HIGH-ENERGY HEAVY-ION-INDUCED SINGLE EVENT TRANSIENTS IN EPITAXIAL STRUCTURES

This paper describes numerical and experimental heavy-ion charge colle ction studies using P+N junctions on epitaxial layers. The numerical s imulations provide insights into the basic mechanisms contributing to transient currents and charge collection in devices on epitaxial layer s. This paper also presents charge collection data from similar to 2 G eV I-127 ions incident upon P+N junctions on both bulk silicon and epi taxial layers and compares the experimental data with the simulation r esults. The experimental data show that charge deposited below the epi taxial layer can be collected. This work is unique and important becau se this GeV-energy-range I-127 ion more nearly represents a cosmic ray compared to lower energy, heavy-ions in the hundreds of MeV energy ra nge. This paper also discusses the simulation results with respect to the experimental data and charge collection models for epitaxial trans istors. Additionally, a shunting model is proposed to model the early transient current responses.