Total Dose Radiation Effects on Silicon MESFET Circuits

Silicon MESFET technology is an attractive candidate for a gamma dose hard FET technology suitable for digital logic and sRAM circuits. This paper describes the results of an evaluation of the total dose hardness of Si MESFET circuits of sufficient density, performance, and complexity to allow prediction of the performance of Si MESFET LSI circuits. A simple approach to harden the isolation is demonstrated. Gamma total dose tests show the technology to be radiation hard to at least 106 rad (Si) without any observed degradation.