Relaxation of Si-SiO2 interfacial stress in bipolar screen oxides due to ionizing radiation

Current gain degradation due to ionizing radiation in complementary single-crystalline emitter bipolar transistors was found to grow progressively worse upon subjecting the transistors to repeated cycles of radiation exposure and high-temperature anneal. The increase in radiation sensitivity is independent of the emitter polarity or geometry and is most dramatic between the first and second radiation and anneal cycles. In parallel with the current gain measurements, samples from a monitor wafer simulating the screen oxide region above the extrinsic base in the npn transistors were measured for mechanical stress while undergoing similar cycles of irradiation and anneal. The oxide on the monitor wafer consisted of a 45 nm thermal layer and a 640 nm deposited layer. The results indicate that ionizing radiation helped relieve compressive stress at the Si surface. The magnitude of the stress change due to radiation is smaller than the stress induced by the emitter contact metallization followed by a post metallization anneal. Correlation of radiation sensitivity in the bipolar transistors and mechanical stress in the monitor wafer suggests that mechanical stress may be influential in determining the radiation hardness of bipolar transistors and lends validation to previously reported observations that Si-SiO₂ interfaces are increasingly more susceptible to radiation damage with decreasing Si compressive stress. Possible mechanisms for the observed changes in stress and their effect on the radiation sensitivity of the bipolar transistors are discussed