Simulation and analysis of inverse-mode operation of single event transient mechanisms on NPN-SiGe HBT

Abstract

This work presents the characteristics of the single event transient (SET) induced by a single heavy ion in the inverse mode NPN-SiGe HBT simulated with the Silvaco TCAD toolkit. The designed SiGe HBT technology structure was built on the DevEdit simulator and simulated on Deckbuild using device and radiation effect simulations. The characteristics of device SET distribution, including transient pulse current, corresponding collection charge, pulse current peak, and full width at half maximum (FWHM) levels, etc, were simulated and compared as they changed with heavy ion LETs (0.2 pC μm−1 ∼ 1.0 pC μm−1), striking angles (30° ∼ 120°), and device emitter bias voltage settings (0.6 V ∼ 1.8 V). Meanwhile, the electrostatic potential distribution was found to be impacted by the heavy ion SET at the initial time moment when the heavy ion began to strike the surface of the device. The mechanisms for SET variation and its influence on the device potential under different conditions were primarily analyzed and discussed.