHDIHLPTG-UHFFFAOYSA-N Boron Chemical compound [B] ZOXJGFHDIHLPTG-UHFFFAOYSA-N 0.000 claims abstract description 77
- 229910052796 boron Inorganic materials 0.000 claims abstract description 73
- 238000000034 method Methods 0.000 claims description 44
- 239000000758 substrate Substances 0.000 claims description 30
- 239000007943 implant Substances 0.000 claims description 9
- 239000000463 material Substances 0.000 description 7
- 239000004065 semiconductor Substances 0.000 description 7
- 230000007935 neutral effect Effects 0.000 description 4
- 238000009792 diffusion process Methods 0.000 description 3
- 239000012535 impurity Substances 0.000 description 2
- 150000002500 ions Chemical class 0.000 description 2
- 239000007787 solid Substances 0.000 description 2
- 230000006978 adaptation Effects 0.000 description 1
- 230000015572 biosynthetic process Effects 0.000 description 1
- 239000002131 composite material Substances 0.000 description 1
- 239000012141 concentrate Substances 0.000 description 1
- 239000004020 conductor Substances 0.000 description 1
- 239000012212 insulator Substances 0.000 description 1
- 238000013508 migration Methods 0.000 description 1
- 230000005012 migration Effects 0.000 description 1
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- H—ELECTRICITY
- H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
- H01L—SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES NOT COVERED BY CLASS H10
- H01L29/00—Semiconductor devices specially adapted for rectifying, amplifying, oscillating or switching and having potential barriers; Capacitors or resistors having potential barriers, e.g. a PN-junction depletion layer or carrier concentration layer; Details of semiconductor bodies or of electrodes thereof ; Multistep manufacturing processes therefor
- H01L29/66—Types of semiconductor device ; Multistep manufacturing processes therefor
- H01L29/66007—Multistep manufacturing processes
- H01L29/66075—Multistep manufacturing processes of devices having semiconductor bodies comprising group 14 or group 13/15 materials
- H01L29/66227—Multistep manufacturing processes of devices having semiconductor bodies comprising group 14 or group 13/15 materials the devices being controllable only by the electric current supplied or the electric potential applied, to an electrode which does not carry the current to be rectified, amplified or switched, e.g. three-terminal devices
- H01L29/66234—Bipolar junction transistors [BJT]
- H01L29/6625—Lateral transistors
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- H—ELECTRICITY
- H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
- H01L—SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES NOT COVERED BY CLASS H10
- H01L29/00—Semiconductor devices specially adapted for rectifying, amplifying, oscillating or switching and having potential barriers; Capacitors or resistors having potential barriers, e.g. a PN-junction depletion layer or carrier concentration layer; Details of semiconductor bodies or of electrodes thereof ; Multistep manufacturing processes therefor
- H01L29/02—Semiconductor bodies ; Multistep manufacturing processes therefor
- H01L29/06—Semiconductor bodies ; Multistep manufacturing processes therefor characterised by their shape; characterised by the shapes, relative sizes, or dispositions of the semiconductor regions ; characterised by the concentration or distribution of impurities within semiconductor regions
- H01L29/10—Semiconductor bodies ; Multistep manufacturing processes therefor characterised by their shape; characterised by the shapes, relative sizes, or dispositions of the semiconductor regions ; characterised by the concentration or distribution of impurities within semiconductor regions with semiconductor regions connected to an electrode not carrying current to be rectified, amplified or switched and such electrode being part of a semiconductor device which comprises three or more electrodes
- H01L29/1004—Base region of bipolar transistors
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- H—ELECTRICITY
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- H01L29/00—Semiconductor devices specially adapted for rectifying, amplifying, oscillating or switching and having potential barriers; Capacitors or resistors having potential barriers, e.g. a PN-junction depletion layer or carrier concentration layer; Details of semiconductor bodies or of electrodes thereof ; Multistep manufacturing processes therefor
- H01L29/02—Semiconductor bodies ; Multistep manufacturing processes therefor
- H01L29/06—Semiconductor bodies ; Multistep manufacturing processes therefor characterised by their shape; characterised by the shapes, relative sizes, or dispositions of the semiconductor regions ; characterised by the concentration or distribution of impurities within semiconductor regions
- H01L29/10—Semiconductor bodies ; Multistep manufacturing processes therefor characterised by their shape; characterised by the shapes, relative sizes, or dispositions of the semiconductor regions ; characterised by the concentration or distribution of impurities within semiconductor regions with semiconductor regions connected to an electrode not carrying current to be rectified, amplified or switched and such electrode being part of a semiconductor device which comprises three or more electrodes
