Radiation Tolerant Microelectronics by Design 
---------------------------------------------
Dr. Douglas M. Gingrich University of Alberta/TRIUMF L. Chen University of Alberta

The radiation environment of high-energy physics experiments have
recently become a major concern.  Special precautions need to be taken
to ensure that the front-end readout electronics will perform reliably
over the lifetime of the experiment.  Using advanced commercial
microelectronics fabrication facilities, along with radiation tolerant
circuit designs, has proven to be an effective solution to the
radiation problem.

Ionizing radiation causes leakage currents within and between the
transistors comprising the circuits. By making a modification to the
conventional transistor geometry, it is possible to eliminate these
radiation-induced current leakage paths.

We demonstrate the effectiveness of the radiation-tolerant by design
approach. The performance of single transistors, as well as, complete
application specific integrated circuits before and after being
subjected to ionizing radiation will be presented.