Laser Pulse Tests of Bipolar Junction Transistors (BJTs) for SET Analysis

In order to study the Single Event Transient (SET) sensitivity of discrete bipolar junction transistors, laser tests conducted at EADS Innovation Works in Sureness are presented and discussed. A number of different BJT samples have been tested in different operating conditions. The tests demonstrate that: discrete BJTs are indeed sensitive to collected charge; the most sensitive region is the collector/base junction and that the different internal structure gives different SET shapes. We present measurements, simulations and a comparison for the SETs modeled in PSPICE and tested with a laser.