- H01L29/1004—Base region of bipolar transistors
- H01L29/1008—Base region of bipolar transistors of lateral transistors
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- H—ELECTRICITY
- H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
- H01L—SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES NOT COVERED BY CLASS H10
- H01L29/00—Semiconductor devices specially adapted for rectifying, amplifying, oscillating or switching and having potential barriers; Capacitors or resistors having potential barriers, e.g. a PN-junction depletion layer or carrier concentration layer; Details of semiconductor bodies or of electrodes thereof ; Multistep manufacturing processes therefor
- H01L29/02—Semiconductor bodies ; Multistep manufacturing processes therefor
- H01L29/12—Semiconductor bodies ; Multistep manufacturing processes therefor characterised by the materials of which they are formed
- H01L29/16—Semiconductor bodies ; Multistep manufacturing processes therefor characterised by the materials of which they are formed including, apart from doping materials or other impurities, only elements of Group IV of the Periodic Table
- H01L29/167—Semiconductor bodies ; Multistep manufacturing processes therefor characterised by the materials of which they are formed including, apart from doping materials or other impurities, only elements of Group IV of the Periodic Table further characterised by the doping material
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- H—ELECTRICITY
- H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
- H01L—SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES NOT COVERED BY CLASS H10
- H01L29/00—Semiconductor devices specially adapted for rectifying, amplifying, oscillating or switching and having potential barriers; Capacitors or resistors having potential barriers, e.g. a PN-junction depletion layer or carrier concentration layer; Details of semiconductor bodies or of electrodes thereof ; Multistep manufacturing processes therefor
- H01L29/66—Types of semiconductor device ; Multistep manufacturing processes therefor
- H01L29/66007—Multistep manufacturing processes
- H01L29/66075—Multistep manufacturing processes of devices having semiconductor bodies comprising group 14 or group 13/15 materials
- H01L29/66227—Multistep manufacturing processes of devices having semiconductor bodies comprising group 14 or group 13/15 materials the devices being controllable only by the electric current supplied or the electric potential applied, to an electrode which does not carry the current to be rectified, amplified or switched, e.g. three-terminal devices
- H01L29/66234—Bipolar junction transistors [BJT]
- H01L29/66272—Silicon vertical transistors
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- H—ELECTRICITY
- H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
- H01L—SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES NOT COVERED BY CLASS H10
- H01L29/00—Semiconductor devices specially adapted for rectifying, amplifying, oscillating or switching and having potential barriers; Capacitors or resistors having potential barriers, e.g. a PN-junction depletion layer or carrier concentration layer; Details of semiconductor bodies or of electrodes thereof ; Multistep manufacturing processes therefor
- H01L29/66—Types of semiconductor device ; Multistep manufacturing processes therefor
- H01L29/68—Types of semiconductor device ; Multistep manufacturing processes therefor controllable by only the electric current supplied, or only the electric potential applied, to an electrode which does not carry the current to be rectified, amplified or switched
- H01L29/70—Bipolar devices
- H01L29/72—Transistor-type devices, i.e. able to continuously respond to applied control signals
- H01L29/73—Bipolar junction transistors
- H01L29/732—Vertical transistors
- H01L29/7322—Vertical transistors having emitter-base and base-collector junctions leaving at the same surface of the body, e.g. planar transistor
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- H—ELECTRICITY
- H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
- H01L—SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES NOT COVERED BY CLASS H10
- H01L29/00—Semiconductor devices specially adapted for rectifying, amplifying, oscillating or switching and having potential barriers; Capacitors or resistors having potential barriers, e.g. a PN-junction depletion layer or carrier concentration layer; Details of semiconductor bodies or of electrodes thereof ; Multistep manufacturing processes therefor
- H01L29/66—Types of semiconductor device ; Multistep manufacturing processes therefor
- H01L29/68—Types of semiconductor device ; Multistep manufacturing processes therefor controllable by only the electric current supplied, or only the electric potential applied, to an electrode which does not carry the current to be rectified, amplified or switched
- H01L29/70—Bipolar devices
- H01L29/72—Transistor-type devices, i.e. able to continuously respond to applied control signals
- H01L29/73—Bipolar junction transistors
- H01L29/735—Lateral transistors
Definitions
- the present invention relates generally to semiconductor devices and in particular the present invention relates to an improved base for a NPN bipolar transistor.
