Total Ionizing Dose Impact on 22-nm FD-SOI Ring Oscillator Current and Frequency

• Published in: IEEE transactions on nuclear science 2022-12, Vol.69 (12), p.2305-2313
• Main Authors: Clark, Lawrence T., Brown, William E., Young-Sciortino, Clifford S., Butler, Jim D., Guertin, Steven M., Holbert, Keith E., Bikkina, Phaneendra, Bhanushali, Sumukh, Turowski, Marek, Levy, Andrew
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Current measurement; Digital electronics; Fabrication; Gamma rays; Gates (circuits); Integrated circuit reliability; Integrated circuits; Logic circuits; Logic gates; MOS devices; Oscillators; Radiation effects; Reliability assessment; ring oscillators (ROs); Silicon; silicon on insulator (SOI); Silicon-on-insulator; SOI (semiconductors); Threshold voltage; total ionizing dose (TID); Transistors
• ISSN: 0018-9499; 1558-1578
• DOI: 10.1109/TNS.2022.3221627

Total ionizing dose (TID) has a significant effect on silicon-on-insulator (SOI) circuits, manifesting primarily as a front-gate threshold voltage ( V_{t} ) shift. This article presents data on ring oscillator (RO) responses of 22-nm fully depleted (FD-SOI) thin oxide (core logic) devices to gamma-ray doses above 1 Mrad(Si). We show large current and frequency TID response differences between ROs comprised of different logic gates. Moreover, the extensive experimental results presented here show that these responses vary significantly with V_{t} and well type. The measurements show that depending on the expected dose and transistor V_{t} used, TID-induced standby current ( I_{\mathrm {SB}} ) increases may have a substantial impact on overall power in spaceborne integrated circuits (ICs) using this fabrication process. The TID impact on digital circuit timing margins is also discussed.