Radiation and Annealing Characteristics of Neutron Bombarded Silicon Transistors

Operating a silicon planar epitaxial transistor in the inverse configuration allows one to demonstrate clearly the importance of the neutron-induced base current component and its degradation of the emitter efficiency, and, because of the much larger depletion layer, to compute a volume dependent damage constant applicable to all silicon p-n junctions. The importance of minimizing the absolute change versus relative change in radiation hardening studies is clearly illustrated. Surface effects were found to be significant for transistors mounted in gas-filled cans. The diffusion potential was predicted, on theoretical grounds, to vary with neutron fluence, and the theory was experimentally confirmed. Isochronal and isothermal annealing data were obtained for the inverse configuration and from these data, it is concluded that the neutron-induced defect centers are field dependent.