- Solid state devices are typically made from semiconductor material.
- Semiconductor material is a material that has a resistance that lies between that of a conductor and an insulator. In creating a device in semiconductor material, device regions are formed to be either N conductivity type (N type) or P conductivity type (P type).
- the N type semiconductor material is doped with a donor type impurity that generally conducts current via electrons.
- P type semiconductor material is doped with acceptor-type impurities that conducts current via hole migration.
- One example of a solid state device is a bipolar NPN transistor.
- a bipolar NPN transistor is made of a N type emitter, a P type base and a N type collector.
- h FE is the transistor gain (beta)
- V A is early voltage.
- the early voltage is a measure of how rapidly the depletion layer from a base-collector junction spreads into a base thereby changing the net base doping in non-depleted portions of the base.
- a high beta early voltage product is achieved by minimizing the spread of the depletion layer into the base. Indium dopants are effective in holding back the depletion layer to achieve an improved beta early voltage product.
- the improved beta early voltage product acquired with the use of Indium results in increased collector currents and collector-emitter gains as compared to boron implanted transistor bases.
- the increase in beta early voltage product arises from the fact that Indium resides farther from the band edge than Boron. Because of this, Indium in neutral regions partially freezes-out. That is, a lot of the Indium dopant (which in this case is an acceptor) does not accept an electron from the valence band thereby forming holes. In the depleted regions (relevant to its performance here) the Indium in the base-collector depletion region is totally ionized.
- the result is, that beta (which is set by the low fraction of ionized indium in the non-depleted portions of the base) is high while the spread of the base-collector depletion layer into the base (which is set by the higher fraction of ionized indium in the depleted layer) is low compared to base regions formed with Boron implant.
- p is the hole concentration
- N A is the indium concentration
- g A is a degeneracy factor which is approximately equal to 4
- E v is a valence band edge energy
- E A is an acceptor (Indium) ionization energy
- k is Boltzman's constant
- T is the absolute temperature.
- One limitation of a device made with an Indium base is that the device will have a high base resistance.
- the base resistance is inversely proportional to the integrated doping in the neutral or un-depleted base region.
- a high base resistance leads to high noise in the device. So even though you can achieve a relatively high beta early voltage product in a device with a base doped with Indium, the relatively high base resistance created by the Indium dopant limits the applicability of the device. It is desired in the art to have a device with a base that has relatively high beta early voltage product and relatively low base resistance.
- a base region for a NPN transistor comprises Boron and Indium dopants.
- the Boron and Indium dopants form the base region of P conductivity type.
- a NPN transistor in another embodiment, includes a collector, a base and an emitter.
- the collector is of an N conductivity type and is formed in a substrate.
- the substrate has a working surface.
- the base is of a P conductivity type and is formed in the collector adjacent the working surface of the substrate.
- the P conductivity type base is formed with both Boron and Indium dopants.
- the emitter is of the N conductivity type and is formed in the base adjacent the working surface of the substrate.
- another base region for a NPN transistor comprises Boron dopants and Indium dopants.
- the ratio of Indium dopants to Boron dopants is selected to create a desired current gain temperature coefficient.
- a method of forming a base region in an NPN transistor comprises diffusing Boron dopants through a select region of working surface of a substrate and implanting Indium dopants through the select region of the working surface of the substrate.
- another method of forming a base region in an NPN transistor comprises epitaxially growing the base region with Boron and Indium dopants.
