Electron-Induced Single Event Upsets in 28 nm and 45 nm Bulk SRAMs

• Published in: IEEE transactions on nuclear science 2015-12, Vol.62 (6), p.2709-2716
• Main Authors: Trippe, J. M., Reed, R. A., Austin, R. A., Sierawski, B. D., Weller, R. A., Funkhouser, E. D., King, M. P., Narasimham, B., Bartz, B., Baumann, R., Labello, J., Nichols, J., Schrimpf, R. D., Weeden-Wright, S. L.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: CMOS technology; Electron beams; Energetic electron; INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY; Random access memory; Single event upsets; single-event effects (SEEs); single-event rates; single-event upset (SEU); static random access memory (SRAM)
• ISSN: 0018-9499; 1558-1578
• DOI: 10.1109/TNS.2015.2496967

We present experimental evidence of single electron-induced upsets in commercial 28 nm and 45 nm CMOS SRAMs from a monoenergetic electron beam. Upsets were observed in both technology nodes when the SRAM was operated in a low power state. The experimental cross section depends strongly on both bias and technology node feature size, consistent with previous work in which SRAMs were irradiated with low energy muons and protons. Accompanying simulations demonstrate that δ-rays produced by the primary electrons are responsible for the observed upsets. Additional simulations predict the on-orbit event rates for various Earth and Jovian environments for a set of sensitive volumes representative of current technology nodes. The electron contribution to the total upset rate for Earth environments is significant for critical charges as high as 0.2 fC. This value is comparable to that of sub-22 nm bulk SRAMs. Similarly, for the Jovian environment, the electron-induced upset rate is larger than the proton-induced upset rate for critical charges as high as 0.3 fC.