Statistical analysis of the charge collected in SOI and bulk devices under heavy ion and proton irradiation - Implications for digital SETs

The statistical transient response of floating body SOI and bulk devices is measured under proton and heavy ion irradiation. The influence of the device architecture is analyzed in detail for several generations of technologies, from 0.25 mu m to 70 nm. The effects of the measured transients on SET sensitivity are investigated. The amount of collected charge and the shape of the transient currents are shown to have a significant impact on the temporal width of propagating transients. Finally, based on our measured data, the threshold LET and the critical transient width for unattenuated propagation are calculated for both bulk and floating body SOI as a function of technology scaling. We show that the threshold LETs and the critical transient widths for bulk and floating body SOI devices are similar. Body ties can be used to harden SOI ICs to digital SET. However, the primary advantage of SOI technologies, even with a floating body design, mostly lies in shorter transients, at a given ion LET, for SOI technologies than for bulk technologies.