Machine learning-based analyses for total ionizing dose effects in bipolar junction transistors

Machine learning methods have proven to be powerful in various research fields.In this paper,we show that research on radiation effects could benefit from such methods and present a machine learning-based scientific discovery approach.The total ionizing dose(TID)effects usually cause gain degradation of bipolar junction transistors(BJTs),leading to functional failures of bipolar integrated circuits.Currently,many experiments of TID effects on BJTs have been conducted at different laboratories worldwide,producing a large amount of experimental data which provides a wealth of information.However,it is difficult to utilize these data effectively.In this study,we proposed a new artificial neural network(ANN)approach to analyze the experimental data of TID effects on BJTs An ANN model was built and trained using data collected from different experiments.The results indicate that the proposed ANN model has advantages in capturing nonlinear correlations and predicting the data.The trained ANN model suggests that the TID hardness of a BJT tends to increase with base current I.A possible cause for this finding was analyzed and confirmed through irradiation experiments.

Suppressing the hot carrier injection degradation rate in total ionizing dose effect hardened nMOSFETs

Annular gate nMOSFETs are frequently used in spaceborne integrated circuits due to their intrinsic good capability of resisting total ionizing dose （TID） effect. However, their capability of resisting the hot carrier effect （HCE） has also been proven to be very weak. In this paper, the reason why the annular gate nMOSFETs have good TID but bad HCE resistance is discussed in detail, and an improved design to locate the source contacts only along one side of the annular gate is used to weaken the HCE degradation. The good TID and HCE hardened capability of the design are verified by the experiments for I/O and core nMOSFETs in a 0.18 μm bulk CMOS technology. In addition, the shortcoming of this design is also discussed and the TID and the HCE characteristics of the replacers （the annular source nMOSFETs） are also studied to provide a possible alternative for the designers.

The total ionizing dose effects of non-planar triple-gate transistors

This paper investigates the total ionizing dose response of different non-planar triple-gate transistor structures with different fin widths. By exposing the pseudo-MOS transistor to different amounts of radiation, different interface trap densities and trapped-oxide charges can be obtained. Using these parameters together with Altal 3D simulation software, the total dose radiation response of various non-planar triple-gate devices can be simulated. The behaviors of three kinds of non-planar devices are compared.

Total Ionizing Dose Radiation Effects in the P-Type Polycrystalline Silicon Thin Film Transistors

The total ionizing dose radiation effects in the polycrystalline silicon thin film transistors are studied. Transfer characteristics, high-frequency capacitance-voltage curves and low-frequency noises (LFN) are measured before and after radiation. The experimental results show that threshold voltage and hole-field-effect mobility decrease, while sub-threshold swing and low-frequency noise increase with the increase of the total dose. The contributions of radiation induced interface states and oxide trapped charges to the shift of threshold voltage are also estimated. Furthermore, spatial distributions of oxide trapped charges before and after radiation are extracted based on the LFN measurements.

Total Ionization Dose Effects on Charge Storage Capability of Al2O3/HfO2/Al2O3-Based Charge Trapping Memory Cell

Because of the discrete charge storage mechanism, charge trapping memory（CTM） technique is a good candidate for aerospace and military missions. The total ionization dose（TID） effects on CTM cells with Al2O3/HfO2/Al2O3（AHA） high-k gate stack structure under in-situ 10 keV x-rays are studied. The C-V characteristics at different radiation doses demonstrate that charge stored in the device continues to be leaked away during the irradiation,thereby inducing the shift of flat band voltage（V（fb））. The dc memory window shows insignificant changes, suggesting the existence of good P/E ability. Furthermore, the physical mechanisms of TID induced radiation damages in AHA-based CTM are analyzed.

