Effect of bias condition on heavy ion radiation in bipolar junction transistor

The characteristic degradations in silicon NPN bipolar junction transistor (BJT) of 3DG142 type are examined under the irradiation with 40-MeV chlorine (Cl) ions under forward, grounded, and reverse bias conditions, respectively. Different electrical parameters are in-situ measured during the exposure under each bias condition. From the experimental data, larger variation of base current (I_B) is observed after irradiation at a given value of base-emitter voltage (V_BE), while the collector current is slightly affected by irradiation at a given V_BE. The gain degradation is affected mostly by the behaviour of the base current. From the experimental data, the variation of current gain in the case of forward bias is much smaller than that in the other conditions. Moreover, for 3DG142 BJT, the current gain degradation in the case of reverse bias is more severe than that in the grounded case at low fluence, while at high fluence, the gain degradation in the reverse bias case becomes smaller than that in the grounded case.     

Degradation behavior of electrical properties of GaInAs (1.0 eV) and GaInAs (0.7 eV) sub-cells of IMM4J solar cells under1-MeV electron irradiation

In this work the degradation effects of the Ga_(0.7)In_(0.3)As(1.0 eV) and Ga_(0.42)In_(0.58)As(0.7 eV) sub-cells for IMM4J solar cells are investigated after 1-MeV electron irradiation by using spectral response and photoluminescence(PL) signal amplitude analysis, as well as electrical property measurements. The results show that, compared with the electrical properties of traditional single junction(SJ) GaAs(1.41 eV) solar cell, the electrical properties(such as Isc, Voc, and Pmax)of the newly sub-cells degrade similarly as a function of log ?, where ? represents the electron fluence. It is found that the degradation of Voc is much more than that of Isc in the irradiated Ga_(0.42)In_(0.58)As(0.7 eV) cells due to the additional intrinsic layer, leading to more serious damage to the space charge region. However, of the three types of SJ cells with the gap widths of 0.7, 1.0, and 1.4 eV, the electric properties of the Ga_(0.7)In_(0.3)As(1.0 eV) cell decrease largest under each irradiation fluence. Analysis on the spectral response indicates that the Jsc of the Ga_(0.7)In_(0.3)As(1.0 eV) cell also shows the most severe damage. The PL amplitude measurements qualitatively confirm that the degradation of the effective minority carrier life-time(τeff) in the SJ Ga_(0.7)In_(0.3)As cells is more drastic than that of SJ GaAs cells during the irradiation. Thus,the output current of Ga_(0.7)In_(0.3)As sub-cell should be controlled in the irradiated IMM4J cells.     

Effect of bias condition on heavy ion radiation in bipolar junction transistors

The characteristic degradations in a silicon NPN bipolar junction transistor(BJT) of 3DG142 type are examined under irradiation with 40-MeV chlorine(Cl) ions under forward,grounded,and reverse bias conditions,respectively.Different electrical parameters are in-situ measured during the exposure under each bias condition.From the experimental data,a larger variation of base current(I B) is observed after irradiation at a given value of base-emitter voltage(V BE),while the collector current is slightly affected by irradiation at a given V BE.The gain degradation is affected mostly by the behaviour of the base current.From the experimental data,the variation of current gain in the case of forward bias is much smaller than that in the other conditions.Moreover,for 3DG142 BJT,the current gain degradation in the case of reverse bias is more severe than that in the grounded case at low fluence,while at high fluence,the gain degradation in the reverse bias case becomes smaller than that in the grounded case.     

Incident particle range dependence of radiation damage in a power bipolar junction transistor

The characteristic degradations in silicon NPN bipolar junction transistors(BJTs) of type 3DD155 are examined under the irradiations of 25-MeV carbon(C),40-MeV silicon(Si),and 40-MeV chlorine(Cl) ions respectively.Different electrical parameters are measured in-situ during the exposure of heavy ions.The experimental data shows that the changes in the reciprocal of the gain variation((1/β)) of 3DD155 transistors irradiated respectively by 25-MeV C,40-MeV Si,and 40-MeV Cl ions each present a nonlinear behaviour at a low fluence and a linear response at a high fluence.The(1/β) of 3DD155 BJT irradiated by 25-MeV C ions is greatest at a given fluence,a little smaller when the device is irradiated by 40-MeV Si ions,and smallest in the case of the 40-MeV Cl ions irradiation.The measured and calculated results clearly show that the range of heavy ions in the base region of BJT affects the level of radiation damage.     

Radiation effects on MOS and bipolar devices by 8 MeV protons, 60 MeV Br ions and 1 MeV electrons

The radiation effects of the metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) and the bipolar devices are characterised using 8~MeV protons, 60~MeV Br ions and 1~MeV electrons. Key parameters are measured {\it in-situ} and compared for the devices. The ionising and nonionising energy losses of incident particles are calculated using the Geant4 and the stopping and range of ions in matter code. The results of the experiment and energy loss calculation for different particles show that different incident particles may give different contribution to MOS and bipolar devices. The irradiation particles, which cause larger displacement dose within the same chip depth of bipolar devices at a given total dose, would generate more severe damage to the voltage parameters of the bipolar devices. On the contrary, the irradiation particles, which cause larger ionising damage in the gate oxide, would generate more severe damage to MOS devices. In this investigation, we attempt to analyse the sensitivity to radiation damage of the different parameter of the MOS and bipolar devices by comparing the irradiation experimental data and the calculated results using Geant4 and SRIM code.     

Degradation mechanisms of current gain in NPN transistors

An investigation of ionization and displacement damage in silicon NPN bipolar junction transistors (BJTs) is presented. The transistors were irradiated separately with 90-keV electrons, 3-MeV protons and 40-MeV Br ions. Key parameters were measured {\em in-situ} and the change in current gain of the NPN BJTS was obtained at a fixed collector current (I_{\rm c}=1~mA). To characterise the radiation damage of NPN BJTs, the ionizing dose D_{\i} and displacement dose D_{\d} as functions of chip depth in the NPN BJTs were calculated using the SRIM and Geant4 code for protons, electrons and Br ions, respectively. Based on the discussion of the radiation damage equation for current gain, it is clear that the current gain degradation of the NPN BJTs is sensitive to both ionization and displacement damage. The degradation mechanism of the current gain is related to the ratio of D_{\rm d}/(D_{\rm d}+D_{\rm i}) in the sensitive region given by charged particles. The irradiation particles leading to lower D_{\rm d}/(D_{\rm d}+D_{\rm i}) within the same chip depth at a given total dose would mainly produce ionization damage to the NPN BJTs. On the other hand, the charged particles causing larger D_{\rm d}/(D_{\rm d}+D_{\rm i}) at a given total dose would tend to generate displacement damage to the NPN BJTs. The Messenger--Spratt equation could be used to describe the experimental data for the latter case.