Localized Backside Etching Structure of SOI Substrates on Total Ionizing Dose Effect Hardening for RF Applications

In this work, the localized backside etching (LBE) structure is introduced as a strategy for total ionizing dose (TID) irradiation hardening. Immunity to TID-irradiation-induced radio frequency (RF) property degradation is observed for the first time in SOI substrates with the LBE structure. Identical co-planar waveguide transmission lines (CPW TLines), crosstalk characterization structures, and planar spiral inductors are designed and fabricated on different 8-in SOI wafers to characterize the RF properties of substrates. Electrical characterization in the frequency ranges from 100 MHz to 40 GHz reveals that the LBE structure is beneficial to suppressing the parasitic surface conduction (PSC) effect, which will lead to better RF properties of SOI substrate. It is shown that under
⁶⁰
Co
$\gamma $
-ray irradiation, RF losses are significantly increased in the case of conventional substrates. In contrast, LBE substrates are almost insensitive to TID irradiation due to suppression of PSC. A developed physical model is proposed to characterize the behavior of inductors under PSC and TID effects, and the improvement by LBE structure on RF TID tolerance is separated through model parameter extraction.