Proton-induced degradation in AlGaAs/GaAs heterojunction bipolar transistors

The effects of 1.8-MeV and 105-MeV proton irradiation on AlGaAs/GaAs heterojunction bipolar transistors (HBTs) are reported. For 1.8-MeV protons, the degradation of the transistors is caused by an increase in the base current and a large decrease in the collector current. The device degradation is much less after irradiation with 105-MeV protons, because of lower nonionizing energy loss (NIEL) in the sensitive region of the device. There is no improvement in device performance after three months of room temperature annealing.