About the Author ............................................. xiii
Preface ........................................................ xv
Acknowledgements ............................................. xvii
Acronyms ...................................................... xix
1 Introduction ................................................. 1
1.1 Basic Knowledge on Terrestrial Secondary Particles ...... 1
1.2 CMOS Semiconductor Devices and Systems .................. 4
1.3 Two Major Fault Modes: Charge Collection and Bipolar
Action .................................................. 7
1.4 Four Hierarchies in Faulty Conditions in Electronic
Systems: Fault - Error - Hazard - Failure .............. 12
1.5 Historical Background of Soft-Error Research ........... 14
1.6 General Scope of This Book ............................. 18
References .................................................. 18
2 Terrestrial Radiation Fields ................................ 23
2.1 General Sources of Radiation ........................... 23
2.2 Backgrounds for Selection of Terrestrial High-Energy
Particles .............................................. 23
2.3 Spectra at the Avionics Altitude ....................... 25
2.4 Radioisotopes in the Field ............................. 28
2.5 Summary of Chapter 2 ................................... 31
References .................................................. 31
3 Fundamentals of Radiation Effects ........................... 33
3.1 General Description of Radiation Effects ............... 33
3.2 Definition of Cross Section ............................ 35
3.3 Radiation Effects by Photons (Gamma-ray and X-ray) ..... 36
3.4 Radiation Effects by Electrons (Beta-ray) .............. 37
3.5 Radiation Effects by Muons ............................. 39
3.6 Radiation Effects by Protons ........................... 40
3.7 Radiation Effects by Alpha-Particles ................... 43
3.8 Radiation Effects by Low-Energy Neutrons ............... 43
3.9 Radiation Effects by High-Energy Neutrons .............. 45
3.10 Radiation Effects by Heavy Ions ........................ 45
3.11 Summary of Chapter 3 ................................... 46
References .................................................. 46
4 Fundamentals of Electronic Devices and Systems .............. 49
4.1 Fundamentals of Electronic Components .................. 49
4.1.1 DRAM (Dynamic Random Access Memory) ............. 49
4.1.2 CMOS Inverter ................................... 49
4.1.3 SRAM (Static Random Access Memory) .............. 51
4.1.4 Floating Gate Memory (Flash Memory) ............. 51
4.1.5 Sequential Logic Devices ........................ 53
4.1.6 Combinational Logic Devices ..................... 54
4.2 Fundamentals of Electronic Systems ..................... 55
4.2.1 FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array) ............ 55
4.2.2 Processor ....................................... 56
4.3 Summary of Chapter 4 ................................... 58
References .................................................. 58
5 Irradiation Test Methods for Single Event Effects ........... 61
5.1 Field Test ............................................. 61
5.2 Alpha Ray SEE Test ..................................... 64
5.3 Heavy Ion Particle Irradiation Test .................... 66
5.4 Proton Beam Test ....................................... 71
5.5 Muon Test Method ....................................... 75
5.6 Thermal/Cold Neutron Test Methods ...................... 78
5.7 High-Energy Neutron Test ............................... 80
5.7.1 Medium-Energy Neutron Source by Using
Radioisotopes ................................... 80
5.7.2 Monoenergetic Neutron Test ...................... 80
5.7.3 Quasi-Monoenergetic Neutron Test ................ 84
5.7.4 Spallation Neutron Test ......................... 90
5.7.5 Attenuation of Neutron Flux and Energy .......... 92
5.8 Testing Conditions and Matters That Require
Attention .............................................. 94
5.8.1 Memories ........................................ 94
5.8.2 Circuits ........................................ 94
5.9 Summary of Chapter 5 ................................... 96
References .................................................. 96
6 Integrated Device Level Simulation Techniques .............. 107
6.1 Overall Multi-scale and Multi-physics Soft-Error
Analysis System ....................................... 107
6.2 Relativistic Binary Collision and Nuclear Reaction
Models ................................................ 112
6.2 Energy Bin Setting for a Particle Energy Spectrum ..... 112
6.2.2 Relativistic Binary Collision Model ............ 113
6.2.3 ALS (Absolute Laboratory System) and ALLS
(Aligned Laboratory System) .................... 115
6.3 Intra-nuclear Cascade (INC) Model for High-Energy
Neutrons and Protons .................................. 119
6.3.1 Penetration of a Nucleon into a Target
Nucleus ........................................ 119
6.3.2 Calculation of Probability of Binary
Collision between Two Nucleons in the Target
Nucleus ........................................ 121
6.3.3 Determination of Condition in Nucleon-Nucleon
Collision ...................................... 121
6.4 Evaporation Model for High-Energy Neutrons and
Protons ............................................... 122
6.5 Generalised Evaporation Model (GEM) for Inverse
Reaction Cross Sections ............................... 125
6.6 Neutron Capture Reaction Model ........................ 128
