A theory of transistor cutoff frequency (fT) falloff at high current densities

It is shown that the observed falloff in the f T of a transistor at high currents is due to the spreading of the neutral base layer into the collector region of the device at high current densities. The base layer spreading mechanism derives from an analysis of the effect of the current-dependent buildup of the mobile-carrier space-charge density in the collector transition layer. Calculations show that at sufficiently high collector current levels, the mobile space-charge density in the collector transition layer cannot be considered negligible in comparison to the fixed charge density of that region. The over-all effect of taking the mobile space charge into account in analyzing the collector transition region is that, at high current densities, the transition region boundary adjacent to the neutral base layer is displaced toward the collector metal contact with increasing collector current. The attendant widening of the neutral base layer results in the observed, high-current falloff in f T . The application of this theory to transistor structures of both the alloy and mesa variety yields, in each case, calculated curves of f T vs I c which are in reasonably good agreement with experiment.