Radiation Induced Fault Analysis for Wide Temperature BiCMOS Circuits

State of the art Radiation Hardened by Design (RHBD) techniques do not account for wide temperature variations in BiCMOS process. Silicon-Germanium BiCMOS process offer inherent advantages for operation in radiation environments where single event transient and total iodization dose effects on the circuit are important. Recent access to libraries of wide temperature and RHBD BiCMOS designs provide the reference data for developing radiation aware automation design automation. Lynguent's efficiency gains in compact model composition have enabled radiation domain experts to transfer observed radiation effects from TCAD simulators into the commercial circuit simulators. These compact models are augmented with radiation effects such as the ISDE 90 nm Bulk CMOS Bias Dependent Charge Sharing SET Effect. These rad-aware models are used within the LynRad Fault Analyzer, taking into account circuit schematics, layout and cosmic ray scenarios. Extending this design automation to a BiCMOS AMS designs is the logical next step in establishing radiation awareness over wide temperature. Previous investigations were limited to circuits with a small number of transistors that could be simulated in mixed TCAD-SPICE environments. Consequently, scaling the LynRad Radiation Fault Analyzer to larger, more complex AMS circuits is a key aspect of this investigation.

Radiation induced faults are narrow sub-category in the field of analog/mixed signal fault modeling and simulation. Successful completion of the proposed work greatly strengthens Lynguent's ability to penetrate the fault modeling market for terrestrial A/MS ASICs. The design automation proposed can be easily retargeted to commercial customer requirements in the area of analog fault detection and mitigation.

The radiation induced fault analysis for BiCMOS circuits has direct application for grading finer lined BiCMOS processes. The ability to re-characterize the radiation effects and wide temperature effects makes the tools re-usable and extendable as new BiCMOS design rules are discovered and systematically applied. The immutability of the PDK remains the key cost reducing feature of the analysis flow making useful improving active BiCMOS designs and grading legacy designs. The modularity and re-use will be beneficial for determining the design margins for circuits and processes targeted for wide temperature, Mrad profiles expected in missions such as EJSM.

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