New approach for transient radiation SPICE model of CMOS circuit

Abstract

Transient radiation is emitted during a nuclear explosion and causes fatal errors as upset and latch-up in CMOS circuits. This paper proposes the transient radiation SPICE models of NMOS, PMOS, and INVERTER based on the transient radiation analysis using TCAD (Technology Computer Aided Design). To make the SPICE model of a CMOS circuit, the photocurrent in the PN junction of NMOS and PMOS was replaced as current source, and a latch-up phenomenon in the inverter was applied using a parasitic thyristor. As an example, the proposed transient radiation SPICE model was applied to a CMOS NAND circuit. The CMOS NAND circuit was simulated by SPICE and TCAD using the 0.18um CMOS process model parameter. The simulated results show that the SPICE results were similar to the TCAD simulation and the test results of commercial CMOS NAND IC. The simulation time was reduced by 120 times compared to the TCAD simulation.