Kanhaiya Pritpal S, Yu Andrew, Netzer Richard, Kemp William, Doyle Derek, Shulaker Max M
Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, United States.
United States Air Force Research Laboratories, Space Vehicles Directorate, Albuquerque, New Mexico 87123, United States.
ACS Nano. 2021 Nov 23;15(11):17310-17318. doi: 10.1021/acsnano.1c04194. Epub 2021 Oct 27.
Electronics for space applications have stringent requirements on both performance and radiation tolerance. The constant exposure to cosmic radiation damages and eventually destroys electronics, limiting the lifespan of all space-bound missions. Thus, as space missions grow increasingly ambitious in distance away from Earth, and therefore time in space, the electronics driving them must likewise grow increasingly radiation-tolerant. In this work, we show how carbon nanotube (CNT) field-effect transistors (CNFETs), a leading candidate for energy-efficient electronics, can be strategically engineered to simultaneously realize a robust radiation-tolerant technology. We demonstrate radiation-tolerant CNFETs by leveraging both CNFET benefits owing to CNFET device geometries enabled by their low-temperature fabrication, as well as CNFET benefits owing to CNTs' inherent material properties. By performing a comprehensive study and optimization of CNFET device geometries, we demonstrate record CNFET total ionizing dose (TID) tolerance (above 10 Mrad(Si)) and show transient upset testing on complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) CNFET-based 6T SRAM memories X-ray prompt dose testing (threshold dose rate = 1.3 × 10 rad(Si)/s). Taken together, this work demonstrates CNFETs' potential as a technology for next-generation space applications.
用于太空应用的电子设备对性能和抗辐射能力都有严格要求。持续暴露在宇宙辐射中会损坏并最终破坏电子设备，限制所有太空任务的寿命。因此，随着太空任务在远离地球的距离上越来越雄心勃勃，从而在太空中的时间越来越长，驱动这些任务的电子设备也必须同样具备越来越高的抗辐射能力。在这项工作中，我们展示了碳纳米管（CNT）场效应晶体管（CNFET）——节能电子设备的主要候选者——如何经过精心设计，同时实现强大的抗辐射技术。我们通过利用由于低温制造实现的CNFET器件几何结构带来的CNFET优势，以及由于碳纳米管固有的材料特性带来的CNFET优势，展示了抗辐射CNFET。通过对CNFET器件几何结构进行全面研究和优化，我们展示了创纪录的CNFET总电离剂量（TID）耐受性（超过10 Mrad(Si)），并在基于互补金属氧化物半导体（CMOS）的CNFET的6T SRAM存储器上进行了瞬态翻转测试以及X射线即时剂量测试（阈值剂量率 = 1.3 × 10 rad(Si)/s）。综上所述，这项工作证明了CNFET作为下一代太空应用技术的潜力。
