Ionizing radiation-induced asymmetries of the retention characteristics of ferroelectric thin films

A new failure mode in ferroelectric, non-volatile memories in a radiation environment has been identified. Exposure to ionizing radiation in combination with a series of unipolar pulses, which could be found in a read-only or read-mostly memory application, has been found to create a preferred memor...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:IEEE transactions on nuclear science 1995-12, Vol.42 (6), p.1575-1584
Main Authors: Moore, R.A., Benedetto, J.M.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Capacitors
Circuits
Degradation
Ferroelectric films
Ferroelectric materials
Ionizing radiation
Iron
Polarization
Pulse measurements
Transistors
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Summary:A new failure mode in ferroelectric, non-volatile memories in a radiation environment has been identified. Exposure to ionizing radiation in combination with a series of unipolar pulses, which could be found in a read-only or read-mostly memory application, has been found to create a preferred memory state in the ferroelectric storage cell. This preferred memory state, or imprint, causes a significant asymmetry in the retention of polarization. While ferroelectric materials remain highly radiation tolerant, a new, more stringent testing method-should be adopted for hardness assurance. The creation of a preferential memory state, or 'imprint', in ferroelectric films and memories has previously only been reported in elevated temperature situations.
ISSN:0018-9499
1558-1578
DOI:10.1109/23.488752