Electron-induced damage to NPN transistors under different fluxes

Radiation damage of NPN transistors under different fluxes with electron energy of 1.5 MeV was investigated in this article. It has been shown that when NPN transistors were irradiated to a given fluence at different electron fluxes, the shift of base current was dependent on flux. With electron flux decreasing, the shift of base current becomes larger, while collector current almost keeps constant. Thus, more degradation of NPN transistors could be caused by low-electron-flux irradiation, similar to enhanced low-dose-rate sensitivity (ELDRS) of transistors under 60Co γ-irradiation. Finally, the underlying mechanisms were discussed here.