The effects of space radiation and burn-in on plastic encapsulated semiconductors

Burn-in, gamma irradiation (Cobalt 60) total dose effects (at dose rates of 0.002, 0.05 and 50 rad/s) and proton irradiation (at energies of 1 and 10 MeV) on bipolar and MOSFET transistors in plastic and ceramic packages are assessed. Practical considerations prevented the 0.002 rad/s irradiation being taken to the same total dose as the 0.05 and 50 rad/s irradiations, but that achieved was sufficient to enable comparisons to be made. The Cobalt 60 low dose rate effect was observed in all of the ceramic packaged devices, with and without burn-in. The plastic packaged devices displayed a reduced Cobalt 60 dose rate sensitivity and burn-in was found to reduce dose rate related effects for plastic packaged devices. The 1 MeV proton irradiation did not demonstrate any degradation whereas the 10 MeV irradiation showed significant degradation for the ceramic packaged devices compared with little, if any, degradation for the plastic packaged devices. Burn-in did not affect the susceptibility to proton irradiation induced degradation.