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The mechanisms responsible for neutron-induced single-event burnout (SEB) in commercial silicon carbide power MOSFETs under atmospheric-like neutron spectrum were investigated and analyzed. The combined effect of applied reverse gate voltage and drain voltage was evaluated. First, local analysis of the packaged device at the wafer level is performed to reveal the failure mechanism inside the semiconductor lattice. Second, based on gate stress testing of surviving devices and looking at the influence of reverse gate bias during irradiation, an enhanced failure sensitivity especially for drain voltage values close to the safe operating area was demonstrated. In addition to support this assumption, TCAD simulations with damage sites were performed in order to address physical mechanisms related to gate leakage degradation and SEB. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The combined effects of electrical stress and neutron irradiation of the last generation of commercial discrete silicon carbide power MOSFETs are studied. The single-event burnout (SEB) sensitivity during neutron irradiation is analyzed for unstressed and electrically stressed devices. For surviving devices, a comprehensive study of the breakdown voltage degradation is performed by coupling the electrical stress and irradiation effects. In addition, mutual influences between electrical stress and radiative constraints are investigated through TCAD modeling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the suitability of floating gate dosimeter as total ionizing dose (TID) detector in mixed fields, representative of large hadron collider (LHC) radiation environment, has been investigated. Several experiments were performed in order to characterize the dosimeter. Exposures to $\gamma $ -ray were carried out to study the sensitivity and linearity of the radiation response. Experiments in mixed radiation field were performed at CERN High energy AcceleRator Mixed field facility (CHARM) at CERN together with RadFETs to compare the performances. In particular, the minimum dose to be cumulated in order to obtain the facility calibration factor has been evaluated and discussed. The effect of the temperature on the output signal has been characterized and a compensation method has been developed and implemented. The fading of the output after irradiation was measured in order to evaluate the retention of the analog information. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper presents heavy-ion and proton radiation test results of a 90 nm COTS SRAM with stacked structure. Radiation tests were made using high penetration heavy-ion cocktails at the HIF (Belgium) and at RADEF (Finland) as well as low energy protons at RADEF. The heavy-ion SEU cross-section showed an unusual profile with a peak at the lowest LET (heavy-ion with the highest penetration range). The discrepancy is due to the fact that the SRAM is constituted of two vertically stacked dice. The impact of proton testing on the response of both stacked dice is presented. The results are discussed and the SEU cross-sections of the upper and lower layers are compared. The impact of the stacked structure on the proton SEE rate is investigated. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

During irradiation testing of RAMs, various failure scenarios may occur which may generate different characteristic Multiple Cell Upset (MCU) error patterns. This work proposes a method based on spatial and temporal criteria to identify them. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper reports on the different responses observed during heavy ion irradiation and the Post-irradiation-Gate-Stress test on radiation-hardened Power MOSFETs. The data show a correlation between IG gate current during irradiation and different behaviors observed during the post-irradiation test. This work addresses the relevance of the post-gate stress test used in space qualification of power MOSFETs. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In this work, we introduce the experimental setup and the first results of the Real-Time testing platform of High Altitude Memory Test (HAMLET) project installed at the Concordia station in Antarctica (acceleration factor of 9.8 compared to New York City-NYC). The platform is dedicated for the study of the response of 90 nm Commercial Off The Shelf (COTS) Static Random Access Memories (SRAMs) to atmospheric neutrons, operating in both the static and dynamic modes. Based on the up-to-date obtained results, the Soft Error Rate (SER) of the devices is extracted and compared with accelerated SER data. The results reveal the appearance of phenomena such as Single Event Latchups (SELs) during SRAM operation under real conditions, and not only as a result of accelerated overstressing tests. Additionally, results are in agreement with the Joint Electron Device Engineering Council (JEDEC89) standard acceleration factor and the anisotropy of the neutron flux is also studied. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In previous works, we have demonstrated the importance of dynamic mode testing of SRAM components under ionizing radiation. Several types of failures are difficult to expose when the device is tested under static (retention) mode. With the purpose of exploring and defining the most complete testing procedures and reveal the potential hazardous behaviors of SRAM devices, we present novel methods for the dynamic mode radiation testing of SRAMs. The proposed methods are based on different word address accessing schemes and data background: Fast Row, Fast Column, Pseudorandom, Adjacent (Gray) and Inverse Adjacent (Gray). These methods are evaluated by heavy ion and atmospheric-like neutron irradiation of two COTS SRAMs of 90 nm and 65 nm technology. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper reports on the impact of single event gate rupture and post-irradiation gate stress on Power MOSFETs switching ability. A dedicated setup has been developed and presented in this paper. The data showed that devices can switch after Single Event Gate Rupture. Failure of energy conversion system does not depend on IG gate current of the device but its associated external circuitry. Moreover, the data showed that devices having a gate layout constituted of parallel stripes are less sensitive than hexagonal shape when electrical constraints are applied after failure. It was also observed that the sensitivity of SEGR can be enhanced by X-ray irradiation but enhanced degradation is not observed during the switching operation. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Electrical characterizations are used to understand power MOSFETs failure mechanisms after heavy ion irradiation. Results indicate that both bias levels and impact localization of heavy ion are important parameters for SEGR triggering or latent defect formation. This work addresses the limits of the post-irradiation gate stress relevance used for Power MOSFETs space qualification. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Academic and industrial research interest in terrestrial radiation effects of electronic devices has expanded over the last years from avionics and military applications to commercial applications as well. At the same time, the need for faster and more reliable memories has given growth to new memory technologies such as Magnetic (magneto-resistive) Random Access Memories (MRAM), a promising new non-volatile memory technology that will probably replace in the future the current SRAM and FLASH based memories. In this paper, we evaluate the soft error resilience of a commercial toggle MRAM in static and dynamic test mode, under neutron radiation with energies of 25, 50 and 80 MeV as well as under a Californium (Cf-252) alpha source. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]