HORIZONTAL CURRENT BIPOLAR TRANSISTOR (HCBT) – A LOW-COST, HIGH-PERFORMANCE FLEXIBLE BICMOS TECHNOLOGY FOR RF COMMUNICATION APPLICATIONS

In an overview of Horizontal Current Bipolar Transistor (HCBT) technology, the state-of-the-art integrated silicon bipolar transistors are described which exhibit fT and fmax of 51 GHz and 61 GHz and fTBVCEO product of 173 GHzV that are among the highest-performance implanted-base, silicon bipolar transistors. HBCT is integrated with CMOS in a considerably lower-cost fabrication sequence as compared to standard vertical-current bipolar transistors with only 2 or 3 additional masks and fewer process steps. Due to its specific structure, the charge sharing effect can be employed to increase BVCEO without sacrificing fT and fmax. Moreover, the electric field can be engineered just by manipulating the lithography masks achieving the high-voltage HCBTs with breakdowns up to 36 V integrated in the same process flow with high-speed devices, i.e. at zero additional costs. Double-balanced active mixer circuit is designed and fabricated in HCBT technology. The maximum IIP3 of 17.7 dBm at mixer current of 9.2 mA and conversion gain of -5 dB are achieved.This article has been corrected. Link to the correction DOI:10.2298/FUEE1703429