Simulation of single event upset on silicon-on-insulator (SOI) space radiation detector

Abstract

High radiative environment in space remains as one of the greatest challenges to any space mission especially those beyond the earth magnetosphere. After human, the reliability of microelectronics components is of paramount importance when radiation is concerned. The concern for space electronics performance has increased in recent years due to Single Event Upset (SEU) phenomenon. This research is intended to address the SEU impinging threat by characterizing planar Silicon-on-Insulator (SOI) PIN diode electrical behavior to be used as SEU radiation detector in space. ATLAS and ATHENA, two dimensional simulation softwares by Silvaco Inc. are used to achieve the research objective. Simulation method in device characterization is an advantage due to its design flexibility and safety assurance against hazardous radiative particles. The detector is designed to have a structure of 2500 µm x 22 µm planar SOI PIN diode with 500 µm intrinsic length. Similar device of bulk and planar SOI are characterized before and after proton radiation and their performance are compared. The radiative proton particle is represented by Linear Energy Transfer (LET) value up to 34 MeV.cm2/mg which is equivalent to 500 MeV proton energy in space. It is found that at room temperature the planar SOI detector shows better performance with four orders of magnitude lower leakage current, higher multiplication rate and better linearity in its current-energy relationship. It has been proven that the planar SOI detector superiority against bulk detector is attributed to its well-defined charge collection region. However, under temperature variation of –40 0C to 120 0C, planar SOI detector I-V characteristic shows unfavorable behavior with inconsistency of current observed. Under zero Celsius, current in SOI detector fluctuates with voltage increment. From this study, it can be concluded that planar SOI PIN diode has high potential to be used as SEU space radiation detector but proper insulator design needs to be implemented to address its thermal sensitivity issue.