ABSTRACT
This chapter highlights the current research into SiGe HBT radiation hardening techniques, bringing attention to the advancements that have been made and the challenges that remain. The effects of radiation on SiGe HBTs can be classified by the following three categories: ionization damage, displacement damage, and single event effects. There have been extensive studies into the total ionizing dose susceptibility of SiGe BiCMOS technology that span technology generations, radiation sources, dose rates, temperatures, and bias conditions. The most appealing application of RHBD in SiGe technology is the development of transistor-level modifications that mitigate the introduction of errors from single events. Circuit-level studies of N-Ring SiGe HBTs have been performed by testing both digital and analog circuits in ion-beam environments. Validation of the SiGe inverse-cascode device with integrated metal–insulator–metal capacitor has been performed by testing digital shift registers with heavy-ion beams.
