Operation of RF Power MOSFETs under Proton Radiation

Abstract

The effects of proton radiation on the RF power performance of multi-finger RF MOSFETs are, for the first time, reported in this work. Besides DC and small-signal AC characterizations, on-wafer large-signal high-power performance characteristics were also measured for multi-finger RF n-MOSFETs. The comparison between pre- and post-radiation shows that the power performance of RF MOSFETs exhibits excellent tolerance to high-fluence proton irradiation, revealing the potential of RF MOSFETs in the applications of power amplifiers for wireless application under severe radiation environment even without any intentional radiation hardening