Modeling and assessing the influence of linear energy transfer on multiple bit upset susceptibility

Abstract

The influence of the metric of linear energy transfer (LET) on single event upset (SEU), particularly multiple bit upset (MBU) in a hypothetical 90-nm static random access memory (SRAM) is explored. To explain the odd point of higher LET incident ion but induced lower cross section in the curve of SEU cross section, MBUs induced by incident ions 132Xe and 209Bi with the same LET but different energies at oblique incidence are investigated using multi-functional package for single event effect analysis (MUFPSA). In addition, a comprehensive analytical model of the radial track structure is incorporated into MUFPSA, which is a complementation for assessing and interpreting MBU susceptibility of SRAM. The results show that (i) with the increase of incident angle, MBU multiplicity and probability each present an increasing trend; (ii) due to the higher ion relative velocity and longer range of δ electrons, higher energy ions trigger the MBU with less probability than lower energy ions.

Investigation of flux dependent sensitivity on single event effect in memory devices

“…As the flux increases, the overall cross section of the unhardened SRAM deviates with no specific trend, but the MBUs of more than 3 bits increase as the ion flux increases. [26,27] At the flux higher than 10 3 ions/cm 2 •s, four or even higher bits errors appear that must result from more than one ion hitting the adjacent region during the same time interval.…”

Simulation of temporal characteristics of ion-velocity susceptibility to single event upset effect

“…As a result of the complicated physical process between the ion and materials and according to the previous description of the principle in MUFPSA, [8,9] we use a boson, lepton, hadron, neutron, ion, and decay to accurately describe the ion-device interaction. For the observation of temporal information, the general particle source in Geant4 has been implemented for setting the initiation and then the corresponding energy and time are tracked and recorded.…”