William E. Price

Trends in Parts Susceptibility to Single Event Upset from Heavy Ions

New test data from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), The Aerospace Corporation, Rockwell International (Anaheim) and IRT have been combined with published data of JPL [1,2] and Aerospace [3] to form a nearly comprehensive body of single event upset (SEU) test data for heavy ion irradiations. This data has been arranged to exhibit the SEU susceptibility of devices by function, technology and manufacturer. Clear trends emerge which should be useful in predicting future device performance.

Latest trends in parts SEP susceptibility from heavy ions

JPL and Aerospace have collected an extensive set of heavy ion single event upset (SEU) test data since their last joint publication in December, 1985. Trends in SEU susceptibility for state-of-the-art parts are presented.

Cosmic Ray-Induced Soft Errors in Static MOS Memory Cells

Previous analytical models were extended to predict cosmic ray-induced soft error rates in static MOS memory devices. The effect is due to ionization and can be introduced by high energy, heavy ion components of the galactic environment. The results indicate that the sensitivity of memory cells is directly related to the density of the particular MOS technology which determines the node capacitance values. Hence, CMOS is less sensitive than e.g., PMOS. In addition, static MOS memory cells are less sensitive than dynamic ones due to differences in the mechanisms of storing bits. The flip-flop of a static cell is inherently stable against comsic ray-induced bit flips. Predicted error rates on a CMOS RAM and a PMOS shift register are, in general agreement with previous spacecraft flight data.

Temperature and Epi Thickness Dependence of the Heavy Ion Induced Latchup Threshold for a CMOS/EPI 16K Static RAM

Data have been obtained with krypton and xenon ions for the latchup threshold vs. temperature of four different versions of a Harris CMOS/epi 16K static RAM. These special versions of the HM6516 RAM have 12-micron, 9-micron, 7-micron and 5-micron epi thicknesses, as grown. The test data showed a marked improvement in latchup resistance with decreasing epi thickness and with decreasing temperature over the range of 25°C (operating chip ambient) to 100°C.

A Comparison of Radiation Damage in Transistors from Cobalt-60 Gamma Rays and 2.2 MeV Electrons

The total ionizing dose response of ten bipolar transistor types has been measured using Co-60 gamma rays and 2.2 MeV electrons from exposure levels of 750, 1500, and 3000 Gy(Si). Gain measurements were made for a range of collector-emitter voltages and collector currents.

Single Event Upset (SEU) of Semiconductor Devices - A Summary of JPL Test Data

A summary of the data on single event upset (bit flips) for sixt-y device types, having data storage elements, that were tested by JPL through May, 1982, is presented. The data were taken from fifteen accelerator tests with both protons and heavier ions.

A Study of Single Event Upsets in Static RAMS's

Several types of CMOS static random access memories (RAMs) have been tested in a cyclotron for susceptibility to single event upsets and latchup such as might occur in earth orbit or interplanetary space. No upsets have been observed for neutron fluences of 10 to the 11th n/sq cm and higher or proton fluences of 10 to the 9th protons/sq cm.

A Summary of JPL Single Event Upset Test Data from May 1982, Through January 1984

A summary of eleven JPL tests for single event upset (SEU) performed at various accelerators, from May 1982 through January 1984, is presented. This data may be regarded as an update or follow-on to the large compilation of JPL data taken through May 1982, published in the 1983 IEEE issue of this conference. For brevity, most of the data is given for the most ionizing beam used, only. Whenever available, both cross section and LET threshold is tabulated.

The Single Event Upset (SEU) Response to 590 MeV Protons

A recent test of ten device types exposed to 590 MeV protons at SINR (Swiss Institute of Nuclear Research, Villigen) is presented to clarify the picture of SEU response to higher energy protons, such as those found in galactic cosmic rays, solar flares and trapped radiation belts.