The latchup risk of CMOS-technology in space

The use of CMOS technology in space requires the careful evaluation of the latchup risk. The radiation tolerance of a standard 1.0 mu m high density technology and its hardened variants is studied. The internal currents and densities are read through dynamic two/three dimensional device simulations, performed on a complete description of the CMOS inverter cell and a simulated heavy ion strike. An evaluation of the capture cross section versus the ion energy is derived from the statistical distribution of ion tracks through the structure.>