Noise characterisation of Si/SiGe heterojunction bipolar transistors at microwave frequencies

Abstract

The microwave noise performance of Si/SiGe double-heterojunction bipolar transistors has been evaluated on-wafer, for frequencies ranging from 2 to 26GHz. Noise figures of 0.6 dB at 2GHz and 1.2dB at 10GHz were found to be among the lowest reported for bipolar transistors in general.