Measurement of dose rate dependence of radiation induced damage to the current gain in bipolar transistors

We report the study of radiation induced change in the current gain of bipolar transistors for three different gamma dose rates. The dose rates differed by a factor of 60 with the lowest dose to that anticipated for the LHC, and the highest at a rate we have been routinely using for radiation damage tests. The maximum dose attained was 200 kRad, which is high enough to compare with other measurements. The importance of annealing high dose rate data is demonstrated.