A lateral heterojunction bipolar transistor (HBT) is formed on a semiconductor-on-insulator substrate. The HBT includes a base including a doped silicon-germanium alloy base region, an emitter including doped silicon and laterally contacting the base, and a collector including doped silicon and laterally contacting the base. Because the collector current is channeled through the doped silicon-germanium base region, the HBT can accommodate a greater current density than a comparable bipolar transistor employing a silicon channel. The base may also include an upper silicon base region and/or a lower silicon base region. In this case, the collector current is concentrated in the doped silicon-germanium base region, thereby minimizing noise introduced to carrier scattering at the periphery of the base. Further, parasitic capacitance is minimized because the emitter-base junction area is the same as the collector-base junction area.