Experimental Characterization and Simulation of Electron-Induced SEU in 45-nm CMOS Technology

Abstract

This paper presents the single-event upset characterization of a commercial field programmable gate array (FPGA) using electron radiation. FPGA radiation test results under high energy electrons are described and the dependence between electron energy and SEU cross section is highlighted. A technological cross section is performed to evaluate the back end of line (BEOL) layers composition and thickness. These values are used to perform Monte Carlo simulations of the commercial FPGA exposed to 20-MeV primary electron beam. Calculation results show that electrons are able to generate SEU on the FPGA embedded RAM and confirmed experimental data. SEU rates induced by Jovian electrons are estimated using two different tools: Monte Carlo in GEANT4 and the OMERE Software.Index Terms-45-nm FPGA, embedded RAM, high-energy electron, Monte Carlo simulation, radiation test, SEU rate, single-event upset.

Physical Mechanisms Inducing Electron Single-Event Upset

“…Therefore, the incident electron energy must be of the order of 10 MeV in order to generate a recoil nucleus Q >∼ keV. This value is comparable to the threshold SEU cross section reported by Samaras et al [2]. The screened differential cross section accounting for the finite nuclear size effects is given by Boschini et al [12].…”

“…At first order, the SEU cross section is expected to be proportional to that cross section. The correlation with the measured SEU threshold (∼10 MeV [2]) is obvious.…”

“…The experimental measurements performed by Samaras et al [2] on the field programmable gate array (FPGA) Xilinx Spartan 6 show clearly, around 10 MeV, P. Caron, C. Inguimbert, and L. Artola are with DPhIEE, ONERA, 31055 Toulouse, France (e-mail: pablo.caron@onera.fr; christophe.inguimbert@onera.fr; laurent.artola@onera.fr).…”

“…A comparison has been performed with experimental measurements made on the Xilinx Spartan 6. The data of Samaras et al [2] have been complemented with new measurements made at 1 MeV.…”

Laser-plasma-based Space Radiation Reproduction in the Laboratory

“…Higher repetition rates also allow to decrease peak flux levels, or in the other extreme high peak fluxes (close to target) could be useful to study collective or nonlinear radiation effects 15 . As chip structure size continues to decrease, single event effects (SEE) in microelectronics generated by electrons are gaining importance 25 26 . In parallel, also lower energy protons and ions are attaining increased interest for space radiation effects 27 .…”