Title :
Total dose effects on the shallow-trench isolation leakage current characteristics in a 0.35 /spl mu/m SiGe BiCMOS technology
Author :
Niu, Guofu ; Mathew, Suraj J. ; Banerjee, Gaurab ; Cressler, John D. ; Clark, Steven D. ; Palmer, Michael J. ; Subbanna, Seshu
Author_Institution :
Electr. & Comput. Eng., Auburn Univ., AL, USA
Abstract :
The effects of gamma irradiation on the shallow-trench isolation (STI) leakage currents in a SiGe BiCMOS technology are investigated for the first time, and shown to be strongly dependent on the irradiation gate bias and operating substrate bias. A positive irradiation gate bias significantly enhances the STI leakage, suggesting a strong field assisted nature of the charge buildup process in the STI. Numerical simulations also suggest the existence of fixed positive charges deep in the bulk along the STI/Si interface. A negative substrate bias, however, effectively suppresses the STI leakage, and can be used to eliminate the leakage produced by the charges deep in the bulk under irradiation.
Keywords :
BiCMOS integrated circuits; Ge-Si alloys; gamma-ray effects; integrated circuit reliability; isolation technology; leakage currents; semiconductor materials; 0.35 micron; BiCMOS technology; STI leakage; SiGe; charge buildup process; fixed positive charges; gamma irradiation; irradiation gate bias; negative substrate bias; operating substrate bias; positive irradiation gate bias; shallow-trench isolation leakage current characteristics; total dose effects; BiCMOS integrated circuits; Cranes; Germanium silicon alloys; Heterojunction bipolar transistors; Isolation technology; Leakage current; Microelectronics; Silicon germanium; Threshold voltage; USA Councils;
Journal_Title :
Nuclear Science, IEEE Transactions on
