Degradation of RF and noise characteristics of InP/InGaAs double heterojunction bipolar transistors under high reverse base-collector voltage

The effect of hot carrier induced degradation on RF performance of InP/InGaAs double heterojunction bipolar transistors (DHBTs) is explored. Degradation of RF performance is more significant than that of DC performance. We found that the increase in base extrinsic resistance could be the root cause. A new degradation mechanism is proposed.