Radiation Induced Regeneration through the P-N Junction Isolation in Monolithic I/C´s

Some monolithic integrated circuits have been found to display a regenerative interaction between substrate parasitics and the intended semiconductor circuit elements when exposed to ionizing radiation. One manifestation of this effect can result in a bi-stable operating condition which prevents proper integrated circuit functioning until the power source is reduced. Experimental and analytic methods are described which have been used to determine the susceptibility of a specific type of monolithic integrated circuit to regenerative operation. The analytic methods predicting the form of the regenerative transient effect rely heavily on the use of an automated digital computer code termed Transient Radiation Analysis by Computer (TRAC) which mechanizes the complex nonlinear equations that simulate the semiconductor behavior.