Displacement Damage Correlation of Heavy Ion, Proton, and Electron Irradiation in GaAs MESFETs

In this article, we mainly report the radiation response of n-channel depletion-mode gallium arsenide (GaAs) metal-semiconductor field-effect transistors (MESFETs) under heavy ion, proton, and electron irradiation. The maximum transconductance (<inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${G} _{\text {MAX}}$ </tex-math></inline-formula>) and drain saturation current (<inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${I} _{\text {DSS}}$ </tex-math></inline-formula>), which can reflect the carrier removal and mobility degradation induced by displacement damage, are selected as evaluation indicators, and two kinds of damage factors are derived: <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${K} _{G}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> and <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${K} _{I}$ </tex-math></inline-formula>. The nonionizing energy loss (NIEL) of different particles deposited in the epitaxial channel layer of GaAs MESFETs is calculated and used to correlate <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${K} _{G}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> and <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${K} _{I}$ </tex-math></inline-formula>, respectively. The good linear relationship between damage factors and NIEL makes it possible to predict the degradation of <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${G} _{\text {MAX}}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> and <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${I} _{\text {DSS}}$ </tex-math></inline-formula>. On this basis, two semiempirical damage equations describing GaAs MESFETs displacement damage are derived and verified by 27-MeV F. We also derive the damage coefficient “<inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\gamma $ </tex-math></inline-formula>” in the more general damage equation, which has a value of <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$5.5\times 10^{-13}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> g/MeV for <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${G} _{\text {MAX}}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> and <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$8.9\times 10^{-13}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> g/MeV for <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${I} _{\text {DSS}}$ </tex-math></inline-formula>. Besides, MESFETs made from other materials may also align with the damage equation. A single irradiation experiment can determine the damage coefficient <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\gamma $ </tex-math></inline-formula> values in principle. This work extends the application of the NIEL-based displacement damage dose (DDD) method in GaAs MESFETs.