Temperature dependence of breakdown and avalanche multiplication in In/sub 0.53/Ga/sub 0.47/As diodes and heterojunction bipolar transistors

Abstract

Abstract-The avalanche multiplication and impact ionization coefficients in In 0 53 Ga 0 47 As p-i-n and n-i-p diodes over a range of temperature from 20-400 K were measured and shown to have negative temperature dependence. This is contrary to the positive temperature dependence of the breakdown voltage measured on InP/In 0 53 Ga 0 47 As heterojunction bipolar transistors (HBTs) in this and previous works. It is shown that the collector-base dark current and current gain can be the overriding influence on the temperature dependence of breakdown in InP/In 0 53 Ga 0 47 As HBTs and could explain previous anomalous interpretations from the latter.

Temperature dependence of electron impact ionization in In0.53Ga0.47As

“…Isler 8 argued that phonon-assisted impact ionization can be important in In 0.53 Ga 0.47 As and proposed this as the mechanism that leads to the positive temperature coefficient of ␣ at low electric fields. In contrast, Yee et al 9 found that the breakdown voltage in In 0.53 Ga 0.47 As diodes increases with temperature corresponding to the conventionally observed decrease in ionization coefficient with temperature, at high fields. More recently Ng et al 10 measured ␣ across a wide range of electric fields at temperatures ranging from 20 to 300 K and found that ␣ has positive and negative temperature coefficients at low and high electric fields, respectively.…”

Carrier Transport Properties

“…The experimental a and b for Ga 0.47 In 0.53 As are found to have the relationship a > b [78,84]. The a and b coefficients for strained Ga 0.2 In 0.…”

“…x Si x Ge 1-x Figure 12.21 b/a ratio for Si x Ge 1Àx at E ¼ 330 kV/cm. The open circles represent the endpoint data [30] In contrast, Yee et al [78] observed a negative temperature dependence of a in Ga 0.47 In 0.53 As/InP p-i-n diodes at E over 200 kV/cm. The open circles represent the endpoint data [30] In contrast, Yee et al [78] observed a negative temperature dependence of a in Ga 0.47 In 0.53 As/InP p-i-n diodes at E over 200 kV/cm.…”

Positive and negative temperature dependences of electron-impact ionization in In0.53Ga0.47As

“…Malik et al 2 ascribed their similar observations to the effect of collector leakage in their devices. In contrast, Yee et al 4 deduced a negative temperature dependence of ␣ from their electron multiplication measurements in a series of In 0.53 Ga 0.47 As p-i-n diodes. In contrast, Yee et al 4 deduced a negative temperature dependence of ␣ from their electron multiplication measurements in a series of In 0.53 Ga 0.47 As p-i-n diodes.…”