Tunnel Breakdown Bipolar Transistor

This article considers a bipolar transistor operating in a tunnel breakdown of the collector junction. The equivalent circuit of a transistor is constructed from two low-voltage zener diodes connected in opposite directions. Integrated circuits based on complementary transistors with a tunnel breakdown can be manufactured on a single crystal using CMOS-technologies. Experimental and theoretical studies of the physical model of the transistor are carried out. The processes of injection and extraction of charge carriers in the conditions of a tunnel breakdown of the collector junction lead to a decrease in the role of barrier capacitances of pn-transitions and a significant increase in the switching speed of the transistor. It is found that the standard SPICE model of the diode does not quantitatively reproduce the experimental data for zener diodes with a tunnel type of breakdown. A new expression is proposed that correctly describes the volt-ampere characteristic (VAC) for this case in a wide range of voltages. The transistor’s breakdown condition is obtained and the breakdown voltage is calculated.