High-energy particle irradiation effects in 0.5 μm BiCMOS polysilicon emitter bipolar junction transistors

The degradation of polysilicon emitter bipolar junction transistors fabricated in a 0.5 μm BiCMOS technology, which are subjected to high-energy electron and proton irradiations is explored for the first time. The parameters of primary interest in this study are the base I_B and collector current I_C (Gummel plot), the current gain β and the base current noise spectral density S(I_B). 1-MeV electron irradiation in first instance causes an increase of the non-ideal base current at small base-emitter voltages. Associated with this is a reduction of the gain and an increase of the peripheral flicker or 1/f noise component. The 59 MeV proton irradiations cause a degradation of both I_C and I_B in the whole voltage range studied and a corresponding increase of flicker noise