EXPERIMENTAL CHARACTERIZATION OF PROTON RADIATED SiGe POWER HBTs AT EXTREME TEMPERATURES

Abstract

The performances of proton irradiated silicon-germanium (SiGe) power heterojunction bipolar transistors (HBTs) at extreme temperatures (liquid nitrogen temperature and high stagetemperature of 120 C with junction temperature over 160 C) are reported in this work. SiGe power HBTs with total emitter area of $ 1460 m 2 are fabricated in a commercial BiCMOS process, and irradiated with proton at di®erent°uences from 1 Â 10 12 p/cm 2 to 5 Â 10 13 p/cm 2 . Experimental characterizations are conducted for pre-and post-radiation devices at room temperature, cryogenic temperature and high temperature. The results demonstrate that the proton-irradiated SiGe power HBTs are naturally suitable for electronic operations at extreme temperatures. Speci¯cally, investigation of proton radiation on SiGe power HBTs at liquid nitrogen temperature (77 K) indicates a signi¯cant potential for space applications. In addition, SiGe power HBTs show better tolerance of proton radiation at high temperature of 120 C (junction temperature over 160 C). SiGe power HBTs demonstrate great potential in power ampli¯cation for wireless communication systems under severe radiation and extreme temperature environment (cryogenic and high temperatures) even without any intentional radiation hardening.