Recent Radiation Test Results for Power MOSFETs

Abstract

Single-event effect (SEE) and total ionizing dose (TID) test results are presented for various hardened and commercial power metal-oxide-semiconductor field effect transistors (MOSFETs), including vertical planar, trench, superjunction, and lateral process designs. Index Terms-power MOSFET, single-event effect (SEE), single-event gate rupture (SEGR), single-event burnout (SEB), total ionizing dose (TID) I. INTRODUCTION OWER MOSFETs continue to be used ubiquitously in spacecraft. Several topologies are available. Planar, vertical double-diffused MOSFET (VDMOS) structures (Fig. 1A) have long dominated the radiation-hardened offerings, and the number of manufacturers providing hardened VDMOS has recently expanded. Commercially, vertical trench-gate style MOSFETs (Fig. 1B) have been a staple for low-to medium-voltage applications due to their lower on-state resistance (R DS_ON). The vertically-oriented gates penetrate past the body region thereby eliminating the parasitic junction field effect transistor (JFET) that limits the minimum cell pitch in planar VDMOS. For higher-voltage power MOSFETs, a lower R DS_ON has been achieved through development of the superjunction structure (Fig. 1C). Superjunction power MOSFETs (SJ MOSFETs) have charge-compensating columns within the epilayer that permit a shallower drift region for a given breakdown voltage (BV DSS). Radiationhardened SJ MOSFETs have just become available in the past year and hardened trench-style MOSFETs are in development.

A Brief Review of Heavy-Ion Radiation Degradation and Failure of Silicon UMOS Power Transistors

“…Liu et al [16] examined several devices in the 30-200 V range. The Lauenstein et al [18] results were for a 250 V device. Neither group has published detailed experimental results in the open literature.…”

“…SEB in UMOS devices, because of the unique structure, is similar to SEB in BJTs [15]. SEB in UMOS power devices has been observed experimentally [9,[16][17][18]. Liu et al [17], in extensive tests, noted that the failure signatures of pure SEB failure observed in commercial trench power MOSFETs was very much like the SEB observed on radiation hardened VDMOSFETs.…”

Sub-LET Threshold SEE Cross Section Dependency With Ion Energy

“…The component was initially tested at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) by a group from NASA [37]. The part was biased up to V DS = 100V (maximum rating) and was irradiated with 10 MeV/n argon and krypton ions.…”

Considerations in the design of a low‐voltage power MOSFET technology

“…The vulnerability of trench devices to radiation damage in space applications has been well documented [13–16]. An additional source of radiation is the lead‐based solder used in clip bonding, which is in close proximity to the MOSFET channel.…”