Hot-electron-induced degradation and post-stress recovery of bipolar transistor gain and noise characteristics

Hot-carrier-induced degradation and post-stress recovery of bipolar transistor gain and low-frequency noise are investigated. Forward-bias recovery allows a partial reversal of degradation, and is believed to be due primarily to a reduction of the number of electrons trapped in the oxide. Thermal annealing, which is capable of removing interface states as well, produces a larger recovery of both gain and noise performance measures. >