Sensitivity of SET Pulse-Width and Propagation to Radiation Track Parameters in CMOS Inverter Chain

Abstract

Single-event transient (SET) due to heavy-ion strike is a serious reliability concern for devices operated in radiation environment. Due to technology scaling, nodal capacitance decreases which increases the SET vulnerability. In this paper, the sensitivity of SET pulse width in 45 nm bulk and SOI MOSFET to linear energy transfer (LET), heavy-ion track length, angle of strike, characteristic radius, and characteristic time of the track is analysed. The modification of SET pulse width while propagating through 45 nm bulk-and SOI-based CMOS chain of inverters and its dependence on aforementioned radiation parameters is also analysed. The results show that all the pulses produced in SOI-based inverter chain get attenuated during propagation and do not reach the last stage. However, in the case of bulk, any SET having pulse width greater than 37 ps (measured using full width at half maximum) propagates and reaches the last stage of the inverter chain. Thus, the SOI devices are more immune to SET compared to the bulk, for different heavy-ion track parameters.