Manufacturing Control and Optimization of SiGe(C) HBT Epitaxial Growth

Abstract

Reduced pressure (RP) epitaxial (EPI) growth is the core of state-of-the-art Silicon-Germanium-Carbon (SiGe:C) heterojunction bipolar transistors (HBT) construction. In- line control of large volume production is a continuing task for wafer Fabs. A special technique of monitoring product wafers has been developed for use in both process and tool control. The cost of additional operations and wafers can therefore be minimized. The NPN collector current was used as the device variability measurement during this SiGe:C EPI process optimization study.