Trends in CMOS technologies and radiation tolerant design

CMOS technologies have undergone a tremendous evolution in the past decades. With each new technology generation a 30% improvement in performance has been obtained at constant cost. This progress makes processes obsolete quickly forcing us to continuously upgrade our designs. A short reminder of the operation of CMOS devices will be presented. After a brief overview of the effects of ionizing radiation and highly energetic particles on CMOS integrated circuits (IC), the influence of scaling will be discussed. In particular, scaling down the minimum dimensions of a technology not only improves the ultimate performance of the MOS transistor, but also alters the radiation response of CMOS ICs. Total dose effects are reduced but single event effects may be enhanced. Aspects of the influence of scaling on the design of circuits for high energy physics or medical applications will be discussed.