Method for characterizing fluctuation induced by single particle irradiation in a device and application thereof

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11525857-B2
Application number	US-202217744282-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 13, 2022
Priority date	Nov 14, 2019
Publication date	Dec 13, 2022
Grant date	Dec 13, 2022

Abstract

A method for characterizing a fluctuation induced by single particle irradiation in a device. A plurality of devices varying in size are tested respectively before and after irradiation to obtain threshold voltage distribution, such that a threshold voltage fluctuation induced by irradiation is obtained and used to correct a process fluctuation model, so as to correct a design margin of the devices working under the irradiation.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for characterizing a fluctuation induced by single particle irradiation in a device, comprising:
1) estimating a total radiation flux over a life cycle of a plurality of devices to be evaluated and a particle type according to an application requirement; wherein the plurality of devices to be evaluated vary in size;
2) testing the plurality of devices to be evaluated to plot a pre-irradiation transfer characteristic curve (I D -V G ) pre of the plurality of devices to be evaluated;
3) subjecting the plurality of devices to be evaluated to single particle irradiation;
and testing the plurality of devices to be evaluated to obtain a post-irradiation transfer characteristic curve (I D -V G ) post of the plurality of devices to be evaluated;
4) extracting a threshold voltage V Tpre of each of the plurality of devices to be evaluated before irradiation; calculating a standard deviation σ ΔVT of a threshold voltage deviation of each of the plurality of devices to be evaluated before irradiation; extracting a threshold voltage V Tpost of each of the plurality of devices to be evaluated after irradiation; and calculating a standard deviation σ ΔVT of a threshold voltage deviation of each of the plurality of devices to be evaluated after irradiation;
5) plotting a Pelgrom diagram

σ

Δ
⁢
V
⁢
T

∼

1

W
⁢
L

of a threshold voltage fluctuation of the plurality of devices to be evaluated before irradiation; and plotting a Pelgrom diagram

σ

Δ
⁢
V
⁢
T

∼

1

W
⁢
L

of a threshold voltage fluctuation of the plurality of devices to be evaluated after irradiation, wherein W is an equivalent gate width of a corresponding device; and L is an equivalent gate length of the corresponding device; and
6) calculating a fluctuation σ SEE (WL) induced by irradiation in each of the plurality of devices to be evaluated according to the Pelgrom diagram of the threshold voltage fluctuation of the plurality of devices to be evaluated before irradiation and the Pelgrom diagram of the threshold voltage fluctuation of the plurality of devices to be evaluated after irradiation.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the single particle irradiation is performed using a source selected from the group consisting of a heavy ion, a proton, a neutron, an electron, a pion, a muon, an alpha particle and a combination thereof.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the number of the plurality of devices to be evaluated is greater than 30.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein a total radiation flux and a particle type of the single particle radiation in step (3) are determined by the total radiation flux over the life cycle and the particle type estimated in step (1).

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein in step (4), the threshold voltage V Tpre and the threshold voltage V Tpost of each of the plurality of devices to be evaluated are extracted using a maximum transconductance change method or a constant current method.

6. A method for improving a reliability of a microelectronic device and a microelectronic circuit working under the irradiation, the method comprising:
obtaining a fluctuation σ SEE (WL) induced by irradiation in a microelectronic device to be evaluated according to the method of claim 1 ;
correcting a process fluctuation model of the microelectronic device to be evaluated using the obtained fluctuation σ SEE (WL); and obtaining a total fluctuation σ total of the microelectronic device to be evaluated as follows:
σ total =σ SEE +σ PV ;

wherein σ PV is an initial process fluctuation of the microelectronic device to be evaluated; and
substituting the total fluctuation σ total into simulation to correct a design margin of the microelectronic device to be evaluated under the irradiation, so as to improve reliability of the microelectronic device to be evaluated.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the simulation is performed using Monte Carlo simulation or Hspice simulation.

Assignees

• Univ Beijing

Inventors

• An Xia
• Ren Zhexuan
• Li Gensong
• Zhang Xing
• Huang Ru

Classifications

• G01R31/2642 Primary

  Testing semiconductor operation lifetime or reliability, e.g. by accelerated life tests · CPC title

• G01R31/2881 Primary

  related to environmental aspects other than temperature, e.g. humidity or vibrations · CPC title

• G01R31/2601

  Apparatus or methods therefor (G01R31/2607, G01R31/2642 take precedence) · CPC title

• G06F30/367

  Design verification, e.g. using simulation, simulation program with integrated circuit emphasis [SPICE], direct methods or relaxation methods · CPC title

• G06F2119/02

  Reliability analysis or reliability optimisation; Failure analysis, e.g. worst case scenario performance, failure mode and effects analysis [FMEA] · CPC title