| The objective of the dissertation is to combine the recent Mixed-Mode reliability stress studies in silicon-germanium (SiGe) heterojunction bipolar transistors (HBTs). The thesis starts with a review of SiGe HBT fundamentals, development trends, and the conventional reliability stress paths used in industry, following which the new stress path, Mixed-Mode stress, is introduced. Chapter 2 is devoted to an in-depth discussion of damage mechanisms that includes the impact ionization effect and the self-heating effect. Chapter 3 goes onto the impact ionization effect using two-dimensional calibrated MEDICI simulations. Chapter 4 assesses the reliability of SiGe HBTs in extreme temperature environments by way of comprehensive experiments and MEDICI simulations. A comparison of the device lifetimes for reverse-EB stress and mixed-mode stress indicates different damage mechanisms govern these phenomena. The thesis concludes with a summary of the project and suggestions for future research in chapter 5.; This dissertation covers the following topics: (1) Introduces a new mixed-mode stress technique: time cumulative stress (Chapter II, also published in [23] and [24]). (2) Identifies impact ionization effects in the stress damage (Chapter II, also published in [23] and [24]). (3) Investigates for the first time mixed-mode damage using TCAD simulations at both room temperature and cryogenic temperatures (Chapter III and IV, also published in [23][24][62]). (4) Analyzes for the first time impact of self-heating on mixed-mode stress response, and identifies a temperature triggered damage threshold (Chapter II, will be published in [25]). (5) Explains the geometrical scaling issues in mixed-mode stress and explores mixed-mode stress reliability scaling trends (Chapter II, will be published in [25]). (6) Assesses for the first time SiGe HBT reliability at cryogenic temperatures (Chapter VI, also published in [62]). |
