Contribution to the study of recovery mechanisms to be considered in the selection of MOS-type components used in radiative environments

The generalized use of commercial devices in a radiative environment (nuclear power plant, spatial) raises the problem of the sensitivity of electronic equipment to the radiation induced dose effect. Irradiation of electronic devices has varying impact on their electrical characteristics, according to the concomitant bias scenario. Under bias, there is a process of continuous degradation; but recovery will occur if subsequent irradiation is performed without bias voltage. This phenomenon is known as RICN (Radiation-Induced Charge Neutralization). On the other hand, increasingly widespread use of radiation-sensitive commercial off-the-shelf components (COTS) has raised interest in exploring the degradation and recovery phenomena encountered during the irradiation as a function of bias. In this work, a general method for selecting MOS devices is presented which takes into account their operating conditions (temperature, bias). After a description of the physical phenomena responsible for the oxide-trapped charge evolution, we present the RICN annealing and their implications on devices selection in a radiative environment. The tests describes in this study were performed on SRAMs and on a set of CMOS inverts from three manufacturers. In the last section, we compare our analytical model of RICN annealing with experimental data. (authors)