Single Event Transient Response of SiGe Voltage References and Its Impact on the Performance of Analog and Mixed-Signal Circuits

Abstract

We investigate the single-event transient (SET) response of bandgap voltage references (BGRs) implemented in SiGe BiCMOS technology through heavy ion microbeam experiments. The SiGe BGR circuit is used to provide the input reference voltage to a voltage regulator. SiGe HBTs in the BGR circuit are struck with 36-MeV oxygen ions, and the subsequent transient responses are captured at the output of the regulator. Sensitive devices responsible for generating transients with large peak magnitudes (more than 5% of the dc output voltage) are identified. To determine the effectiveness of a transistor-layout-based radiation hardened by design (RHBD) technique with respect to immunity to SETs at the circuit level, the BGR circuit implemented with HBTs surrounded by an alternate reverse-biased junction (n-ring RHBD) is also bombarded with oxygen ions, and subsequent SETs are captured. Experimental results indicate that the number of events causing transients with peak magnitude more than 5% above the dc level have been reduced in the RHBD version; however, with the inclusion of the n-ring RHBD, new locations for the occurrence of transients (albeit with smaller peak magnitude) are created. Transients at the transistor-level are also independently captured and are presented. It is demonstrated that while the transients are short at the transistor level (ns duration), relatively long transients are obtained at the circuit level (hundreds of nanoseconds). In addition, the impact of the SET response of the BGR on the performance of an ultra-high-speed 3-bit SiGe analog-to-digital converter (ADC) is investigated through sim

Angular dependence of proton-induced single event transient in silicon-germanium heterojunction bipolar transistors

“…[9][10][11] Integrated circuits (ICs) based on SiGe HBT and SiGe BiC-MOS technologies usually suffer from low SEE thresholds and large SEE cross sections. [12][13][14] Therefore, the detailed characteristics of single event transient (SET) in SiGe HBTs are important for a full understanding of behavior of SiGe ICs in particular radiation environments.…”

Low-Power, Subthreshold Reference Circuits for the Space Environment: Evaluated with γ-rays, X-rays, Protons and Heavy Ions

“…Beyond the existing performance requirements of commercial applications, space microelectronics are required to be robust to the increased radiation levels of the space environment [5,[18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27]. Hence, there is a lot of ongoing research activity to investigate the design of CMOS based analog, digital and mixed-signal, radiation tolerant circuits [28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44][45], including those that operate in the subthreshold regime [46][47][48].…”

A Single-event Transient Mitigation Technique for Bandgap Reference Utilizing in Space Application

“…The related research on the single-event transient (SET) effects of the bandgap reference circuit were reported in [3][4][5][6][7]. The circuitlevel radiation-hardened-by-design (RHBD) techniques, such as the guard ring technique [3], the triode reverse connection [4], and the inverse-mode transistors [5], were adopted in SiGe BiCMOS technology. The suppression of SET pulses was also realized by pulse quenching [6] and DC signal isolation [7] in bulk CMOS process.…”