Active in-core irradiation of SiC JFETs at 300 C in a TRIGA nuclear reactor

Abstract

In this paper the authors demonstrate that SiC transistors have the potential to operate in the severe high temperature and radiation environments of commercial and space nuclear power sources. 6H-SiC FETs were exposed to neutron fluxes and gamma dose rates as high as 1.6 {times} 10{sup 12} n/cm{sup 2}/sec and 3.8 {times} 10{sup 4} rad(Si)/sec while they were maintained under bias at both 300 C and room temperature within the core of a TRIGA reactor operated at 200 kW power level. The radiation exposure was continuous and the bias on the devices was interrupted only to record the current-voltage characteristics at various accumulated neutron fluences from 10{sup 13} to 5 {times} 10{sup 15} n/cm{sup 2}. No significant degradation in the device characteristics was observed until the total neutron fluence exceeded 10{sup 15} n/cm{sup 2} for irradiation at 25 C, and no significant changes were observed even at 5 {times} 10{sup 15} n/cm{sup 2} at 300 C.