Investigation of effective base transit time and current gain modulation of light-emitting transistors under different ambient temperatures

Abstract

In this report, the modulation of current gain of InGaP/GaAs light-emitting transistors under different ambient temperatures are measured and analyzed using thermionic emission model of quantum well embedded in the transistor base region. Minority carriers captured by quantum wells gain more energy at high temperatures and escape from quantum wells resulting in an increase of current gain and lower optical output, resulting in different I-V characteristics from conventional heterojunction bipolar transistors. The effect of the smaller thermionic lifetime thus reduces the effective base transit time of transistors at high temperatures. The unique current gain enhancement of 27.61% is achieved when operation temperature increase from 28 to 85 °C.