Experimental study of power MOSFET’s gate damage in radiation environment

In this paper we present an experimental study of the gate damage exhibited by commercial n-channel power MOSFETs during ion exposure. The investigation has been performed in different bias conditions showing a strongly non linear relationship between the bias voltages at which the gate damage occurred. In addition, the gate damage observed at VGS = 0V is quite dissimilar from what observed at negative gate-source voltages. In facts, at low gate-source voltage bias the gate damage mechanism progressively appears like a cumulative effect, while at higher voltage bias an abrupt gate damage reveals a typical single event effect.