IBM experiments in soft fails in computer electronics (1978–1994)

Ziegler, J. F.; Curtis, H. W.; Muhlfeld, H. P.; Montrose, C. J.; Chin, Bernard; Nicewicz, M.; Russell, Chad; Wang, W. Y.; Freeman, L. B.; Hosier, P.; LaFave, L. E.; Walsh, J.; Orro, J. M.; Unger, G. J.; Ross, Joe; O’Gorman, T.; Messina, B.; Sullivan, T.; Sykes, A. J.; Yourke, H. S.; Enger, T. A.; Tolat, V.; Scott, T Smith; Taber, A. H.; Sussman, R. J.; Klein, W; Wahaus, C. W.

doi:10.1147/rd.401.0003

Cited by 374 publications

(179 citation statements)

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“…Latent errors, also known as silent errors or silent data corruption, represent a major threat to scientific applications executing on large scale platforms [21,22,23]. There are several causes of silent errors, such as cosmic radiation, packaging pollution, among others.…”

Section: Related Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

Resilient N-Body Tree Computations with Algorithm-Based Focused Recovery: Model and Performance Analysis

Cavelan

Fang

Chien

et al. 2017

Lecture Notes in Computer Science

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This paper presents a model and performance study for Algorithm-Based Focused Recovery (ABFR) applied to N-body computations, subject to latent errors. We make a detailed comparison with the classical Checkpoint/Restart (CR) approach. While the model applies to general frameworks, the performance study is limited to perfect binary trees, due to the inherent difficulty of the analysis. With ABFR, the crucial parameter is the detection interval, which bounds the error latency. We show that the detection interval has a dramatic impact on the overhead, and that optimally choosing its value leads to significant gains over the CR approach.

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Section: Related Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

Resilient N-Body Tree Computations with Algorithm-Based Focused Recovery: Model and Performance Analysis

Cavelan

Fang

Chien

et al. 2017

Lecture Notes in Computer Science

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“…The intensity of cosmic-ray induced neutrons flux in the atmosphere varies with altitude, location in the geomagnetic field, and solar magnetic activity. The flux data are available from observations accumulated over decades [8,16]. One often cites the JEDEC standard [5].…”

Section: An Environment-based Probabilistic Soft Error Modelmentioning

confidence: 99%

Soft Error Rate Determination for Nanometer CMOS VLSI Logic

Wang

Agrawal

2008

2008 40th Southeastern Symposium on System Theory (SSST)

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“…These errors were then shown to be closely correlated with cosmic ray intensities. [2,3] In Denver, at 1700m, the SEU rate was ten times the national average.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These errors were then shown to be closely correlated with cosmic ray intensities. [2,3] In Denver, at 1700m, the SEU rate was ten times the national average.It is easy to understand how heavily-ionizing low energy alpha particles, with a range of 25 microns in Si, could deposit disruptive charge, but how would high energy neutrons, protons and pions from cosmic ray reactions induce errors? At sea level, most cosmic rays are muons, with only small cross sections for any reactions, but evidently energetic hadrons can cause reactions within microcircuits to produce short range heavily ionizing reaction products.…”

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confidence: 99%

Radiation-induced errors in memory chips

Peterson¹

2003

Braz. J. Phys.

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We have measured probabilities for proton, neutron and pion beams from accelerators to induce temporary or soft errors in a wide range of modern 16 Mb and 64 Mb DRAM memory chips, typical of those used in aircraft electronics. Relations among the cross sections for these particles are deduced. Measurement of alpha particle yields from pions on aluminum, as a surrogate for silicon, indicate that these reaction products are the proximate cause of the charge deposition resulting in errors. I IntroductionIn 1978 a serious industrial problem was causing errors in the memory contents of Intel 2107 16Kb DRAM (Dynamic Random Access Memory) chips.[1] These temporary or soft errors did not damage the chip, but an erroneous 'zero' had replaced a 'one', or vice versa, spoiling the contents of the memory. This problem was traced to small amounts of alpha-emitting impurities in the materials. These 5 MeV alpha particles caused ionization in the Si of the chip, and the collected charge was enough to redefine the memory state.Later, in repair records from 1984, IBM found a correlation between these errors, here called 'soft error upsets' or SEU, and altitude. These errors were then shown to be closely correlated with cosmic ray intensities. [2,3] In Denver, at 1700m, the SEU rate was ten times the national average.It is easy to understand how heavily-ionizing low energy alpha particles, with a range of 25 microns in Si, could deposit disruptive charge, but how would high energy neutrons, protons and pions from cosmic ray reactions induce errors? At sea level, most cosmic rays are muons, with only small cross sections for any reactions, but evidently energetic hadrons can cause reactions within microcircuits to produce short range heavily ionizing reaction products.A series of experiments with intense accelerator beams has been used to measure the probabilities or cross sections for hadrons to induce SEU in a wide range of modern memory chips. These measurements are particularly important for commercial and military aircraft, with their high altitude operations.Here we define σ SEU = induced errors number of sample bits × particles/cm 2 . II Accelerator testingCommercially available memory chips were placed directly in our beams. Proton beams were mostly from the Harvard cyclotron, at energies from 50 to 150 MeV. III ComparisonsSEU cross sections for 16 Mb samples showed a very wide range, strongly dependent upon the chip construction. Cross sections are shown in Fig. 2. For some manufacturers, several different chips of the same model were studied, with little scatter. The large differences can be explained by the smaller volume of Si available to deposit stray charge in the newer generations.

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IBM experiments in soft fails in computer electronics (1978–1994)

Abstract: This historical review covers IBM experiments in evaluating radiation-induced soft fails in LSI electronics over a fifteen-year period, concentrating on major scientific and technical advances which have not been previously published.

Cited by 374 publications

References 10 publications

Resilient N-Body Tree Computations with Algorithm-Based Focused Recovery: Model and Performance Analysis

Resilient N-Body Tree Computations with Algorithm-Based Focused Recovery: Model and Performance Analysis

Soft Error Rate Determination for Nanometer CMOS VLSI Logic

Radiation-induced errors in memory chips

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