The effects of proton irradiation on the RF performance of SiGe HBTs

Author

Zhang, Shiming ; Niu, Guofu ; Cressler, John D. ; Clark, Steven D. ; Ahlgren, David C.

Author_Institution

Dept. of Electr. & Comput. Eng., Auburn Univ., AL, USA

Volume

46

Issue

6

fYear

1999

Firstpage

1716

Lastpage

1721

Abstract

The effects of proton irradiation on the RF performance of SiGe Heterojunction Bipolar Transistors (HBTs) are reported in this paper. Frequency response and broadband noise properties are investigated in SiGe HBTs for proton fluences up to 5/spl times/10/sup 13/ p/cm/sup 2/. The current gain in the radio frequency (RF) bias region and the cutoff frequency (f/sub T/) show little degradation at even extreme proton fluence (realistic space fluences are 1-5/spl times/10/sup 11/ p/cm/sup 2/). The slight degradation of NF/sub min/ is due to the irradiation-induced increase in the total emitter and base resistance. The associated available gain G/sub A, assoc/ at noise matching is 20.2 dB at f=2 GHz and I/sub C/=2.6 mA for a proton fluence of 5/spl times/10/sup 13/ p/cm/sup 2/. These results suggest that space-borne RF circuit applications of SiGe HBTs should be robust to proton irradiation.

Keywords

Ge-Si alloys; UHF bipolar transistors; frequency response; heterojunction bipolar transistors; proton effects; radiation hardening (electronics); semiconductor device measurement; semiconductor device noise; semiconductor materials; 2 GHz; 20.2 dB; RF performance; SiGe; SiGe HBTs; base resistance; broadband noise properties; current gain; cutoff frequency; extreme proton fluence; frequency response; heterojunction bipolar transistors; noise matching; proton fluence; proton irradiation; radio frequency bias region; space-borne RF circuit applications; total emitter resistance; Circuit noise; Cutoff frequency; Degradation; Frequency response; Germanium silicon alloys; Heterojunction bipolar transistors; Noise measurement; Protons; Radio frequency; Silicon germanium;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Nuclear Science, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9499

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/23.819144

Filename

819144