- a method of forming a NPN transistor comprises forming a collector in a substrate with N conductivity type dopants.
- the substrate has a working surface.
- a method of forming a base region in a NPN transistor comprises introducing a select amount of Indium dopants to the base region and introducing a select amount of Boron dopants to the base region, wherein the ratio of the select amount of the Indium dopants to the select amount of Boron dopants is selected to determine the beta temperature coefficient of the NPN transistor.
- FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of a NPN transistor in an integrated circuit of the present invention
- FIGS. 2A to 2 E are cross-sectional views illustrating one method of the forming an embodiment of the present invention.
- FIG. 3 is a base profile graph illustrating the doping profile of a base of one embodiment of the present invention.
- the present invention employs both Boron and Indium in a base region to form a device with relatively high beta early voltage and a relatively low base resistance.
- embodiments of the invention use both Boron and Indium dopants in the base in such a manner that the boron dopants are the major factor in determining the base resistance and the Indium dopants are the major factor in determining the early voltage.
- FIG. 1 a cross-sectional view of one embodiment of a NPN transistor 100 of the present invention is illustrated. As illustrated, the NPN transistor includes a substrate 102 upon which device regions are formed. In this embodiment, the substrate 102 is doped with N type dopants to form collector 102 . Device regions are then formed in the collector 102 .
- the device regions include the base 104 , the emitter 106 and the collector contact 108 . Further illustrated is a dielectric layer 110 formed on a working surface of the substrate 103 . Also included in FIG. 1 , is a collector contact region 112 , an emitter contact region 114 and a base contact region 116 .
- the base region 104 of this embodiment of the present invention concentrates Indium dopants 118 near the base-collector junction 119 and Boron dopants 120 near the base-emitter junction 121 .
- a peak concentration of Indium dopants 118 is positioned near the base-collector junction 119 because this is where the early voltage is set.
- a peak concentration of Boron dopants 120 is positioned near the base-emitter junction 121 because that is where the base resistance is set.
- the Boron 120 doping at the emitter-base junction 121 is greater than the ionized Indium doping at room temperature.
- the peak concentration of Indium doping 118 is deeper from the working surface 103 of the substrate than the peak concentration of Boron doping 120 .
- FIGS. 2A to 2 D cross-sectional views of the formation of one embodiment of the present invention is illustrated.
- a substrate 102 is first doped with low density N type dopants which turns the substrate 102 into a collector region 102 of a NPN transistor.
- Base mask 202 is formed on the working surface 103 of the substrate 102 at FIG. 2B .
- Base region 104 is first formed by a diffused profile of Boron implant.
- Indium 118 is then introduced into the base as an implanted profile as illustrated in FIG. 2C .
- the location of the Indium dopants is approximately determined by implant in this embodiment.
- the base mask 202 is removed and an emitter-collector mask 204 is formed on the substrate surface 103 as illustrated in FIG. 2D .
- the emitter 106 and the collector contact 108 are then formed by implanting dopants of the N type in high density and optionally diffusing them to final junction depth as illustrated in FIG. 2D .
- the emitter-collector mask 204 is then removed.
- FIG. 2E an embodiment of a NPN transistor 200 is illustrated.
- FIG. 2E illustrates that a dielectric layer 110 is then formed on the working surface 103 of the substrate 102 .
- the collector contact region 112 , emitter contact region 114 and base contact region 116 are then formed.
- FIG. 3 includes a base profile graph 300 of the base doping profile of one embodiment of the present invention.
- the base profile graph 300 shows a diffused Boron profile ( 304 ) and a composite base doping profile ( 302 ).
- the Indium profile is modeled as a gaussian implant at an energy level of 1MeV and a dose of 1.7E13.
- the gaussian profile of Indium dopants has a peak concentration below the working surface.
- the emitter in this embodiment is doped with a concentration of 1E16 and has a depth about 0.6 microns.
- the collector contact in this embodiment is doped at approximately 1E16.
- the base-collector junction depth is about 0.7 microns compared to a junction depth of about 0.6 microns if the Indium implant is omitted. Moreover, a slight decrease in the Indium dose or energy would leave the base-collector junction depth set entirely by the Boron profile.
