Mos devices for sensing total ionizing dose

Abstract

Devices with increased susceptibility to ionizing radiation feature multiple parasitic transistors having leakage currents that increase with total ionizing dose (TID) due to negative threshold shifts from radiation-induced charge buildup in the field oxide. Leakage currents of parasitic edge transistors associated with active region sidewalls under a gate are enhanced using branching gate patterns that increase the number of these sidewalls. Other variations combine parasitic edge transistors with parasitic field transistors formed under the field oxide between active regions, or between n-wells and active regions. Arrays of such devices connected in parallel further multiply leakage currents, while novel compact designs increase the density and hence the sensitivity to TID for a given circuit area. These NMOS-based radiation-intolerant devices can be integrated with more radiation-tolerant CMOS integrated circuits using commercial processes, to produce circuits having a level of radiation intolerance required for export, or to be used as dosimeters.