C. Claeys E.
Simoen
Radiation Effects in
Advanced Semiconductor
Materials and Devices
With 331 Figures
Springer
Table of Content
Preface
List of Acronyms
List of Symbols
List of Greek Symbols
1 Radiation Environments and Component Selection Strategy. 1
1.1 Introduction 1
1.2 Radiation Environments 1
1.2.1 Space Environments 2
1.2.2 High-Energy Physics Experiments 3
1.2.3 Nuclear Environment 4
1.2.4 Natural Environment 5
1.2.5 Processing-Induced Radiation 6
1.3 Component Selection Strategy 6
1.4 Conclusion 8
2 Basic Radiation Damage Mechanisms in Semiconductor
Materials and Devices. 9
2.1 Introduction _ 9
2.2 Fundamental Damage Mechanisms 9
2.2.1 Nomenclature 9
2.2.2 Ionisation Damage 10
2.2.3 Displacement Damage 12
2.3 Impact of Radiation Damage on Device Performance 20
2.3.1 Ionisation Damage 20
2.3.2 Displacement Damage 28
2.4 Spectroscopic Study of Microscopic Radiation Damage 37
2.4.1 Electron Paramagnetic Resonance (EPR) _ 37
2.4.2 Deep Level Transient Spectroscopy (DLTS) 43
2.4.3 Photoluminescence Spectroscopy (PL) 49
2.5 Conclusion 51
X Table of Content
3 Displacement Damage in Group IV
Semiconductor Materials 53
3.1 Introduction 53
3.2 Displacement Damage in Silicon 54
3.2.1 Radiation Defects in Silicon 54
3.2.2 Impact of Radiation Defects on Silicon Devices 62
3.2.3 Substrate and Device Hardening 66
3.2.4 Summary Silicon Radiation Defects _ 69
3.3 Displacement Damage in Germanium 70
3.3.1 Potential Applications of Ge 70
3.3.2 Cryogenic Irradiation of Ge 71
3.3.3 Room Temperature Irradiation of Ge 74
3.3.4 Impact Radiation Damage on Ge Materials and
Device Properties 76
3.3.5 Summary Germanium Radiation Defects 77
3.4 Displacement Damage in SiGe Alloys 78
3.4.1 SiGe Material Properties and Applications .78
3.4.2 Radiation Damage in SiGe 83
3.4.3 Processing-Induced Radiation Damage in SiGe 95
3.4.4 Radiation Damage in SiGe Devices ...103
3.4.5 Conclusions Radiation Damage in SiGe Alloys 107
3.5 General Conclusions Group-IV Semiconductors 107
4 Radiation Damage in GaAs ...109
4.1 Introduction _ 109
4.2 Basic Notations and Definitions 110
4.3 Native and Radiation-Induced Point Defects in GaAs ...HI
4.3.1 Native Point Defects in GaAs ...112
4.3.2 Basic Radiation Defects in GaAs 114
4.3.3 Neutron and Ion Radiation-Induced Defects
in GaAs 119
4.3.4 Processing-Induced Radiation Defects in GaAs _ 122
4.3.5 Summary Radiation Defects in GaAs 126
4.4 Damage Factors andNIEL 127
4.4.1 Carrier Removal and Mobility Degradation
in GaAs 127
4.4.2 Correlation between Resistance Damage
Factor and NIEL 132
4.4.3 Lifetime Damage Factor and NIEL 133
4.4.4 Correlation with Microscopic Damage 135
4.4.5 Summary Damage Factors andNIEL in GaAs 138
4.5 Impact on GaAs Devices 139
4.5.1 Schottky Barriers and Radiation Detectors.. 139
4.5.2 GaAs Solar Cells. 140
4.6 General Conclusions 143
Table of Content XI
Space Radiation Aspects of Silicon Bipolar Technologies 145
5.1 Introduction 145
5.2 Device Structures and Basic Radiation Effects 145
5.2.1 Device Structures and Definitions 145
5.2.2 Radiation Damage Mechanisms 147
5.3 Degradation in Vertical (n-p-n) BJTs 148
5.3.1 Phenomenology of Total Dose Damage ; 149
5.3.2 Basic Low Dose-Rate Degradation Mechanisms 153
5.3.3 Charge Separation in BJTs .157
5.3.4 Hardening Guidelines for Vertical BJTs 163
5.3.5 Hardening Assurance and Testing ...164
