This article investigates the transient dose rate effect (TDRE) of two types of level-shifting transceivers. Experimental results show that both transceivers have a high latch-up threshold. One uncommon phenomenon is found that there are photocurrents generated at the input ports for both transceivers when exposed to transient $\gamma $ radiation. Moreover, the polarity and amplitude of the photocurrents are related to the input voltage level. A hypothesis is proposed that this uncommon phenomenon is caused by the electrostatic discharge (ESD) circuits at the input ports and then it is successfully verified by TCAD simulations. The simulation results show that the vertical parasitic p-n-p transistor in pMOS of the ESD circuit could turn on under transient $\gamma $ radiation, and generate a positive photocurrent when the input port is configured to high-level voltage. On the contrary, when the input port is configured to low-level voltage, its lateral parasitic p-n-p transistor in pMOS could turn on and generate a negative photocurrent. The amplitude of the positive photocurrent is obviously larger than the negative photocurrent due to different gains of the parasitic transistors. Simulation results also show the number of pMOSs in n-well has significant impacts on the amplitude of photocurrents.

With the increasingly widespread application of CMOS image sensors (CIS) in radiation environments, such as aerospace, their radiation effects have gained attention. This paper investigates single-event transient (SET) caused by the proton direct ionization on CIS, combining both experimental and simulation methods. The proton beam energy used in the experiment is 12 MeV, with a flux up to 3.5 × 108 p/(cm2 s). Due to the periodicity of the proton beam, the CIS output displays a phenomenon of alternating brightness and darkness. When the proton beam flux is low, numerous SET bright spots with different outputs are observed. To comprehensively analyze these experimental phenomena, a typical three-dimensional 4T pinned photodiode model is constructed in TCAD, and relevant SET simulation is carried out. The results indicate that incident position, incident time, and the number of incident protons significantly affect the output of SET-generated bright spots, which are key factors contributing to the different bright spots observed in the experiment.

Compared to linear accelerators, pulsed lasers have the characteristics of high efficiency, low cost, stable pulse output, and low environment interference for researching the transient dose rate effect (TDRE) on semiconductor devices. In this paper, pulsed laser radiation experiments are performed on a level-shifting transceiver. The experimental results are consistent with the results of the transient γ-ray radiation experiment, demonstrating the feasibility of using the pulsed laser in TDRE research on the level-shifting transceiver. This paper obtains theoretical and experimental conversion factors (CFs) through theoretical analysis and equivalency of the peak photocurrents, which are measured in pulsed laser and transient γ-ray radiation experiments. The CF results from the two approaches are within 7% of each other. In pulsed laser radiation experiments, an uncommon phenomenon is found. At the I/O (Input/Output) ports of the level-shifting transceiver, a trend of a positive photocurrent followed by a negative pulse is observed. A hypothesis is proposed that this photocurrent is produced by the turn-on and turn-off of the parasitic PNP (Positive-Negative-Positive) transistors in electrostatic discharge circuits at the level-shifting transceiver I/O ports. In addition, this hypothesis is verified by TCAD (Technology Computer Aided Design) simulations.

本文通过辐照实验和TCAD仿真, 研究了质子累积辐照导致四晶体管钳位光电二极管(4T PPD)CMOS图像传感器的饱和输出变化机理. 实验采用的质子能量为12 MeV和60 MeV, 最高质子注量为2×10¹² cm^–2. 实验结果表明: 12 MeV和60 MeV质子最高注量辐照后分别导致转换增益增大8.2%和7.3%, 满阱容量分别减小7.3%和3.8%. 饱和输出在12 MeV质子辐照下变化趋势不显著, 在60 MeV质子辐照下增大3%. 在TCAD仿真中, 建立了单个三维4T PPD像元模型, 开展了质子累积辐照效应仿真来分析损伤机理. 仿真结果表明像元饱和输出的变化由满阱容量、复位晶体管的物理特性和浮置扩散区的电容决定, 但它们具有不同的影响. 具体而言, 满阱容量的降低导致饱和输出减小, 而复位晶体管的辐照效应导致饱和输出增大. 辐照导致浮置扩散区的电容减小, 从而使转换增益增大, 进而饱和输出增大. 上述工作较为全面地揭示和分析了辐照后饱和输出的变化机理, 研究成果对CMOS图像传感器的辐射损伤分析具有一定的指导意义.

Transient γ-radiation and laser-simulated experiments were carried out to investigate the transient dose rate effect (TDRE) in SiGe heterojunction bipolar transistors (HBTs) for the first time. The results indicate that IBM43RF0100 SiGe HBTs experience a significant sensitivity of TDRE. For the laser-simulated experiment, the duration of transient current and charge collection are matched well with that of transient γ-radiation. The amplitude of transient photocurrent induced by the lower energy order of μJ approaches the transient photocurrent induced by transient γ-radiation. It is demonstrated that laser-simulated experiments are a candidate and a convenient method to evaluate the TDRE response of SiGe HBTs, which avoids serious electromagnetic interference in the transient γ-radiation environment.