Radiation effects for high-energy protons and X-ray in integrated circuits

Full text: Electronic circuits are strongly influenced by ionizing radiation. The necessity to develop integrated circuits (IC's) featuring radiation hardness is largely growing to meet the stringent environment in space electronics [1]. This work aims to development a test platform to qualify electronic devices under the influence of high radiation dose, for aerospace applications. To understand the physical phenomena responsible for changes in devices exposed to ionizing radiation several kinds of radiation should then be considered, among them heavy ions, alpha particles, protons, gamma and X-rays. Radiation effects on the ICs are usually divided into three categories: Total Ionizing Dose (TID), a cumulative dose that shifts the threshold voltage and increases transistor's off-state current; Single Events Effects (SEE), a transient effect which can deposit charge directly into the device and disturb the properties of electronic circuits and Displacement Damage (DD) which can change the arrangement of the atoms in the lattice [2]. In this study we are investigating the radiation effects in rectangular-gate and circular-gate MOSFETs, manufactured with standard CMOS fabrication process, using particle beams produced in electrostatic tandem accelerators and X-rays. Initial tests for TID effects were performed using the 1.7 MV 5SDH tandem Pelletron accelerator of the Instituto de Fisica da USP with a proton beam of 2.6 MeV. The devices were exposed to different doses, varying the beam current, and irradiation time with the accumulated dose reaching up to Grad. To study the effect of X-rays on the electronic devices, an XRD-7000 (Shimadzu) X-ray setup was used as a primary X-ray source. The devices were irradiated with a total dose from krad to Grad using different dose rates. The results indicate that changes of the I-V characteristic curve are strongly dependents on the geometry of the devices. [1] Duzellier, S., Aerospace Science and Technology 9, p. 93-99, 2005. [2] Barnaby, H.J., IEEE Transactions on Nuclear Science, vol. 53, no 6, 2006. (author)