Effects of Total-Ionizing-Dose Irradiation on Single-Event Response for Flip-Flop Designs at a 14-/16-nm Bulk FinFET Technology Node.

Total-ionizing-dose (TID) irradiation affects the single-event (SE) vulnerability of electronics by changing transistor leakage currents and/or effective threshold voltages ($\text{V}_{T}$). Characterization of SE response of flip-flop (FF) designs in a 14-/16-nm bulk FinFET technology after TID exposure has been carried out with alpha particle irradiations. Results show that SE cross section (SECS) first increase with total dose and then start to decrease after certain dose levels. These transition dose levels for SECS trend depend on supply voltage and FF design due to competing mechanisms associated with n-hit and p-hit SE transient (SET) pulse-widths and feedback loop delay. Similar trends were observed for SET-induced logic errors at high-frequency operations after TID exposure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]