6.7 Automated Device Modelling ............................ 129
6.8 Setting of Random Position of Spallation Reaction
Point in a Component .................................. 131
6.9 Algorithms for Ion Tracking ........................... 133
6.10 Fault Mode Models ..................................... 135
6.11 Calculation of Cross Section .......................... 141
6.12 Prediction for Scaling Effects of Soft Error Down to
22 nm Design Rule in SRAMs ............................ 142
6.13 Evaluation of Effects of Heavy Elements in
Semiconductor Devices by Nuclear Spallation Reaction .. 144
6.14 Upper Bound Fault Simulation Model .................... 146
6.15 Upper Bound Fault Simulation Results .................. 147
6.15.1 Electrons ...................................... 147
6.15.2 Muons .......................................... 148
6.15.3 Direct Ionisation by Proton .................... 149
6.15.4 Proton Spallation .............................. 149
6.15.5 Low-Energy Neutron ............................. 151
6.15.6 High-Energy Neutron Spallation ................. 151
6.15.7 Comparison of Secondary Cosmic Rays ............ 151
6.16 Upper Bound Simulation Method for SOC (System On
Chip) ................................................. 151
6.17 Summary of Chapter 6 .................................. 154
References ................................................. 154
7 Prediction, Detection and Classification Techniques of
Faults, Errors and Failures ................................ 157
7.1 Overview of Failures in the Field ..................... 157
7.2 Prediction and Estimation of Faulty Conditions due
to SEE ................................................ 159
7.2.1 Substrate/Well/Device Level .................... 159
7.2.2 Circuit Level .................................. 162
7.2.3 Chip/Processor Level ........................... 164
7.2.4 Board Level .................................... 166
7.2.5 Operating System Level ......................... 167
7.2.6 Application Level .............................. 167
7.3 In-situ Detection of Faulty Conditions due to SEE ..... 168
7.3.1 Substrate/Well Level ........................... 168
7.3.2 Device Level ................................... 170
7.3.3 Circuit Level .................................. 170
7.3.4 Chip/Processor Level ........................... 171
7.3.5 Board/OS/Application Level ..................... 174
7.4 Classification of Faulty Conditions ................... 175
7.4.1 Classification of Faults ....................... 175
7.4.2 Classification of Errors in Time Domain ........ 175
7.4.3 MCU Classification Techniques of Memories in
Topological Space Domain ....................... 177
7.4.4 Classification of Errors in Sequential Logic
Devices ........................................ 183
7.4.5 Classification of Failures: Chip/Board Level
Partial/Full Irradiation Test .................. 183
7.5 Faulty Modes in Each Hierarchy ........................ 183
7.5.1 Fault Modes .................................... 183
7.5.2 Error Modes .................................... 186
7.5.3 Failure Modes .................................. 189
7.6 Summary of Chapter 7 .................................. 193
References ................................................. 195
8 Mitigation Techniques of Failures in Electronic
Components and Systems ..................................... 207
8.1 Conventional Stack-layer Based Mitigation Techniques,
Their Limitations and Improvements .................... 207
8.1.1 Substrate/Device Level ......................... 207
8.1.2 Circuit/Chip/Processor Layer ................... 211
8.1.3 Multi-core Processor ........................... 225
8.1.4 Board/OS/Application Level ..................... 227
8.1.5 Real-Time Systems: Automotives and Avionics .... 229
8.1.6 Limitations and Improvements ................... 230
8.2 Challenges for Hyper Mitigation Techniques ............ 232
8.2.1 Co-operation of Hardware and Software .......... 232
8.2.2 Mitigation of Failures under Variations in
SEE Responses .................................. 232
8.2.3 Cross-Layer Reliability (CLR) / Inter-Layer
Built-in Reliability (LAB1R) ................... 235
8.2.4 Symptom-Driven System Resilient Techniques ..... 236
8.2.5 Comparison of Mitigation Strategies for
System Failure ................................. 238
8.2.6 Challenges in the Near Future .................. 238
8.3 Summary of Chapter 8 .................................. 240
References ................................................. 240
9 Summary .................................................... 249
9.1 Summary of Terrestrial Radiation Effects on ULSI
Devices and Electronic Systems ........................ 249
9.2 Directions and Challenges in the Future ............... 250
Appendices .................................................... 251
A.1 Hamming Code .......................................... 251
A.2 Marching Algorithms ................................... 252
A.3 Why VB Is Used For Simulation? ........................ 253
A.4 Basic Knowledge of Visual Basic ....................... 253
A.5 Database Handling by Visual Basic and SQL ............. 253
A.6 Algorithms in Text Handling and Sample Codes .......... 254
A.7 How to Make a Self-Consistent Calculation ............. 255
A.8 Sample Code for Random Selection of Hit Points in
a Triangle ............................................ 256
Index ......................................................... 259
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