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 language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 3736-3742 |
Number of pages | 7 |
Journal | IEEE Transactions on Nuclear Science |
Volume | 51 |
Issue number | 6 II |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 2004 Dec |
Externally published | Yes |
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