Total dose radiation response of CMOS compatible SOI MESFETs

Metal semiconductor field effect transistors (MESFETs) have been fabricated using a silicon-on-insulator (SOI) CMOS process. The MESFETs make use of a TiSi/sub 2/ Schottky gate and display good depletion mode characteristics with a threshold voltage of -0.5 V. The drain current can also be controlled by a voltage applied to the substrate, which then behaves as a MOS back gate. The transistors have been irradiated with 50 keV X-rays to a total ionizing dose in excess of 1 Mrad(Si). After irradiation the threshold voltage of both the top Schottky gate and the back MOS gate shift to more negative values. The shift in threshold is attributed to radiation induced fixed oxide charge at the interface between the SOI channel and the buried oxide.