Gamma Radiation Effects on the Electrical Parameters of Some Operational Amplifiers

In this work, the effect of gamma-radiation on different types of operational amplifiers (HA17741 OK, HA17741 1D1, LM741 CN and μtA741 CN) was studied. It is shown that a serious effect occurs on the electrical characteristics of the op-amp's, and consequently the devices lose their main features. The input offset voltage, offset current, and bias current are shown to increase with increasing gamma dose. Also, the closed loop gain of the op-amp's is shown to decrease with increasing gamma dose, where its rate of decrease is a function of frequency. As a result, the slew rate, common mode rejection ratio and input impedance were shown to decrease with increasing gamma dose levels. On the other hand, the output impedance is inversely proportion to the gain; so, its value increases with increasing gamma exposure. Finally, it is clearly shown that the radiation dependence of the op-amp electrical parameters is a function of the fabrication technique of the op-amp's, where, the op-amps of the types HA17741 IDI and HA17741 OK are shown to be less sensitive to gamma rays than the op-amps of the types LM741 CN and μtA741 CN