- both the Boron and the Indium are implanted.
- both the Boron and Indium profiles are diffused.
- the Boron and Indium profiles are grown by epitaxial methods that vary the doping across the epitaxial grown base.
- the early voltage of the base that includes Indium and Boron is about 146V while the early voltage of a similar base without Indium is only about 67V.
- base resistance is about 8.5 kohms per square for an Indium and Boron base, which is what would be a typical value for a Boron only base in a NPN transistor. Accordingly, the beta early voltage product can be improved with mixed Indium and Boron dopants without the high base resistances found in Indium only bases.
- the temperature coefficient (TC) of beta is adjusted by varying the ratio of Indium to Boron in the base.
- the magnitude of the beta TC is set mostly by band gap narrowing caused by emitter doping concentration. Since the TC in the typical transistor is positive, the beta increases as the temperature goes up. However, since the fraction of Indium frozen out changes with temperature, the beta TC can be adjusted by adjusting the ratio of Indium to Boron in the base. Referring to Table 1, the ratio of hole concentration to Indium acceptor concentration at three absolute temperatures is shown.
- the Beta TC is adjusted by varying the ratio of Indium to Boron in the base.
- the beta TC can be reduced by increasing the ratio of Indium to Boron in the neutral base.
- the integral in the denominator gives the sum of the ionized Boron and ionized Indium atoms in the non-depleted base.
- Table 2 shows that the addition of the Indium implant will decrease beta approximately 18 at 25 C but only approximately 5% at ⁇ 55 C compared to the same device without the Indium implant. Accordingly, the beta TC can be varied by selectively changing the ratio of Indium to Boron in the base.
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Abstract
Description
- This application is a divisional application of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/171,349, filed Jun. 12, 2002 (Attorney Docket No. 125.033US01).
- The present invention relates generally to semiconductor devices and in particular the present invention relates to an improved base for a NPN bipolar transistor.
- Solid state devices are typically made from semiconductor material. Semiconductor material is a material that has a resistance that lies between that of a conductor and an insulator. In creating a device in semiconductor material, device regions are formed to be either N conductivity type (N type) or P conductivity type (P type). The N type semiconductor material is doped with a donor type impurity that generally conducts current via electrons. P type semiconductor material is doped with acceptor-type impurities that conducts current via hole migration. One example of a solid state device is a bipolar NPN transistor. A bipolar NPN transistor is made of a N type emitter, a P type base and a N type collector.
- One common method of creating a P type base is by introducing Boron dopants into a select region of the semiconductor material. More recently, the use of Indium has been used to create the P type base. The use of Indium provides an improved beta early voltage product (hFE-VA product). Wherein hFE is the transistor gain (beta) and VA is early voltage. Basically, the early voltage is a measure of how rapidly the depletion layer from a base-collector junction spreads into a base thereby changing the net base doping in non-depleted portions of the base. A high beta early voltage product is achieved by minimizing the spread of the depletion layer into the base. Indium dopants are effective in holding back the depletion layer to achieve an improved beta early voltage product.
- In particular, the improved beta early voltage product acquired with the use of Indium results in increased collector currents and collector-emitter gains as compared to boron implanted transistor bases. The increase in beta early voltage product arises from the fact that Indium resides farther from the band edge than Boron. Because of this, Indium in neutral regions partially freezes-out. That is, a lot of the Indium dopant (which in this case is an acceptor) does not accept an electron from the valence band thereby forming holes. In the depleted regions (relevant to its performance here) the Indium in the base-collector depletion region is totally ionized. The result is, that beta (which is set by the low fraction of ionized indium in the non-depleted portions of the base) is high while the spread of the base-collector depletion layer into the base (which is set by the higher fraction of ionized indium in the depleted layer) is low compared to base regions formed with Boron implant. The hole concentration of Indium is given by the following hole concentration equation:
- In the hole concentration equation, p is the hole concentration, NA is the indium concentration, gA is a degeneracy factor which is approximately equal to 4, Ev is a valence band edge energy, EA is an acceptor (Indium) ionization energy, k is Boltzman's constant and T is the absolute temperature.
