Temperature dependence of emitter-base reverse stress degradation was studied. Different degradation modes were observed between high and low reverse stress current conditions. It was found that, the degradation is the largest around 50°C. The mechanisms of the degradation and its recovery were also investigated, using MOS structures and simulation. By the MOSFET evaluation, it was confirmed that electron trapping and interface state generation occurs during the stress. By the simulation, it was also confirmed that the degradation is caused mainly by the generated interface states in the oxide near the emitter-base junction.
INTRODUCTIONRecently, bipolar transistor degradation under emitterbase reverse bias stress has been studied intensively [l-31. However, there have been very few reports about its temperature dependence in its operating range. This paper describes the temperature dependence of the degradation in detail. In addition, its degradation and recovery mechanisms were also investigated by MOSFET structures and two-dimensional simulations.