Neutron- and proton-induced single-event upset cross sections of D- and DICE-Flip/Flops are analyzed for designs implemented in a 40 nm bulk technology node. Neutron and proton testing of the ...flip/flops show only a 30%-50% difference between D- and DICE-Flip/Flop error rates and cross sections. Simulations are used to show that charge sharing is the primary cause for the similar failures-in-time (FIT) rates. Such small improvement in the single-event performance of the DICE implementation over standard D-Flip/Flop designs may warrant careful consideration for the use of DICE designs in 40 nm bulk technologies and beyond.
A three-layer heterogeneously integrated commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) imaging sensor's (CIS) post-irradiation response to 1.7- and 4.0-MeV alpha ...particles is analyzed. The energies of the alpha particles are selected such that they stop in two separate functional layers of the device under test (DUT). Similarities in the captured datasets reveal the photodiodes in the topmost pixel layer are most vulnerable to alpha particle-induced persistent effects. Despite black-level clamping, alpha particles of both energies are found to increase the mean dark RGB values, a surrogate for dark current. Observation of multilevel random telegraph signal (RTS) pixels suggests that displacement damage dose (DDD) effects dominate the persistent effect response, rather than total ionizing dose (TID) effects. The energy of incoming alpha particles was found to affect the frequency of RTS pixels. Similarly, particle energy affects the number of RTS levels. Additionally and possibly most importantly for certain operational scenarios, the chip was found to perform at least two types of on-board processing that impacted the observed radiation effects: pixel demosaicing and discrete cosine transform (DCT).
Donor-like defects are activated and acceptor-like defects are passivated when commercial AlGaN/GaN high electron mobility transistors (HEMTs) are irradiated with 10-keV X-rays or 1.8-MeV protons at ...low fluence. Displacement-damage-induced creation of acceptor-like defects is observed at higher proton fluences. The dehydrogenation of FeGa-H and <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">\text{O}_{\mathrm {N}} </tex-math></inline-formula>-H substitutional impurities and generation of N-vacancy-related defects most likely account for the modest degradation of these devices at high proton fluences. Low-frequency (LF) noise measurements identify FeGa defects as prominent generation-recombination (G-R) centers in these devices. These results enable recalibration of the Dutta-Horn model of LF noise and increased insight into the defect identities and energy distributions in AlGaN/GaN HEMTs.
Low-energy ion-induced breakdown and single-event burnout (SEB) are experimentally observed in beta-gallium oxide (<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">\beta ...</tex-math></inline-formula>-Ga2O3) Schottky diodes with voltages well below those of expected electrical breakdown. Fundamentally different responses were observed among alpha particle, Cf-252, and heavy-ion irradiation. Technology computer-aided design (TCAD) simulations suggest that ion-induced burnout can be triggered at high voltages as a result of a single ion strike, leading to impact ionization, voltage-induced charge separation accentuated by the low intrinsic hole mobility in <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">\beta </tex-math></inline-formula>-Ga2O3, and breakdown. At significantly lower voltages, the cumulative buildup of displacement-damage-induced defects in <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">\beta </tex-math></inline-formula>-Ga2O3 during high-fluence ion irradiation can lead to defect-driven breakdown due to the generation and motion of negatively charged Ga vacancies and O interstitials. First-principles calculations show that defect clusters can be formed, which are much less resistive than the surrounding material. These clusters can be driven deeply into the device by the reverse bias, ultimately forming conduction paths that can facilitate the destruction of the device at reduced voltages.
The single-event response of a three-layer heterogeneously integrated commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) CMOS image sensor (CIS) to alpha particles of different energies is analyzed. The energies of the ...alpha particles are selected, such that they stop in two separate functional layers of the device-under-test (DUT). Differences in the single-event response of the DUT depend on alpha particle energy. Spatial profiling of ionizing events reveals susceptibility in the peripheral circuitry of the dynamic random-access memory (DRAM) layer to single-event functional interrupts (SEFIs). The on-chip demosaicing algorithm contributes significantly to the number of pixels affected by transient-ionizing events. Large groupings of affected pixels are manifestations of ionizing events in the peripheral circuitry contained within the image-sensitive layer of the DUT. Similarities in the captured data sets reveal the single-event response of the pixel layer dominates the system-level response of the DUT.
Bulk and silicon-on-insulator (SOI) n-channel FinFETs with fin widths of 15-40 nm and channel lengths of 45 and 1000 nm were irradiated with 1.8 MeV protons at temperatures of 295 and 90 K. Bulk and ...SOI FinFETs show improved transconductance and steeper subthreshold slopes before irradiation at 90 K than at 295 K. Increased off-state leakage currents are observed for longer channel bulk FinFETs for doses above 300-500 krad (SiO 2 ) for 295 and 90 K irradiation, and at lower doses for shorter channel devices. Threshold-voltage shifts for irradiation up to 1 Mrad(SiO 2 ) are greater for SOI devices at 90 K than at 295 K due to enhanced charge trapping in the buried oxide (BOX). TCAD simulations provide insight into radiation-induced trapped-charge densities in the SOI devices.
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