Radiation damage effects on bipolar and MOS devices in X-Ray lithography

Abstract

Radiation damage effects of bipolar and MOS transistors have been investigated using the vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) storage ring of the national synchrotron light source (NSLS). The devices under investigation were exposed to x-ray radiation and electrical measurements were performed to determine the radiation effects on device parameters. It was found for bipolar devices that the current gain is the parameter that is most sensitive to x-ray irradiation. The current gain decreases as the dose increases and the degradation reaches saturation at 1000 mJ/cm2. Upon annealing in forming gas at 400° C for 30 min, the current gain recovered its pre-irradiation value and stress test did not show any reliability problem. Bothn-channel andp-channel MOS devices with polysilicon gates were investigated. Host of the relevant device parameters were measured before and after irradiation and after annealing. Upon irradiation the threshold voltage shows the most obvious shift, which was more negative in both cases. However, thep- channel devices experienced a much larger shift than then-channel ones. The transconductance of the devices also experienced a shift.