Incident particle range dependence of radiation damage in a power bipolar junction transistor

The characteristic degradations in silicon NPN bipolar junction transistors (BJTs) of type 3DD155 are examined under the irradiations of 25-MeV carbon (C), 40-MeV silicon (Si), and 40-MeV chlorine (Cl) ions respectively. Different electrical parameters are measured in-situ during the exposure of heavy ions. The experimental data shows that the changes in the reciprocal of the gain variation (Δ(1/β)) of 3DD155 transistors irradiated respectively by 25-MeV C, 40-MeV Si, and 40-MeV Cl ions each present a nonlinear behaviour at a low fluence and a linear response at a high fluence. The Δ(1/β) of 3DD155 BJT irradiated by 25-MeV C ions is greatest at a given fluence, a little smaller when the device is irradiated by 40-MeV Si ions, and smallest in the case of the 40-MeV Cl ions irradiation. The measured and calculated results clearly show that the range of heavy ions in the base region of BJT affects the level of radiation damage.