Repeated rejuvenation of SiC MOSFETs for unprecedented ionizing radiation resilience

Resilience to ionizing radiation is crucial for electronic devices in space and nuclear applications. Traditionally, this is achieved through new design, materials, shielding, or redundancy strategies. In this study, we demonstrate a new approach: repeated rejuvenation using the Electron Wind Force (EWF). Commercially available SiC MOSFETs were irradiated with Co-60 gamma beam up to a cumulative dose of 10 Mrad. During the process, in situ EWF annealing was applied after every 2 Mrad increment. Key device characteristics such as output, transfer, and leakage were characterized in each irradiation-rejuvenation cycle. We observe an initial increase in drain current at lower doses, attributed to positive charge build-up by creation of interface traps. As the radiation dose accumulates, the non-annealed device experiences substantial degradation: drain current sharply declines, and gate leakage rises significantly. In contrast, the in situ EWF-annealed device repeatedly recovers its drain current following each irradiation step and preserves a near-pristine gate leakage profile. The EWF process takes place at room temperature, takes less than a minute and requires no special handling, making it a potential candidate for in-operando rejuvenation for unprecedented resilience in ionizing radiation environments.