Soft errors in SRAM devices induced by high energy neutrons, thermal neutrons and alpha particles

Abstract

We measured the soft error rates (SER) of SRAM devices in several field tests, and obtained SERs induced independently by high energy neutrons, thermal neutrons and alpha particles. It was found that the thermal neutron induced SER was approximately three times larger than the high energy neutron induced SER in 0.18 pm EM SRAMs, and that the alpha particle induced SER was negligible. We also performed accelerated tests for thermal neutrons using a nuclear reactor, and found that the thermal neutron induced SER can be reduced by factors of up to several hundreds by using thermal neutron shield sheets or by eliminating BPSG layers.

Characterization of soft errors caused by single event upsets in CMOS processes

“…Since boron-10 is not used in most new technologies, a reader interested in methods of measuring the boroninduced SER can find more information in the following papers [10], [16], [17], [52], [53]. It should be noted that the boron-induced SER may dominate in technologies that use BPSG.…”

Analysis of checksum-based execution schemes for pipelined processors

“…At 90 nm and below [11] a problem occurs at sea-level, which was only known from aerospace applications: The collision with high-energetic neutrons from deep-space with silicon. At larger heights, the fault rates in SRAMs increase by a factor of 3-10, approximately by 1.3 per 1000 ft [12]. These so-called total ionizing dose effects are caused by the influence of electromagnetic waves or particle radiation, being able to ionize atoms or molecules so that electrons are removed.…”

An Accurate and Comprehensive Soft Error Simulator NISES II

“…1) [1,7]. High-E neutrons and thermal neutrons induce SEs through neutron-nucleus reactions in the silicon substrate and thermal neutron capture reactions of 10 B in BPSG (borophosphosilicate glass), respectively.…”

“…The device structure is the input data. Neutron-silicon reactions, 10 B(n, α ) 7 Li reactions, and α -particles are randomly generated in the silicon substrate, BPSG, and source materials using a Monte Carlo procedure. If the charged particle passes through a charge-collected region, the charges induced in the region are calculated.…”