{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,2]],"date-time":"2026-10-02T08:54:14Z","timestamp":1790931254782,"version":"4.1.0"},"reference-count":27,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"19","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,2]],"date-time":"2026-10-02T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1790899200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"European Project STEP","award":["101134959"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["101134959"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Sensors"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Cryogenic operation of CMOS read-out integrated circuits (ROICs) is essential for high-performance infrared focal plane arrays but significantly affects carrier transport and device reliability. This work investigates hot-carrier injection (HCI) mechanisms in 180 nm NMOS transistors operating from room temperature down to 140 K. Electrical characterization and accelerated stress measurements reveal a strong impact of hot-carrier effects at low temperatures, resulting in increased degradation of device characteristics, particularly under channel hot-electron (CHE) and drain avalanche hot carrier (DAHC) stress conditions. Time-to-failure modeling confirms accelerated degradation kinetics while validating conventional substrate-current-based reliability methodologies at cryogenic temperatures. Geometry-based design strategies, notably gate-length optimization, are proposed to mitigate cryogenic HCI effects, enabling an improved performance\u2013reliability trade-off. These results provide key guidelines for design reliability of cryogenic CMOS ROICs for infrared imaging applications.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/s26196254","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,2]],"date-time":"2026-10-02T08:15:18Z","timestamp":1790928918000},"page":"6254","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Investigation on Hot-Carrier Injection Mechanisms and Reliability Design-Based Strategies in Cryogenically Operated CMOS ROICs for Infrared Focal Plane Arrays"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"26","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0003-3732-7760","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Ayoub El","family":"El Abdi","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"CIMI Integrated Image Sensor Laboratory, Institut Sup\u00e9rieur de l\u2019A\u00e9ronautique et de l\u2019Espace (ISAE-SUPAERO), Universit\u00e9 de Toulouse, 31055 Toulouse, France"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-1922-7785","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Philippe","family":"Martin-Gonthier","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"CIMI Integrated Image Sensor Laboratory, Institut Sup\u00e9rieur de l\u2019A\u00e9ronautique et de l\u2019Espace (ISAE-SUPAERO), Universit\u00e9 de Toulouse, 31055 Toulouse, France"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0003-0746-4086","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Valentin","family":"Badefort-Baril","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"CIMI Integrated Image Sensor Laboratory, Institut Sup\u00e9rieur de l\u2019A\u00e9ronautique et de l\u2019Espace (ISAE-SUPAERO), Universit\u00e9 de Toulouse, 31055 Toulouse, France"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,2]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Glidden, R.M., Lizotte, S.C., Cable, J.S., Mason, L.W., and Cao, C. 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