Comparison of SiGe and III-V Heterojunction Bipolar Transistor Reliability

Along with the great strides in Heterojunction Bipolar Transistor (HBT) performance, there are many important reliability issues that require detailed investigation and understanding. The major material systems that have been used to achieve these advanced HBT devices can be separated into two major categories; III-V (such as GaAs- or InP based devices) and SiGe. This talk will present the major degradation mechanisms reported to date for both material systems, providing a side-by-side comparison where possible. The primary emphasis will be to summarize the results published in recent literature, thus, establishing a bridge for the meaningful comparison of those mechanisms that are common while separating those that have only been reported on one of the material systems. The goal of this tutorial will be to establish a reasonable methodology for the comparison of the reliability of the III-V and SiGe material systems.

Fernando Guarín is a Senior Engineer/Scientist at the IBM Microelectronics Semiconductor Research Development Center SRDC in East Fishkill N.Y. He received his BSEE from the "Pontificia Universidad Javeriana", in Bogotá, Colombia, the M.S.E.E. degree from the University of Arizona, and the Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering form Columbia University. His doctoral research studied the Molecular Beam Epitaxial growth of Silicon based alloys for device applications. He has been actively working in microelectronic reliability for over 20 years. From 1980 until 1988 he was a member of the Military and Aerospace Operations division of National Semiconductor Corporation where he held positions both in engineering and management. In 1988 he joined the IBM microelectronics division where he has worked in the reliability physics and modeling of Advanced Silicon Bipolar, CMOS and SiGe BiCMOS technologies. He has been the team leader for the qualification of deep submicron CMOS and SiGe technologies. He also worked as team leader responsible for the reliability qualification of products across several fabrication lines including Burlington Vt., Essones France and the new 300 mm line in East Fishkill, NY. He holds 7 patents and has published more than 40 papers. Dr. Guarin is a senior member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers IEEE.