Comparison of ionizing-radiation-induced gain degradation in lateral, substrate, and vertical PNP BJTs

Abstract

A comparison is presented of ionizing-radiation-induced gain degradation in lateral, substrate, and vertical PNPs. The dose-rate dependence of current gain degradation in lateral PNP BJTs is even stronger than the dependence previously reported for NPN BJTs. Various mechanisms are presented and their relative significance for gain degradation in the lateral, substrate, and vertical PNPs is discussed. A detailed comparison of the lateral and substrate PNP devices is given. The specific lateral and substrate devices considered here are fabricated in the same process and possess identical emitters. Even though these devices have identical emitters and undergo the same processing steps, the lateral devices degrade significantly more than the substrate devices.