On the Impact of Device Orientation on the Multiple Cell Upset Radiation Response in Nanoscale Integrated Circuits

Abstract

Soft errors in integrated circuits (ICs) are a critical problem facing state-of-the-art technologies. In both the terrestrial and space environment, the source of soft errors is charged particle interaction with ICs. This work examines the effects of multiple soft errors from a single particle interaction. In memory devices, clusters of physically adjacent soft errors are referred to as multiple cell upsets (MCUs). In this work, the impact of device orientation on the MCU response from accelerated heavy ion and neutron testing is analyzed. The size, shape, and probability of MCU are shown to depend on orientation for both particle types. The worst case MCU events occur at large angles of incidence. Additionally, heavy ions also exhibit a strong dependence on the ion's trajectory with respect to the SRAM layout for the size and shape of MCU events.