Temperature and Radiation Effects on 1/f Noise in Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor Field Effect Transistors

Abstract

Microelectronics are ubiquitous not only in everyday technologies, but also within aviation and space applications where they face much harsher, wider ranges of conditions during operation. Thorough characterization of these devices over wide temperature ranges and under radiation exposure is crucial to ensuring their success. Low frequency noise and random telegraph noise are two characterization methods that can provide vital information about defect nature and distribution in microelectronic devices and subsequently improve future device development. These methods are both utilized in this work to compare two generations of MOSFET devices in terms of their temperature and radiation response. Overall improvements in the noise levels and radiation hardness were noted for the new generation of devices tested, although the random telegraph noise results indicate that defects besides border traps are dominating the device responses at room temperature. The results of this work provide a foundation for further temperature dependent studies and defect identification, which can be used to make improvements in future device fabrication and processing methods.