Neutron irradiation effects on AlGaAs/GaAs heterojunction bipolar transistors

Author

Schrantz, Gregory A. ; Van vonno, Nicolaas W. ; Krull, Wade A. ; Rao, Muralidhar A. ; Long, Stephen I. ; Kroemer, Herbert

Author_Institution

Harris Semicond., Melbourne, FL, USA

Volume

35

Issue

6

fYear

1988

fDate

12/1/1988 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

1657

Lastpage

1661

Abstract

AlGaAs/GaAs heterojunction bipolar transistors irradiated with 10 ¹⁵ neutrons/cm² demonstrated superior performance to silicon bipolar transistors. The postneutron current gain was dominated by recombination in the emitter-base depletion region. The base current exhibited an ideality factor n>2 after irradiation, which was attributed to two possible recombination mechanisms associated with neutron-induced traps: tunneling-assisted trapping and recombination arising from a nonuniform distribution of Shockley-Read-Hall centers within the depletion region. The emitter-base heterojunction was degraded more than the collector-base homojunction after irradiation

Keywords

III-V semiconductors; aluminium compounds; electron traps; electron-hole recombination; gallium arsenide; heterojunction bipolar transistors; neutron effects; AlGaAs-GaAs; Shockley-Read-Hall centers; base current; collector-base homojunction; depletion region; emitter-base depletion region; emitter-base heterojunction; heterojunction bipolar transistors; ideality factor; neutron-induced traps; nonuniform distribution; postneutron current gain; recombination; tunneling-assisted trapping; Bipolar transistors; Degradation; Gallium arsenide; Heterojunction bipolar transistors; Light emitting diodes; Molecular beam epitaxial growth; Neutrons; Radiation effects; Radiative recombination; Silicon;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Nuclear Science, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9499

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/23.25516

Filename

25516