- One limitation of a device made with an Indium base is that the device will have a high base resistance. The base resistance is inversely proportional to the integrated doping in the neutral or un-depleted base region. A high base resistance leads to high noise in the device. So even though you can achieve a relatively high beta early voltage product in a device with a base doped with Indium, the relatively high base resistance created by the Indium dopant limits the applicability of the device. It is desired in the art to have a device with a base that has relatively high beta early voltage product and relatively low base resistance.
- For the reasons stated above and for other reasons stated below which will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon reading and understanding the present specification, there is a need in the art for a device with a base that has relatively high beta early voltage product and relatively low base resistance.
- The above-mentioned problems are addressed, as well as other problems, by the present invention and will be understood by reading and studying the following specification.
- In one embodiment, a base region for a NPN transistor is disclosed. The base region comprises Boron and Indium dopants. The Boron and Indium dopants form the base region of P conductivity type.
- In another embodiment, a NPN transistor is disclosed. The NPN transistor includes a collector, a base and an emitter. The collector is of an N conductivity type and is formed in a substrate. The substrate has a working surface. The base is of a P conductivity type and is formed in the collector adjacent the working surface of the substrate. The P conductivity type base is formed with both Boron and Indium dopants. The emitter is of the N conductivity type and is formed in the base adjacent the working surface of the substrate.
- In another embodiment, another base region for a NPN transistor is disclosed. The base region comprises Boron dopants and Indium dopants. The ratio of Indium dopants to Boron dopants is selected to create a desired current gain temperature coefficient.
- In another embodiment, a method of forming a base region in an NPN transistor is disclosed. The method comprises diffusing Boron dopants through a select region of working surface of a substrate and implanting Indium dopants through the select region of the working surface of the substrate.
- In another embodiment, another method of forming a base region in an NPN transistor is disclosed. The method comprises epitaxially growing the base region with Boron and Indium dopants.
- In another embodiment, a method of forming a NPN transistor is disclosed. The method comprises forming a collector in a substrate with N conductivity type dopants. The substrate has a working surface. Forming a base region in the collector adjacent the working surface of the substrate with P conductivity type dopants, wherein the P type conductivity type dopants are both Boron and Indium dopants. Forming an emitter region in the base region adjacent the working surface of the substrate with the N conductivity type dopants.
- In another embodiment, a method of forming a base region in a NPN transistor is disclosed. The method comprises introducing a select amount of Indium dopants to the base region and introducing a select amount of Boron dopants to the base region, wherein the ratio of the select amount of the Indium dopants to the select amount of Boron dopants is selected to determine the beta temperature coefficient of the NPN transistor.
- The present invention can be more easily understood and further advantages and uses thereof more readily apparent, when considered in view of the description of the preferred embodiments and the following figures in which:
-
FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of a NPN transistor in an integrated circuit of the present invention; -
FIGS. 2A to 2E are cross-sectional views illustrating one method of the forming an embodiment of the present invention; and -
FIG. 3 is a base profile graph illustrating the doping profile of a base of one embodiment of the present invention. - In accordance with common practice, the various described features are not drawn to scale but are drawn to emphasize specific features relevant to the present invention. Reference characters denote like elements throughout Figures and text.
- In the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments, reference is made to the accompanying drawings, which form a part hereof, and in which is shown by way of illustration specific preferred embodiments in which the inventions may be practiced. These embodiments are described in sufficient detail to enable those skilled in the art to practice the invention, and it is to be understood that other embodiments may be utilized and that logical, mechanical and electrical changes may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. The following detailed description is, therefore, not to be taken in a limiting sense, and the scope of the present invention is defined only by the claims and equivalents thereof.
