Low temperature operation of silicon-on-insulator inverters

Abstract
This paper describes the cryogenic operation of partially depleted Silicon-On-Insulator inverters. As is shown, the floating operation yields a degradation of the transfer characteristics, which increases upon cooling. Additionally, at cryogenic temperatures, hysteresis effects further deteriorate the performance. These observations will be discussed in view of the cryogenic SOI MOSFET characteristics and anomalies. Finally, the impact of the so-called twingate configuration on the improvement of the inverter characteristics at low temperatures will be demonstrated and discussed.