Kirk effect

The current gain drops at high collector currents due to yet another mechanism known as the
Kirk effect. This involves an effective widening of the neutral base due to modification of the
depletion space charge distribution at the reverse-biased base-collector junction. This is caused
by the buildup of mobile carriers due to increased current flow from the emitter to the collector.
This is illustrated in Fig. 7-23 for a p-n-p BJT. Notice that the polarity of these mobile charges
adds to the fixed donor charges on the base side of the base-collector depletion region, but
subtracts from the fixed acceptor charges on the collector side of the junction (Fig. 7-23c).
Therefore, fewer uncompensated donors (and thus a smaller depletion width) are needed to
maintain the reverse voltage VCB across this junction. As a result, the neutral base width
increases from Wb in Fig. 7-23b to (Wb)\ in Fig. 7-23c. Also, the depletion region extends more
into the collector side. This is tantamount to moving the base-collector junction deeper into the
collector. This leads to an effective widening of the neutral base region (the Kirk effect) and to a
drop of the current gain and an increase of the base transit time.
The electric field profile in the collector depletion region in the presence of uncompensated
dopant charges and mobile carriers (due to the current flow) is given by Poisson's equation.

where the mobile carrier charge concentration is given by the last term, and vd is the drift velocity of the
carriers.
The voltage across the reverse-biased collector-base junction, VCB, is
related to the electric field profile by:

Assuming that VCB is fixed, and Ic increases, the last term in Eq. (7-69) becomes more important with
respect to the ionized dopant charges. In Poisson's equation [Eq. (7-69)], the extra holes injected into the
depletion region
have the same effect as if the doping level on the base side were increased and that on the collector side
decreased. Since the integral of this field with respect to distance is fixed at VCB [Eq. (7-70)], this implies
that the depletion region on the base side collapses. Although we have chosen to illustrate the Kirk effect
for a p-n-p BJT, similar results are obtained for the n-p-n transistor. Obviously, the treatment is identical
except for the polarity of the various charges. From a more detailed analysis, for n-p-n devices with an
n4" sub-collector, it can be shown that the base widening can extend at even higher current levels all the
way through the lightly doped collector region to the heavily doped buried sub-collector.
 (a) Cross section of p-n-p BJT;

(b) space-charge distribution in the

base-collector reverse-biased junction
for very low currents;

(c) space-charge distribution at the

Base-collector junction for higher current
levels. We see that the injected /mobile
holes (shown in color) add to the space
charge of the immobile donors on the
base side of the depletion region, but
subtract from the space charge of the
immobile acceptors on the collector side.
This leads to a widening of the neutral
base width from Wb to Wb.

Fig. 7-23 (a-b-c) Kirk effect

Reference :
Solid State Electronic Devices (sixth edition) - Chapter 7 - P.380.