Two-Dimensional Markov Chain Analysis of Radiation-Induced Soft Errors in Subthreshold Nanoscale CMOS Devices

• Published in: IEEE transactions on nuclear science Vol. 57; no. 6; pp. 3768 - 3774
• Main Authors: Jannaty, P, Sabou, F C, Gadlage, M, Bahar, R I, Mundy, J, Patterson, W, Reed, R A, Weller, R A, Schrimpf, R D, Zaslavsky, A
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York IEEE 01.12.2010; The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE)
• Subjects: Alpha particles; Alpha-particle radiation effects; Channels; CMOS devices; CMOS integrated circuits; Error analysis; Flip-flops; Logic; Logic devices; Markov chains; Markov processes; Mathematical analysis; Nanostructure; Operating temperature; Radiation effects; radiation effects in devices; reliability; Single event upset; Soft errors; SRAM chips; SRAMs
• DOI: 10.1109/TNS.2010.2068561
• ISSN: 0018-9499

Radiation-induced soft errors have been a reliability concern for logic integrated circuits since their emergence. Feature-size and supply-voltage reduction require the analysis of soft-error sensitivity as a function of technology scaling. In this paper, an analytical framework based on Markov chains and queue theory is presented for computation of alpha-particle-induced soft-error rates of a flip-flop operated in the subthreshold regime. The proposed framework is capable of reflecting the technology parameters such as supply voltage Vdd, channel length, process-induced threshold variation, and operating temperature. As an example, the framework is used to investigate the mean time to error of flip-flops built in a 32 nm fully-depleted silicon-on-insulator technology operating in the subthreshold regime subject to two limiting fluxes of alpha particle radiation: high at 100 (α/h.cm 2 ) and ultra-low alpha (ULA) emission 0.002 (α/h.cm 2 ).