Role of hot electron base transport in abrupt emitter InP/Ga0.43In0.53As heterojunction bipolar transistors

The high frequency performance of InP/Ga0.47In0.53As heterojunction bipolar transistors (HBTs) with a varying base thickness was measured. The diffusion constant of minority carrier electrons in the heavily doped base was found to be 105 cm2/s. It is demonstrated that the short base transit times in fast InP/Ga0.47In0.53As HBTs is mainly due to the high value of the diffusion constant of thermalized electrons. The contribution of hot electron ballistic transport is relatively small.