Comparative Study of Proton and Gamma-Ray Radiation on the Threshold Voltage Shifts and the Reverse Recovery of Superjunction MOSFETs

With the increasing use of power semiconductor devices in radiation-rich environments, it is essential to understand the effects of different radiation types on device performance. This study investigates the effects of gamma-ray and proton irradiation on superjunction (SJ) metal-oxide–semiconductor field-effect transistors (MOSFETs), highlighting differences in total ionizing dose (TID) effects and reverse recovery characteristics. Both irradiation types caused threshold voltage changes due to the TID effect, but the two radiation characteristics resulted in different threshold voltage change patterns. In addition, in the reverse recovery characteristics, protons with the mass and charge compared to gamma rays formed defects in the device and promoted charge recombination, resulting in a more pronounced reverse recovery charge (<inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${Q}_{\text {rr}}$ </tex-math></inline-formula>), decreased maximum reverse recovery current (<inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${I}_{\text {rrm}}$ </tex-math></inline-formula>), and increased softness factor (S).