Impact of Hot Carrier Injection on Total Ionizing Dose Effect of 10-nm N-channel Bulk FinFETs

Abstract

In this paper, the effect of hot-carrier injection (HCI) on Total Ionization Dose (TID) for the 10-nm technology node N-channel bulk FinFETs is reported. The Gamma radiation (60CO chamber) has been used as the source of Total Ionization Dose (TID), while DC bias stress ($\mathrm{V}_{\text{gs}}=\mathrm{V}_{\text{ds}}=1.2\mathrm{V}$) is used for HCI degradation. We performed experiments on n-channel bulk FinFETs with two gate lengths, i.e. $\text{Lg}=30$ and 70nm. A set of these devices was subjected to hot-carrier stress, while another set kept virgin. All of the devices were then irradiated in the gamma-ray chamber for a cumulative dose of 43 Mrad (Si). The devices were analyzed afresh as well as after the hot-carrier stress and irradiation for changes in threshold voltage (Vth), sub-threshold slope (SS), on-current (Ion), off-current (Ioff) for linear and saturation regions of operation. Our results are useful as they predict, for the first time ever, an interesting scenario for space applications as to how the performance of the device degrades in space, not just due to exposure to gamma radiation but also due to aging.