- The present invention employs both Boron and Indium in a base region to form a device with relatively high beta early voltage and a relatively low base resistance. In particular, embodiments of the invention use both Boron and Indium dopants in the base in such a manner that the boron dopants are the major factor in determining the base resistance and the Indium dopants are the major factor in determining the early voltage. Referring to
FIG. 1 , a cross-sectional view of one embodiment of aNPN transistor 100 of the present invention is illustrated. As illustrated, the NPN transistor includes asubstrate 102 upon which device regions are formed. In this embodiment, thesubstrate 102 is doped with N type dopants to formcollector 102. Device regions are then formed in thecollector 102. In particular, the device regions include thebase 104, theemitter 106 and thecollector contact 108. Further illustrated is adielectric layer 110 formed on a working surface of thesubstrate 103. Also included inFIG. 1 , is acollector contact region 112, anemitter contact region 114 and abase contact region 116. - As further illustrated in
FIG. 1 , thebase region 104 of this embodiment of the present invention concentratesIndium dopants 118 near the base-collector junction 119 andBoron dopants 120 near the base-emitter junction 121. A peak concentration ofIndium dopants 118 is positioned near the base-collector junction 119 because this is where the early voltage is set. A peak concentration ofBoron dopants 120 is positioned near the base-emitter junction 121 because that is where the base resistance is set. In another embodiment, theBoron 120 doping at the emitter-base junction 121 is greater than the ionized Indium doping at room temperature. In yet another embodiment, the peak concentration ofIndium doping 118 is deeper from the workingsurface 103 of the substrate than the peak concentration ofBoron doping 120. - In
FIGS. 2A to 2D cross-sectional views of the formation of one embodiment of the present invention is illustrated. Referring toFIG. 2A , asubstrate 102 is first doped with low density N type dopants which turns thesubstrate 102 into acollector region 102 of a NPN transistor.Base mask 202 is formed on the workingsurface 103 of thesubstrate 102 atFIG. 2B .Base region 104 is first formed by a diffused profile of Boron implant. In this embodiment,Indium 118 is then introduced into the base as an implanted profile as illustrated inFIG. 2C . The location of the Indium dopants is approximately determined by implant in this embodiment. - Next the
base mask 202 is removed and an emitter-collector mask 204 is formed on thesubstrate surface 103 as illustrated inFIG. 2D . Theemitter 106 and thecollector contact 108 are then formed by implanting dopants of the N type in high density and optionally diffusing them to final junction depth as illustrated inFIG. 2D . The emitter-collector mask 204 is then removed. Referring toFIG. 2E an embodiment of aNPN transistor 200 is illustrated. In particular,FIG. 2E illustrates that adielectric layer 110 is then formed on the workingsurface 103 of thesubstrate 102. Thecollector contact region 112,emitter contact region 114 andbase contact region 116 are then formed. -
FIG. 3 includes abase profile graph 300 of the base doping profile of one embodiment of the present invention. As illustrated, thebase profile graph 300 shows a diffused Boron profile (304) and a composite base doping profile (302). The boron profile is diffused with a Dt=1.5E-10 and a surface concentration (after diffusion) of 4.00E18. The Indium profile is modeled as a gaussian implant at an energy level of 1MeV and a dose of 1.7E13. Moreover, the gaussian profile of Indium dopants has a peak concentration below the working surface. Although not shown (for clarity purposes), the emitter in this embodiment is doped with a concentration of 1E16 and has a depth about 0.6 microns. In addition, the collector contact in this embodiment is doped at approximately 1E16. The base-collector junction depth is about 0.7 microns compared to a junction depth of about 0.6 microns if the Indium implant is omitted. Moreover, a slight decrease in the Indium dose or energy would leave the base-collector junction depth set entirely by the Boron profile. - Other methods for forming the base 104 besides diffusing the Boron and implanting the Indium are possible. For example, in one embodiment of the present invention both the Boron and the Indium are implanted. In another embodiment, both the Boron and Indium profiles are diffused. In yet another embodiment, the Boron and Indium profiles are grown by epitaxial methods that vary the doping across the epitaxial grown base.
- The early voltage of the base that includes Indium and Boron, as illustrated in
FIG. 3 , is about 146V while the early voltage of a similar base without Indium is only about 67V. In addition, base resistance is about 8.5 kohms per square for an Indium and Boron base, which is what would be a typical value for a Boron only base in a NPN transistor. Accordingly, the beta early voltage product can be improved with mixed Indium and Boron dopants without the high base resistances found in Indium only bases. - In other embodiments of the present invention, the temperature coefficient (TC) of beta is adjusted by varying the ratio of Indium to Boron in the base. By varying the temperature coefficient desired operating characteristics are achieved. For example, by adjusting the temperature coefficient to a relatively low positive value, beta is increased at low temperatures. This allows for designs that require less base current over a range of temperatures to achieve a desired collector current, since the minimum beta (beta=collector current/base current) over the range of temperatures is higher.
