Q-factor is a reasonable index to investigate the integrity of circuits or devices in terms of their energy or charge storage capabilities. We use this figure of merit to explore the deposition quality of nano-node high-k gate dielectrics by decoupled-plasma nitridation at different temperatures with a fixed nitrogen concentration. This is very important in radio-frequency applications. From the point of view of the Q-factor, the device treated at a higher annealing temperature clearly demonstrates a better Q-factor value. Another interesting observation is the appearance of two troughs in the Q-V_GS characteristics, which are strongly related to either the series parasitic capacitance, the tunneling effect, or both.

Metal-aluminum oxide–hafnium aluminum oxide‒silicon oxide–silicon (hereafter MAHAOS) devices can be candidates for ionizing radiation sensor applications. In this work, MAHAOS devices (SONOS-like structures with high k stack gate dielectric) were studied regarding the first known characterization of the ionization radiation sensing response. The change of threshold voltage V_T for a MAHAOS device after gamma ray exposure had a strong correlation to the total ionization dose (TID) of gamma radiation up to at least 5 Mrad TID. In this paper, the gamma radiation response performances of the pre-programmed and virgin (non-pre-programmed) MAHAOS devices are presented. The experimental data show that the change of V_T for the pre-programmed MAHAOS device with gamma irradiation is very significant. The data of pre-programmed MAHAOS devices written by 5 Mrad TID of gamma radiation was also stable for a long time with data storage. The sensing of gamma radiation by pre-programmed MAHAOS devices with high k stack gate dielectric reported in this study has demonstrated their potential application for non-volatile ionizing radiation sensing technology in the future.

Three dimensional (3-D) FinFET devices with an ultra-high Si-fin aspect ratio have been developed after integrating a 14Å nitrided gate oxide upon the silicon on insulator (SOI) wafers through an advanced CMOS logic platform. Under the lower gate voltage (V_GS-V_T) and the higher drain/source voltage V_DS, the channel-length modulation (CLM) effect coming from the interaction impact of vertical gate field and horizontal drain field was increased and had to be revised well as the channel length L was decreased. Compared to the 28-nm MOSFETs, the interaction effect from the previous at the tested FinFETs on SOI substrate with the short-channel length L is lower than that at the 28-nm device, which means the interaction severity of both fields for nFinFETs is mitigated, but still necessary to be concerned.

Fluorine-treated titanium nitride–silicon oxide–hafnium oxide–silicon oxide–silicon devices (hereafter F-MOHOS) are candidates for total ionization dose (TID) radiation sensor applications. The main subject of the study reportedherein is the performance improvement in terms of TID radiation-induced charge generation effect and charge-retention reliability characterization for F-MOHOS devices. In the case of F-MOHOS TID radiation sensors, the gamma radiation induces a significant decrease of threshold voltage V_T and the radiation-induced charge density is nearly six times larger than that of standard metal–oxide–nitride–oxide–silicon MONOS devices. The decrease of V_T for F-MOHOS after gamma irradiation has a strong correlation to the TID up to 5 Mrad gamma irradiation as well. The improvement of charge retention loss for F-MOHOS devices is nearly 15% better than that of metal–oxide–hafnium oxide–oxide–silicon MOHOS devices. The F-MOHOS device described in this study demonstrates better feasibility for non-volatile TID radiation sensing in the future.

This study shows that a silicon–aluminum oxide–hafnium aluminum oxide-silicon oxide–silicon capacitor device with a high temperature pre-metal-anneal-treated and partially-nanocrystallized hafnium aluminum oxide, (hereafter PNC-SAHAOS) can successfully increase the performance of a nonvolatile ultraviolet radiation total dose (hereafter UV TD) sensor. The experimental results show that the UV-induced threshold voltage V_T shift of PNC-SAHAOS was 10 V after UV TD 100 mW·s/cm² irradiation. The UV-induced charge density of PNC-SAHAOS is almost eight times that of amorphous silicon–aluminum oxide–silicon nitride–silicon dioxide–silicon SANOS. Moreover, the charge fading rate of ten-years retention on PNC-SAHAOS, even at 85 °C, is below 10%. At 85 °C, the charge fading rate of ten-years retention on amorphous SANOS is almost twice that on PNC-SAHAOS. These results strongly suggest that PNC-SAHAOS could be the most promising candidate for next-generation nonvolatile UV TD sensor technology.