Total ionizing radiation-induced read bit-errors in toggle magnetoresistive random-access memory devices

The 1-Mb and 4-Mb commercial toggle magnetoresistive random-access memories（MRAMs） with 0.13 μm and 0.18-μm complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor（CMOS） process respectively and different magnetic tunneling junctions（MTJs） are irradiated with a Cobalt-60 gamma source. The electrical functions of devices during the irradiation and the room temperature annealing behavior are measured. Electrical failures are observed until the dose accumulates to 120-krad（Si） in 4-Mb MRAM while the 1-Mb MRAM keeps normal. Thus, the 0.13-μm process circuit exhibits better radiation tolerance than the 0.18-μm process circuit. However, a small quantity of read bit-errors randomly occurs only in 1-Mb MRAM during the irradiation while their electrical function is normal. It indicates that the store states of MTJ may be influenced by gamma radiation, although the electrical transport and magnetic properties are inherently immune to the radiation. We propose that the magnetic Compton scattering in the interaction of gamma ray with magnetic free layer may be the origin of the read bit-errors. Our results are useful for MRAM toward space application.

Experimental study on radiation effects in floating gate read-only-memories and static random access memories

Radiation effects of the floating gate read-only-memory （FG ROM） and the static random access memory （SRAM） have been evaluated using the 14 MeV neutron and 31.9MeV proton beams and Co-60 γ-rays. The neutron fluence, when the first error occurs in the FG ROMs, is at least 5 orders of magnitude higher than that in the SRAMs, and the proton fluence, 4 orders of magnitude higher. The total dose threshold for Co-60 γ-ray irradiation is about 104 rad （Si） for both memories. The difference and similarity are attributed to the structure of the memory cells and the mechanism of radiation effects. It is concluded that the FG ROMs are more reliable as semiconductor memories for storing data than the SRAMs, when they are used in the satellites or space crafts exposed to high energy particle radiation.

Comparison of radiation degradation induced by x-ray and 3-MeV protons in 65-nm CMOS transistors

The total ionizing dose（TID） response of 65-nm CMOS transistors is studied by 10-ke V x-ray and 3-Me V protons up to 1 Grad（SiO_2） total dose.The degradation levels induced by the two radiation sources are different to some extent.The main reason is the interface dose enhancement due to the thin gate oxide and the low energy photons.The holes＇ recombination also contributes to the difference.Compared to these two mechanisms,the influence of the dose rate is negligible.

Performance comparison of radiation-hardened layout techniques

Total ionizing dose （TID） effect and single event effect （SEE） from space may cause serious effects on bulk silicon and silicon on insulator （SOl） devices, so designers must pay much attention to these bad effects to achieve better performance. This paper presents different radiation-hardened layout techniques to mitigate TID and SEE effect on bulk silicon and SOl device and their corresponding advantages and disadvantages are studied in detail. Under 0.13μm bulk silicon and SOl process technology, performance comparisons of two different kinds of DFF circuit are made, of which one kind is only hardened in layout （protection ring for bulk silicon DFF, T-gate for SO! DFF）, while the other kind is also hardened in schematic such as DICE structure. The result shows that static power and leakage of SOI DFF is lower than that of bulk silicon DFF, while SOI DFF with T-gate is a little slower than bulk silicon DFF with protection ring, which will provide useful guidance for radiation-hardened circuit and layout design.

Study of radiation-induced leakage current between adjacent devices in a CMOS integrated circuit

Radiation-induced inter-device leakage is studied using an analytical model and TCAD simulation. There were some different opinions in understanding the process of defect build-up in trench oxide and parasitic leakage path turning on from earlier studies.To reanalyze this problem and make it beyond argument,every possible variable is considered using theoretical analysis,not just the change of electric field or oxide thickness independently. Among all possible inter-device leakage paths,parasitic structures with N-well as both drain and source are comparatively more sensitive to the total dose effect when a voltage discrepancy exists between the drain and source region.Since N-well regions are commonly connected to the same power supply,these kinds of structures will not be a problem in a real CMOS integrated circuit.Generally speaking,conduction paths of inter-device leakage existing in a real integrated circuit and under real electrical circumstances are not very sensitive to the total ionizing dose effect.