Effects of gamma radiation on suspended silicon nanogauges bridge used for MEMS transduction

P. Janioud (1, 2) , C. Poulain (1) , A. Koumela (1) , Jean-Marc Armani (3) , A. Dupret (4) , P. Rey (1) , A. Berthelot (1) , G. Jourdan (1) , P. Morfouli (2)

1 CEA-LETI - Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives - Laboratoire d'Electronique et de Technologie de l'Information
2 IMEP-LAHC - Institut de Microélectronique, Electromagnétisme et Photonique - Laboratoire d'Hyperfréquences et Caractérisation
3 LFIC (CEA, LIST) - Laboratoire Fiabilité et Intégration de Capteurs (CEA, LIST)
4 LIST (CEA) - Laboratoire d'Intégration des Systèmes et des Technologies

This paper proposes a study on the resilience to radiation of MEMS sensors based on piezoresistive transduction by means of suspended silicon nanogauges. It is particularly interesting for applications in severe environment like in space or in nuclear plant. This work shows that the resistivity of a single nanogauge exhibits a sensitivity of 16.5 ppm/kGy whereas the silicon nanogauges bridge used for MEMS transduction is immune to radiation with a variation of −4 ppm/h, like in normal operation. It is the consequence of the differential measurement at the terminals of the two nanogauges that enables to cancel radiation effects.

Mots clés: instrumentation; sensor; Diagnosis; nuclear instrumentation; MEMS sensor; piezoresistive transduction; radiation

Domaines: Instrumentations et Détecteurs [physics.ins-det]

P. Janioud, C. Poulain, A. Koumela, Jean-Marc Armani, A. Dupret, et al.. Effects of gamma radiation on suspended silicon nanogauges bridge used for MEMS transduction. Microelectronics Reliability, 2020, 114, pp.113736. ⟨10.1016/j.microrel.2020.113736⟩. ⟨hal-03493138⟩