
234 MICROWAVE TRANSISTORS
electron flow across the subemitter junction to the substrate. These factors reduce
the maximum cutoff frequency and available current gain. A SICOS device with
a 0.5-/~m base width offers a current gain
(Hfe)
of 100 and a cutoff frequency of 3
GHz.
Heterojunction bipolar transistors
(HBT) have been designed with maximum
frequencies of 67 GHz on base widths of 1.2/~m; current gains of 10 to 20 are
achieved on very small devices, and up to 55 for larger base widths. The operation
of HBTs depends in part on the use of a thin coating of NA2S.9H20 material, which
reduces surface charge pair recombination ...