Using the Hexagonal Layout Style for MOSFETs to boost the Device Matching in Ionizing Radiation Environments

Abstract

This paper describes an experimental comparative study of the mismatching between the Diamond (hexagonal gate geometry) and Conventional (rectangular gate shape) n-chan-nel Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor (MOS) Field Effect Transis-tors (MOSFETs), which were manufactured in an 130 nm Sili-con-Germanium Bulk Complementary MOS (CMOS) technol-ogy and exposed to different X-rays Total Ionizing Doses (TIDs). The results indicate that the Diamond layout style with an alpha () angle equal to 90 ̊ for MOSFETs is capable of re-ducing the device mismatching by at least 17% regarding the electrical parameters studied as compared to the Conventional MOSFET (CnM) counterparts. Therefore, the Diamond layout style can be considered an alternative hardness-by-design (HBD) layout strategy to boost the electrical performance and TID tolerance of MOSFETs.