Li Xingji

Degradation mechanisms of current gain in NPN transistors

An investigation of ionization and displacement damage in silicon NPN bipolar junction transistors (BJTs) is presented. The transistors were irradiated separately with 90-keV electrons, 3-MeV protons and 40-MeV Br ions. Key parameters were measured in-situ and the change in current gain of the NPN BJTS was obtained at a fixed collector current (Ic = 1 mA). To characterise the radiation damage of NPN BJTs, the ionizing dose Di and displacement dose Dd as functions of chip depth in the NPN BJTs were calculated using the SRIM and Geant4 code for protons, electrons and Br ions, respectively. Based on the discussion of the radiation damage equation for current gain, it is clear that the current gain degradation of the NPN BJTs is sensitive to both ionization and displacement damage. The degradation mechanism of the current gain is related to the ratio of Dd/(Dd + Di) in the sensitive region given by charged particles. The irradiation particles leading to lower Dd/(Dd + Di) within the same chip depth at a given total dose would mainly produce ionization damage to the NPN BJTs. On the other hand, the charged particles causing larger Dd/(Dd + Di) at a given total dose would tend to generate displacement damage to the NPN BJTs. The Messenger–Spratt equation could be used to describe the experimental data for the latter case.

Effect of bias condition on heavy ion radiation in bipolar junction transistors

The characteristic degradations in a silicon NPN bipolar junction transistor (BJT) of 3DG142 type are examined under irradiation with 40-MeV chlorine (Cl) ions under forward, grounded, and reverse bias conditions, respectively. Different electrical parameters are in-situ measured during the exposure under each bias condition. From the experimental data, a larger variation of base current (IB) is observed after irradiation at a given value of base-emitter voltage (VBE), while the collector current is slightly affected by irradiation at a given VBE. The gain degradation is affected mostly by the behaviour of the base current. From the experimental data, the variation of current gain in the case of forward bias is much smaller than that in the other conditions. Moreover, for 3DG142 BJT, the current gain degradation in the case of reverse bias is more severe than that in the grounded case at low fluence, while at high fluence, the gain degradation in the reverse bias case becomes smaller than that in the grounded case.

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.

Electron irradiation-induced change of structure and damage mechanisms in multi-walled carbon nanotubes*

Owing to their unique structure and excellent electrical property, carbon nanotubes (CNTs) as an ideal candidate for making future electronic components have great application potentiality. In order to meet the requirements for space application in electronic components, it is necessary to study structural changes and damage mechanisms of multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs), caused by the irradiations of 70 and 110 keV electrons. In the paper, the changes of structure and damage mechanisms in the irradiated MWCNTs, induced by the irradiations of 70 and 110 keV electrons, are investigated. The changes in surface morphology and structure of the irradiated MWCNT film are characterized using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), Raman spectroscopy, x-ray diffraction analysis (XRD), and electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy. It is found that the MWCNTs show different behaviors in structural changes after 70 and 110 keV electron irradiation due to different damage mechanisms. SEM results reveal that the irradiation of 70 keV electrons does not change surface morphology of the MWCNT film, while the irradiation of 110 keV electrons with a high fluence of 5 × 1015 cm−2 leads to evident morphological changes, such as the formation of a rough surface, the entanglement of nanotubes and the shrinkage of nanotubes. Based on Raman spectroscopy, XPS, and XRD analyses, it is confirmed that the irradiation of 70 keV electrons increases the interlayer spacing of the MWCNTs and disorders their structure through electronic excitations and ionization effects, while the irradiation of 110 keV electrons obviously reduces the interlayer spacing of the MWCNTs and improves their graphitic order through knock-on atom displacements. The improvement of the irradiated MWCNTs by 110 keV electrons is attributed to the restructuring of defect sites induced by knock-on atom displacements. EPR spectroscopic analyses reveal that the MWCNTs exposed to both 70 keV electrons and 110 keV electrons suffer ionization damage to some extent.

Effect of ionizing radiation on dual 8-bit analog-to-digital converters (AD9058) with various dose rates and bias conditions

The radiation effects on several properties (reference voltage, digital output logic voltage, and supply current) of dual 8-bit analog-to-digital (A/D) converters (AD9058) under various biased conditions are investigated in this paper. Gamma ray and 10-MeV proton irradiation are selected for a detailed evaluation and comparison. Based on the measurement results induced by the gamma ray with various dose rates, the devices exhibit enhanced low dose rate sensitivity (ELDRS) under zero and working bias conditions. Meanwhile, it is obvious that the ELDRS is more severe under the working bias condition than under the zero bias condition. The degradation of AD9058 does not display obvious ELDRS during 10-MeV proton irradiation with the selected flux.