The Propagation of Extended SET Tails in RF Amplifiers Using 45-nm CMOS on PDSOI

The propagation of long-duration single-event transient (SET) tails in radio-frequency ( RF) amplifiers implemented with silicon-on-insulator (SOI) complementary metal-oxide semi-conductor (CMOS) was investigated using laser pulses to emulate heavy-ion strikes. Transients were recorded and analyzed in CMOS transistors, a Ku-band amplifier, and a broadband amplifier. At the device level, transient modifications to small-signal transconductance were confirmed in technology computer-aided design (TCAD), but these changes were found to be insignificant for practical transistor sizings found in RF amplifiers. In RF amplifiers, filtering due to matching networks and regulation from negative feedback were found to reduce potential system-level sensitivities to these transient tails. Body contacting was shown to reduce transient amplitude, at the cost of amplifier performance, but its application in eliminating the transient tail is likely only worthwhile in dc-coupled amplifiers. The selection of pMOS over nMOS transistors was also confirmed to reduce transient amplitude, but with no benefit to transient duration. The present work demonstrates that body contacting can reduce transient amplitude at the cost of RF performance, but no benefit in transient duration is expected at the amplifier level for many cases.