Improved Single-Event Transient Hardness in Tunnel-Diode Body-Contact SOI nMOS

Single-event transient (SET) responses are compared for floating-body contact, T-gate body-contact (TB), and tunnel-diode body-contact (TDBC) silicon-on-insulator (SOI) MOSFETs. The influence of three body-contact schemes on SET sensitivity is examined via irradiations as functions of position, bias voltage, and device size. The mechanisms of SET in SOI devices are discussed. Although both TB and TDBC schemes suppress floating body effects (FBEs), the TDBC scheme has superior SET hardness because it effectively eliminates charge enhancement due to bipolar amplification originating from FBEs. Thus, TDBC-structure SOI devices can lead to improved single-event upset hardness in static random access memory cells.