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Structures integrated onto a BiCMOS test chip are specially designed to characterize the complex mechanisms related to proton radiation response in bipolar technologies. Bipolar devices from a commercial process are modified to include independent gate terminals. Through the use of gate control, the effects of proton-induced defects on discrete bipolar devices and analog bipolar circuits can be analyzed independently, thereby facilitating a quantitative description of the nonlinear relationship between the radiation defects and electrical response at both the device and circuit level. Index Terms--Base current, bipolar junction transistors, bulk traps, displacement damage, high-energy protons, input bias current, interface traps, ionizing radiation, oxide trapped charge, surface recombination.

Silicon carbide (SiC) power metal-oxide-semiconductor field effect transistors (MOSFETs) are space-ready in terms of typical reliability measures. However, single event burnout (SEB) due to heavy-ion irradiation often occurs at voltages 50% or lower than specified breakdown. Failure rates in space are estimated for burnout of 1200 V devices based on the experimental data for burnout and the expected heavy-ion linear energy transfer (LET) spectrum in space. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]