Low Dose Rate Test Results of National Semiconductor's ELDRS-free Bipolar Amplifier LM124 and Comparators LM139 and LM193

It has been shown that for many types of integrated circuits, the response to total ionizing dose (TID) radiation is dependent upon the dose rate. Many bipolar products have been shown to exhibit enhanced low dose rate sensitivity (ELDRS), where they may pass TID testing at high dose rates, but fail at lower dose rates. Typically, TID testing and qualification is done under relatively high dose rate conditions. ELDRS has been a significant issue for the space community where the application dose rate is much lower than typical test conditions. National Semiconductor has made process and design changes to the classic bipolar amplifier, LM124 and comparators, LM139 and LM193, reducing their susceptibility to ELDRS, to where they could be considered "ELDRS free". High and low dose rate test data for these products are presented and compared.