5.3.6 Bulk Damage in Vertical Transistors 164
5.4 Degradation in Lateral Transistors 167
5.4.1 Phenomenology ...167
5.4.2 Physical Mechanisms and Modeling 170
5.5 Degradation in SiGe HBTs 172
5.5.1 Degradation of the Static and Low-Frequency
Noise Characteristics.. 172
5.5.2 Degradation of the RF Characteristics 178
5.6 Conclusions 179
Radiation Damage in Silicon MOS Devices 181
6.1 Introduction 181
6.2 Impact of Scaling on the Radiation Response 182
6.2.1 Gate Length Dependence 183
6.2.2 Lateral Non-Homogeneous Damaging 185
6.2.3 Gate-Induced Drain Leakage (GIDL) 190
6.3 Processing Induced Radiation Damage Effects 192
6.3.1 Plasma Damage 193
6.3.2 Rapid Thermal Annealing (RTA) 193
6.3.3 Gate Material and Contacting 197
6.4 Alternative Gate Dielectrics 199
6.4.1 Doped Oxides 199
6.4.2 Nitrided (NO) and Reoxidised Nitrided Oxides (RNO) 200
6.4.3 N2O or Nitrous Oxides 214
6.5 Ultra-Thin Oxides '_ 216
6.5.1 Radiation-Induced Leakage Current (RILC) .216
6.5.2 Radiation-Induced Soft Breakdown (RSB) 223
6.5.3 Single Event Gate Rupture 224
6.5.4 Reliability of Irradiated Thin Oxides 225
6.5.5 Summary 226
6.6 Device Isolation 226
6.6.1 LOCOS Isolation 227
6.6.2 Shallow Trench Isolation 229
6.7 Silicon-on-Insulator CMOS Technology 232
XII Table of Content
6.7.1 Silicon-on-Sapphire (SOS) 234
6.7.2 Silicon-on-Insulator (SOI) Technologies .236
6.7.3 Radiation Hardness of SOI Technologies 239
6.8 Conclusions 243
7 GaAs Based Field Effect Transistors for
Radiation-Hard Applications 245
7.1 Introduction 245
7.2 Material Related Issues and Device
Structures and Operation 245
7.2.1 Defects in AlGaAs Layers ...246
7.2.2 MESFET Structure and Operation 246
7.2.3 HEMT Structure and Operation .249
7.3 Radiation Damage and Hardening in GaAs MESFETs 252
7.3.1 Degradation of the Basic FET Parameters 252
7.3.2 Low-Frequency Noise and Defect Related Effects 259
7.3.3 Circuit Related Degradation 263
7.4 Radiation Damage and Hardening in HEMTs 266
7.4.1 Degradation of the Basic Parameters 266
7.4.2 Low-Energy Electron Effects on 2-DEG Properties 277
7.4.3 Circuit Degradation Aspects 278
7.5 Conclusions 280
8 Opto-Electronic Components for Space 281
8.1 Introduction 281
8.2 Opto-Electronic Components 281
8.2.1 Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs) and Laser Diodes (LDs) 281
8.2.2 Photodetectors 287
8.2.3 Optocouplers 289
8.3 Basic Radiation Effects and Material Issues 290
8.3.1 Impact of Irradiation on Optical Material Properties... .290
8.3.2 Radiation Defects and Material Aspects in
Ternary Compounds 302
8.3.3 Damage Factors and NIEL 308
8.4 Radiation Effects in Opto-Electronic Components 312
8.4.1 Light Emitting Diodes and Laser Diodes 312
8.4.2 Photodetectors 320
8.4.3 Optocouplers .327
8.5 Conclusions 330
9 Advanced Semiconductor Materials and Devices - Outlook 331
9.1 Introduction 331
9.2 Non-Volatile Memories 331
9.2.1 Flash Memories 332
9.2.2 Ferroelectric Memories (FeRAMs) 335
9.2.3 Conclusions 336
Table of Content XIII
9.3 Uigh-k Gate Dielectrics 336
9.4 Radiation Effects in SiC 339
9.4.1 SiC Material Properties and Analysis 340
9.4.2 Intrinsic and Radiation Defects in SiC 341
9.4.3 Macroscopic Damage in SiC Devices....; 346
9.4.4 Ionisation Damage in SiC MOSFETs and MESFETs 347
9.4.5 Summary 348
9.5 Conclusion and Outlook 350
References 351
