The influence of neutron radiation effects on the design of high-voltage power transistors

This paper describes the physical phenomena which must be considered in designing a practical neutron-hardened n-p-v-n power transistor. It is shown that, in addition to resistivity increase in the collector and lifetime decrease in the base region, one must also consider increases in emitter-base space-charge recombination and decreases in emitter efficiency to completely characterize the device degradation. The most practical design for a high-voltage neutron-hardened power transistor may be one in which the base is allowed to extend into the collector at high-current densities in order to reduce the saturation vo1tages. Data are given for a 5-ampere 100-volt BVCEOdevice tolerant to 3×10¹⁴neutrons/ cm²(E >10 keV, fission spectrum).