60Co gamma radiation effects on NPN transistor at cryogenic temperature

The 60Co gamma radiation effects on the DC electrical characteristics of silicon NPN transistor were studied in the dose range of 100 krad to 6 Mrad at room temperature (300 K) and cryogenic temperature (77 K). The measurements were carried out at both 300 and 77 K temperature. The electrical characteristics such as Gummel characteristics, excess base current (ΔIB), current gain (hFE), transconductance (gm) and output characteristics were studied in situ as a function of total dose. The results show that there is a considerable degradation in the electrical parameters of the device irradiated both at 300 and 77 K as a consequence of increase in excess base current (ΔIB) because of the formation of generation and recombination centers in the emitter-base spacer oxide (SiO2). At cryogenic temperature irradiation, the degradation in electrical characteristics is less because of the physical phenomena such as carrier freezeout effect, decreased recombination rate, reduced charge yield, decreased electron mobility, etc.