Bulk and surface damages in complementary bipolar junction transistors produced by high dose irradiation

Abstract

Two complementary types NPN and PNP of bipolar junction transistors (BJTs) were exposed to high dose of neutrons and gamma rays. The change in the base and collector currents, minority carriers lifetime, and current gain factor β with respect to the dose were analyzed. The contributions of the base current according to the defect types were also reported. It was declared that the radiation effect of neutrons was almost similar between the two transistor types, this effect at high dose may decrease the value of β to less than one. The Messenger-Spratt equation was used to describe the experimental results in this case. However, the experimental data demonstrated that the effect of gamma rays was generally higher on NPN than PNP transistors. This is mainly attributed to the difference in the behavior of the trapped positive charges in the SiO 2 layers. Meanwhile, this difference tends to be small for high gamma dose.

Effects of Fast Neutron Irradiation on Switching of Silicon Bipolar Junction Transistor

“…The dominant current of the ic is the current by holes started at the emitter and arriving at the collector. When energetic particles are irradiated onto semiconductor devices, the energy particles causes a total ionization dose effect and displacement damage [8,9]. The total ionization dose effect occurs when energy particles collide with atomic electrons, and mainly affects the SiO2 and Si-SiO2 interface regions of the BJT.…”

“…In addition, displacement damage creates defects inside the Si bulk. When fast neutrons are irradiated on Si BJTs, defects caused by displacement damages dominantly occur in the Si bulk rather than the total ionization dose effect [9]. The main changes of electrical properties in…”

“…In high energy particles irradiation, gamma rays, electron beams, protons, and neutrons are used [2][3][4][5][6][7]. Irradiation by high energy particles causes total ionization dose effect and displacement damage [8,9]. The total ionization dose effect occurs when energy particles collide with atomic electrons, and mainly affects the silicon dioxide (SiO2) and silicon (Si)-SiO2 interface regions of the BJT.…”

“…Displacement damage meanwhile creates defects inside the Si bulk. Fast neutron irradiation mainly results in displacement damage rather than a total ionization dose effect [9]. Therefore, fast neutron irradiation has the advantage of effectively generating defects in the Si bulk [10][11][12][13][14][15].…”

The Minimum AC Signal Model of Bipolar Transistor in Amplification Region for Weak Signal Detection

“…Nowadays, bipolar transistor amplifiers are widely used in weak signal detection, especially for small AC signals [1]. To achieve weak signal detection, the bipolar transistor amplifier requires lower self noise and better performance.…”