ABSTRACT
The bipolar junction transistor (BJT) is historically the first solid-state analog amplifier and digital switch, and formed the basis of integrated circuits (ICs) in the 1970s. Starting in the early 1980s, the MOSFET had gradually taken over, particularly for main stream digital ICs. However, in the 1990s, the invention of silicon-germanium base heterojunction bipolar transistor (SiGe HBT) brought the bipolar transistor back into high-volume commercial production, mainly for the now widespread wireless and wire line communications applications. Today, SiGe HBTs are used to design radio-frequency (RF) ICs and systems for cell phones, wireless local area network (WLAN), automobile collision avoidance
radar, wireless distribution of cable television, millimeter wave radios, and many more applications, due to its outstanding high-frequency performance and ability to integrate with CMOS for realizing digital, analog, and RF functions on the same chip. Below we first introduce the basic concepts of BJT using a historically important equivalent circuit
model, the Ebers-Moll model. Then the Gummel-Poon model is introduced, as it is widely used for computer-aided design, and is the basis of modern BJT models like the VBIC, Mextram, and HICUM models. Current gain, high-current phenomena, fabrication technologies, and SiGe HBTs are then discussed.
