Abstract
Neutrons with energies between 0.1 and 10 MeV can significantly impact the soft error rate (SER) in SRAMs manufactured in scaled technologies, with respect to high-energy neutrons. Their contribution is evaluated in accelerator, ground-level, and avionic (12 km of altitude) environments. Experimental cross sections were measured with monoenergetic neutrons from 144 keV to 17 MeV, and the results benchmarked with Monte Carlo simulations. It was found that even 144 keV neutrons can induce upsets due to elastic scattering. Moreover, neutrons in the 0.1-10 MeV energy range can induce more than 60% of the overall upset rate in accelerator applications, while their contribution can exceed 18% in avionics. The SER due to neutrons below 3 MeV, whose contribution has always been considered negligible, is found to be up to 44% of the total upsets in accelerator environments. These results have strong radiation hardness assurance (RHA) implications for those environments with high fluxes of neutrons in the 0.1-10 MeV energy range.
Highlights
N EUTRONS are the primary particles constituting the radiation environment inside the large hadron collider (LHC) accelerator at CERN
It was found that the 1–10 MeV neutron contribution to the soft error rate (SER) in accelerator applications can be more than five times larger than that in atmospheric environments, yielding a non-negligible contribution up to 37% in the case of the FPGA
The SER due to neutrons between 0.1 and 10 MeV is computed for ground-level, avionic (12 km), and accelerator environments, including a soft and hard spectrum reproduced in the CERN High energy AcceleRator Mixed-field (CHARM) facility
Summary
N EUTRONS are the primary particles constituting the radiation environment inside the large hadron collider (LHC) accelerator at CERN. The energy threshold of 0.2 MeV was set to consider the lowest onset energy for the (n, α) inelastic reactions of neutrons and materials typically present in microelectronics (in this case nitrogen that can be used as a dopant, as well as in insulating materials [1]) As it will be shown in this work, elastic processes can deposit enough energy in submicron technologies to trigger SEUs for energies even below 0.2 MeV. It was found that the 1–10 MeV neutron contribution to the SER in accelerator applications can be more than five times larger than that in atmospheric environments, yielding a non-negligible contribution up to 37% in the case of the FPGA This was mainly due to the high intermediate-energy neutron fluences with respect to HEH fluences. The SER due to neutrons between 0.1 and 10 MeV is computed for ground-level, avionic (12 km), and accelerator environments, including a soft and hard spectrum reproduced in the CERN High energy AcceleRator Mixed-field (CHARM) facility. The SER retrieved by applying the current memory response is compared to the events obtained from the HEHeq approximation, evaluating whether it can be still considered as valid
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
