Impact of NBTI-Induced Pulse-Width Modulation on SET Pulse-Width Measurement

• Published in: IEEE transactions on nuclear science Vol. 60; no. 4; pp. 2630 - 2634
• Main Authors: Harada, Ryo, Mitsuyama, Yukio, Hashimoto, Masanori, Onoye, Takao
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: IEEE 01-08-2013
• Subjects: Inverters; Modulation; Negative bias temperature instability; Pulse measurements; pulse-broadening; pulse-shrinking; pulse-width measurement; pulse-width modulation; Semiconductor device measurement; single-event-transient; Stress; Stress measurement; Temperature measurement
• ISSN: 0018-9499; 1558-1578
• DOI: 10.1109/TNS.2012.2232680

This paper gives an explanation that SET pulse-width modulation in bulk CMOS devices happens due to negative bias temperature instability (NBTI). To investigate this, we propose and implement a stress adjustable pulse-width measurement circuit. Measurement results of test chips fabricated in a 65nm bulk CMOS process clearly show that pulse-width broadening and shrinking depend on the condition of static and dynamic stress before the pulse propagation. The measured dependency of pulse-width modulation on supply voltage is well correlated with that of NBTI model. We also point out that soft error rate computed from SET pulse-width distribution measured under static stress is pessimistic.