Reliability studies on bipolar transistors under different particles radiation

Abstract

The reliability of silicon bipolar junction transistors (Si BJTs) and silicon germanium heterojunction bipolar transistors (SiGe HBTs) were studied under 80 MeV nitrogen (N6+) ions and 60Co gamma radiation in a total dose from 1 to 100Mrad at 300 K. Different DC electrical parameters namely Gummel Characteristics (IB, IC–VBE), excess base current (ΔIB), current gain (hFE), and output characteristics (IC–VCE) were studied before as well as after being subjected to radiations. Both radiations caused substantial degradation in parameters such as an increase in IB, a decrease in the hFE, and a decrease in ICsat. The parametric degradation is more in Si BJT (99% degradation in hFE after ion irradiation) when compared to SiGe HBT (45% degradation in hFE). The SRIM/TRIM simulations were employed to analyze the energy loss phenomenon and ion range in device structures. Annealing studies were also conducted to study the recovery behavior of irradiated devices. The influence of linear energy transfer (LET) of radiations on damage mechanism is also discussed based on irradiation and annealing results. The results show that SiGe HBTs are more radiation hardened than Si BJTs.