Proton tolerance of fourth-generation 350 GHz UHV/CVD SiGe HBTs

Akil K. Sutton, Becca M. Haugerud, Yuan Lu, Wei Min Lance Kuo, John D. Cressler, Paul W. Marshall, Robert A. Reed, Jae Sung Rieh, Greg Freeman, David Ahlgren

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42 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

We report, for the first time, the impact of proton irradiation on fourth-generation SiGe heterojunction bipolar transistors (HBTs) having a record peak unity gain cutoff frequency of 350 GHz. The implications of aggressive vertical scaling on the observed proton tolerance is investigated through comparisons of the pre-and post-radiation ac and dc figures-of-merit to observed results from prior SiGe HBT technology nodes irradiated under identical conditions. In addition, transistors of varying breakdown voltage are used to probe the differences in proton tolerance as a function of collector doping. Our findings indicate that SiGe HBTs continue to exhibit impressive total dose tolerance, even at unprecedented levels of vertical profile scaling and frequency response. Negligible total dose degradation in β (0.3%), f T and fmax (6%) are observed in the circuit bias regime, suggesting that SiGe HBT BiCMOS technology is potentially a formidable contender for high-performance space-borne applications.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)3736-3742
Number of pages7
JournalIEEE Transactions on Nuclear Science
Volume51
Issue number6 II
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2004 Dec
Externally publishedYes

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
Manuscript received July 20, 2004; revised September 6, 2004. This work was supported by DTRA under the Radiation Tolerant Microelectronics Program, NASA-GSFC under the Electronics Radiation Characterization Program, IBM, and the Georgia Electronic Design Center at Georgia Tech. A. K. Sutton, J. D. Cressler, B. M. Haugerud, W.-M. L. Kuo, and Y. Lu are with the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA 30308 USA (e-mail: [email protected]). P. W. Marshall and R. A. Reed are with a consultant to NASA-GSFC, Green-belt, MD 20771 USA. J.-S. Rieh, G. Freeman, and D. Ahlgren are with the IBM Microelectronics, Hopewell Junction, NY 12533 USA. Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TNS.2004.839302

Keywords

  • Breakdwon voltage
  • Heterojunction bipolar transistors (HTB)
  • Proton tolerance
  • SiGe
  • Silicon-germanium
  • Technology scaling

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Nuclear and High Energy Physics
  • Nuclear Energy and Engineering
  • Electrical and Electronic Engineering

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