Radiation Immune-Planar Two-Terminal Nanoscale Air Channel Devices toward Space Applications

In space applications, electronics must function while being strongly radiated. In this work, the radiation hardness property of the planar two-terminal nanoscale air channel device (NACD), which is a device of vacuum electronics, was demonstrated. Specifically, the total ionizing dose (TID) effect and single-event effects (SEEs) on the NACD were investigated. X-ray and pulse laser were utilized as the sources of TID radiation and SEE radiation, respectively. No significant degradation was observed after 1 Mrad(Si) X-ray radiation, and no single-event transient phenomenon was detected at the pulse laser energy up to 5 nJ. Additionally, the physical mechanism of radiation hardness in the NACD was illustrated by theoretical analysis and finite element simulation. Taken together, the proposed work shows that the radiation hardness property of the NACD may have a prospect in deep space and nuclear energy applications.