Proton-induced damage in JFET transistors and charge preamplifiers on high-resistivity silicon

The results discussed in this paper are relevant to junction field effect transistors (JFETs) and JFET-based charge sensitive amplifiers fabricated in a detector compatible process. Such structures were irradiated with 27 MeV protons to evaluate the suitability of the technology for space applications and high-energy physics experiments from the standpoint of radiation tolerance. The process investigated in this work, originally designed for the fabrication of silicon detectors to be operated in a fully depleted condition, has been tuned to embed N-channel JFETs, NMOS devices and bipolar transistors in the same high resistivity substrate. The most significant electrical parameters have been monitored after exposing the test structures to different proton fluences in order to characterize their total dose and bulk damage response. Comparison with the results from previous irradiations with γ-rays might be helpful in shedding light on the fundamental mechanisms underlying radiation damage in JFET silicon devices.