A review of ionizing radiation effects in floating gate memories

The effects of ionizing radiation on microelectronics are traditionally a concern for devices intended for the space use, but they are becoming important even at ground level. Ionizing radiation effects can be broadly divided in two classes: total ionizing dose (progressive buildup of defects) and single event effects (macroscopic result of a single microscopic event). In both cases, ionizing radiation can lead to severe degradation of device performance, possibly resulting in device failure. This work is a review of literature results concerning both classes of ionizing radiation-related phenomena on floating gate memories. Regardless of its nature, ionizing radiation impacts two aspects of the performance and reliability of floating gate memories: the functionality and the adherence to specifications of the control circuitry, and the degradation of stored information in the array itself.