Charge enhancement effect in NMOS bulk transistors induced by heavy ion irradiation - Comparison with SOI

This paper investigates the charge collection mechanisms occurring in heavy ion irradiated metal oxide semiconductor (MOS) devices. The parasitic bipolar effect, inherent to the structure of SOI transistors, is shown to exist in bulk NMOS transistors as well. We experimentally show that the drain junction of an OFF-state bulk MOS transistor collects more charge than an identical junction isolated from neighboring elements. In other words, the proximity of the source junction and the triggering of the bipolar-like structure are responsible of charge amplification. A higher current peak on the drain is observed, and this enhancement effect is high enough to invalidate usual charge collection models based only on funnel and diffusion transport. Thus, the proximity of other junctions has to be considered to improve charge collection model in bulk technologies.