Title :
Total dose degradation of low-dropout voltage regulators
Author :
Miyahira, T.F. ; Rax, B.G. ; Johnston, A.H.
Author_Institution :
Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Technol., Pasadena, CA, USA
Abstract :
A low dropout voltage regulator that uses a lateral pnp transistor as a pass transistor in the output stage is evaluated for total dose degradation. Degradation occurs from two different mechanisms, one involving gradual degradation due to changes in internal reference voltage resulting in small changes in output voltage saturation characteristics; and the other causing the output voltage to fall to nearly zero because of gain degradation in the lateral pnp output transistor. Additionally, wide variability was observed between two different lots of devices, produced approximately 18 months apart. This illustrates the importance of lot-sample testing when these highly sensitive devices are considered for use in space.
Keywords :
bipolar transistor circuits; circuit testing; radiation effects; voltage regulators; gain degradation; internal reference voltage; lateral pnp output transistors; low-dropout voltage regulators; output voltage saturation; total dose degradation; Circuit testing; Degradation; Low voltage; Packaging; Propulsion; Regulators; Semiconductor device manufacture; Space technology; System testing; Transistors;
Conference_Titel :
Radiation Effects Data Workshop, 2005. IEEE
Print_ISBN :
0-7803-9367-8
DOI :
10.1109/REDW.2005.1532678
