Perspective on radiation effects in nanoscale metal–oxide–semiconductor devices

Abstract

This article provides a brief overview and perspective on the radiation response of nanoscale metal–oxide–semiconductor (MOS) devices. MOS total-ionizing-dose (TID) response is affected strongly by size scaling and the migration from planar to three-dimensional architectures. Radiation-induced charge trapping in isolation oxides and/or charge transport from surrounding materials are critical to the TID response of nanoscale MOS devices. As transistor dimensions and operating voltages have decreased, single-event effects due to cosmic rays and high-energy protons in space and neutrons in terrestrial environments have become increasingly significant to the radiation response of MOS devices. However, nanoscale MOS transistors are essentially immune to ion-induced gate rupture at normal operating voltages. Single-particle interactions will become even more important for future, ultimately scaled MOS devices used in classical and quantum computing applications.