The high-volume production of heterojunction bipolar transistors

The insertion of advanced microwave devices into high-volume applications is critically dependent upon a robust and reproducible epitaxial growth technology accompanied with a reproducible process technology. The precise control of the material and device parameters is essential to maintain a high-yield process, which leads to a low-cost product. Although AlGaAs/GaAs heterojunction bipolar transistors have been widely demonstrated in many company research laboratories and universities, the transition from a laboratory environment to high-volume production requires a thorough understanding of the metalorganic chemical vapor deposition growth process and its correlation with device performance. In this work, high-performance AlGaAs/GaAs heterojunction bipolar transistors grown by MOCVD with excellent control in the device parameter tolerances have been demonstrated in very high volumes.