The Effects of Threshold Voltage and Number of Fins Per Transistor on the TID Response of GF 12LP Technology

This abstract presents a comprehensive analysis of total ionizing dose (TID) response in GlobalFoundries’ (GFs) 12LP 12 nm bulk Fin-based field effect transistor (FinFET) technology using 10 keV X-rays. Devices with higher threshold voltages (VTs) demonstrated lower increases in OFF-state leakage current (
$I_{\text {DS},\text {OFF}}$
) post-irradiation, highlighting the mitigating role of high VT in TID response. Our data show that transistors with fewer fins exhibit superior TID resistance, implying lower susceptibility to radiation effects. Our study also probed two bias conditions, “Gate-On” and “Pass-Gate,” with the former displaying more severe TID degradation. Interestingly, p-type devices displayed negligible degradation, underscoring their inherent resilience to TID effects. Additionally, medium thick n-type devices echoed the fin-count-dependent TID response observed in other transistor types, further strengthening our findings. These results underscore the importance of strategic transistor selection and design for enhancing the TID resilience of future complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) FinFET architectures, particularly critical in radiation-intense environments.