Statistical Analysis of Total Ionizing Dose Effects on Random Telegraph Noise in 40 nm CMOS Ring Oscillators

Despite the noticeable improvements in radiation tolerance of High-k Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor-Field-Effect-Transistors (MOSFETs), the ever-growing demands require reliability analysis of electronics at high Total Ionizing Doses (TID). In this paper, we focus on the statistical analysis of noise in 40 nm CMOS technology by observing the frequency characteristics of fully differential Ring Oscillator (ROSC) structures before and after exposure to TID. We differentiate the frequency fluctuations created by the Random Telegraph Noise (RTN) from those caused by other noise contributors, mainly 1/f and thermal noise. The circuits were exposed to X-rays and measured at multiple radiation doses, reaching the maximum TID of 100 Mrad(SiO<sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sub>). The results show the mean frequency, jitter and RTN occurrence statistics.