The effects of total ionizing dose on the transient response of SiGe BiCMOS technologies

The effects of ionizing radiation on the single-event transient (SET) response of devices in a silicon-germanium (SiGe) bipolar and complementary metal oxide semiconductor (BiCMOS) platform is examined for the first time. Pulsed-laser measurements are leveraged to analyze the transient response of both npn SiGe HBT and nFET device structures after exposure to 10 keV X-rays. Measured data and simulations confirm a change to both the shape and magnitude of the transient response as a function of total ionizing dose (TID). This change is shown to be closely associated with the total dose degradation of the device via the introduction of trapped charge in the relevant oxides.