Bipolar circuit reliability simulation

Abstract
A model for bipolar hot-carrier degradation has been implemented into the BERT circuit reliability simulator, thus allowing both bipolar and BiCMOS circuit degradation to be simulated. The bipolar module consists of a preprocessor and post-processor for SPICE that require no modification to the SPICE code. Experimental results indicate that the degradation due to alternating reverse-forward stressing representative of BiCMOS gate operation agrees with the Delta I/sub B/ model from DC measurements. The base current degradation for a single device due to electrostatic discharge stress and the offset voltage degradation for an emitter-coupled pair due to DC stress are accurately predicted by the simulator.<>