Improve the Performance of SONOS Type UV TD Sensors Using IOHAOS with Enhanced UV Transparency ITO Gate

This research demonstrates that an indium tin oxide–silicon oxide–hafnium aluminum oxide-silicon oxide–silicon device with enhanced UV transparency ITO gate (hereafter E-IOHAOS) can greatly increase the sensing response performance of a SONOS type ultraviolet radiation total dose (hereafter UV TD) sensor. Post annealing process is used to optimize UV optical transmission and electrical resistivity characterization in ITO film. Via nano-columns (NCols) crystalline transformation of ITO film, UV transparency of ITO film can be enhanced. UV radiation causes the threshold voltage VT of the E-IOHAOS device to increase, and the increase of the VT of E-IOHAOS device is also related to the UV TD. The experimental results show that under UV TD irradiation of 100 mW·s/cm2, ultraviolet light can change the threshold voltage VT of E-IOHAOS to 12.5 V. Moreover, the VT fading rate of ten-years retention on E-IOHAOS is below 10%. The VT change of E-IOHAOS is almost 1.25 times that of poly silicon–aluminum oxide–hafnium aluminum oxide–silicon oxide–silicon with poly silicon gate device (hereafter SAHAOS). The sensing response performance of an E-IOHAOS UV TD sensor is greatly improved by annealed ITO gate.