Silicon carbide FETs for high temperature nuclear environments

Author

Scozzie, C.J. ; McGarrity, J.M. ; Blackburn, J. ; DeLancey, W.M.

Author_Institution

US Army Res. Lab., Adelphi, MD, USA

Volume

43

Issue

3

fYear

1996

fDate

6/1/1996 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

1642

Lastpage

1648

Abstract

SiC transistors can operate at very high temperatures and survive very high radiation doses. These characteristics make SiC potentially the ideal technology for nuclear power applications. In this paper we report, for the first time, on the active in-core irradiation of 6H-SiC depletion-mode junction field-effect transistors (IFETs) at 25° and 300°C in a nuclear reactor operated at 200 kW. No significant degradation in the device characteristics was observed until the total neutron fluence exceeded 10¹⁵ n/cm² for irradiation at 25°C, and no significant changes were observed even at 5×10¹⁵ n/cm² at 300°C. The results of this experiment may also indicate exciting evidence for the anneal of neutron displacement damage for devices irradiated at 300°C

Keywords

field effect transistor circuits; fission reactor instrumentation; neutron effects; radiation hardening (electronics); silicon compounds; 200 kW; 25 C; 300 C; 6H-SiC depletion-mode junction field-effect transistors; IFET; SiC; SiC FETs; SiC transistors; active in-core irradiation; anneal; degradation; high radiation doses; high temperature nuclear environments; neutron displacement damage; nuclear power applications; total neutron fluence; Annealing; Circuits; Doping; Etching; FETs; JFETs; Neutrons; Silicon carbide; Substrates; Temperature;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Nuclear Science, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9499

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/23.507163

Filename

507163