- In a typical transistor made with a shallow base dopant like Boron, the magnitude of the beta TC is set mostly by band gap narrowing caused by emitter doping concentration. Since the TC in the typical transistor is positive, the beta increases as the temperature goes up. However, since the fraction of Indium frozen out changes with temperature, the beta TC can be adjusted by adjusting the ratio of Indium to Boron in the base. Referring to Table 1, the ratio of hole concentration to Indium acceptor concentration at three absolute temperatures is shown.
TABLE 1 Induim doping in cm-3 Ratio at 213 Ratio at 293 Ratio at 393 2.00E+18 1.89E−02 6.70E−02 1.61E−01 1.50E+18 2.18E−02 7.69E−02 1.84E−01 1.00E+18 2.66E−02 9.33E−02 2.20E−01 8.00E+17 2.97E−02 1.04E−01 2.42E−01 6.00E+17 3.42E−02 1.19E−01 2.74E−01 4.00E+17 4.17E−02 1.43E−01 3.24E−01 2.00E+17 5.85E−02 1.96E−01 4.23E−01 1.00E+17 8.17E−02 2.66E−01 5.36E−01 8.00E+16 9.09E−02 2.92E−01 5.74E−01 6.00E+16 1.04E−01 3.28E−01 6.24E−01 4.00E+16 1.26E−01 3.85E−01 6.92E−01 2.00E+16 1.73E−01 4.93E−01 7.96E−01 1.00E+16 2.36E−01 6.11E−01 8.76E−01 - As Table 1 illustrates, the hole concentration of Indium varies with temperature in accordance with the hole concentration equation:
- As stated above, in embodiments of the present invention, the Beta TC is adjusted by varying the ratio of Indium to Boron in the base. The following beta equation explains how adjusting the Indium to Boron in the base changes the beta TC:
- In the beta equation, 0 is taken at the emitter base junction, xie is the thickness of the emitter, W is the base width, Nd is the ionized doping concentration in the emitter, Na is the ionized doping concentration of the base, Dn is the average diffusion coefficient of electrons in the base and Dp is the average diffusion coefficient of holes in the emitter. Since the base doping in the neutral base is a denominator term in the beta equation, the beta TC can be reduced by increasing the ratio of Indium to Boron in the neutral base. In particular, the integral in the denominator gives the sum of the ionized Boron and ionized Indium atoms in the non-depleted base. Moreover, Boron dopant atoms are ionized at all temperatures at which transistors are normally used while the Indium atoms are only partially ionized. This is illustrated by the data in Table 1. As a result, the value of the integral (sum of ionized Boron and ionized Indium integrated doping) changes as the fraction of Indium dopant atoms ionized changes. This is illustrated in Table 2 below:
TABLE 2 Boron ionized Indium ionized integrated doping integrated doping Indium/Boron Temperature in ions cm-2 in ions cm-2 Ratio −55° C. 7.6E12 4.3E11 0.057 25° C. 7.6E12 1.4E12 0.18 125° C. 7.6E12 3.9E12 0.51 - For example, Table 2 shows that the addition of the Indium implant will decrease beta approximately 18 at 25 C but only approximately 5% at −55 C compared to the same device without the Indium implant. Accordingly, the beta TC can be varied by selectively changing the ratio of Indium to Boron in the base.
- Although specific embodiments have been illustrated and described herein, it will be appreciated by those of ordinary skill in the art that any arrangement, which is calculated to achieve the same purpose, may be substituted for the specific embodiment shown. This application is intended to cover any adaptations or variations of the present invention. Therefore, it is manifestly intended that this invention be limited only by the claims and the equivalents thereof.
Claims (26)
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US20100129975A1 (en) | 2010-05-27 |
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US6822314B2 (en) | 2004-11-23 |
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