Anomalous Damage Mechanism in PNP Silicon Transistors Due to Thermal Neutrons
- 1 December 1973
- journal article
- Published by Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) in IEEE Transactions on Nuclear Science
- Vol. 20 (6) , 274-279
- https://doi.org/10.1109/tns.1973.4327407
Abstract
Very low energy neutrons (E < 1 eV) were found to produce damage to pnp silicon transistors comparable to that produced by fast neutrons (E > 10 keV). The effectiveness of thermal neutrons was quite varied; ratios of thermal-to-fast neutron damage constants from less than 10-3 to nearly unity were obtained. The damage mechanism was tentatively identified to be the result of a [B10 (n, α) Li7] reaction in the emitter region of the device whereby energetic alpha and Li particles are emitted and subsequently produce damage in the base region of the device. The role of the lithium recoil was identified to be responsible for the large observed damage ratios; however, even larger ratios are possible for certain types of devices.Keywords
This publication has 4 references indexed in Scilit:
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- Considerations in Establishing a Standard for Neutron Displacement Energy Effects in SemiconductorsIEEE Transactions on Nuclear Science, 1971
- Electrical and physical measurements on silicon implanted with channelled and nonchanneled dopant ionsCanadian Journal of Physics, 1968
- On the production of displaced atoms by thermal neutronsJournal of Nuclear Materials, 1960