Application of Two-Photon-Absorption Pulsed Laser for Single-Event-Effects Sensitivity Mapping Technology.

Cheng Gu,Li Chen,Issam Nofal,Rui Chen,Haonan Tian,George Belev,Shuting Shi

doi:10.3390/ma12203411

Cheng Gu, Li Chen + Show 5 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/ma12203411

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Abstract

Single-event effects (SEEs) in integrated circuits and devices can be studied by utilizing ultra-fast pulsed laser system through Two Photon Absorption process. This paper presents technical ways to characterize key factors for laser based SEEs mapping testing system: output power from laser source, spot size focused by objective lens, opening window of Pockels cell, and calibration of injected laser energy. The laser based SEEs mapping testing system can work in a stable and controllable status by applying these methods. Furthermore, a sensitivity map of a Static Random Access Memory (SRAM) cell with a 65 nm technique node was created through the established laser system. The sensitivity map of the SRAM cell was compared to a map generated by a commercial simulation tool (TFIT), and the two matched well. In addition, experiments in this paper also provided energy distribution profile along Z axis that is the direction of the pulsed laser injection and threshold energy for different SRAM structures.

Highlights

Single Event Effects (SEEs) are electrical disturbance in Integrated Circuits (ICs) or analogue circuits when they are hit by ionizing particles through or near sensitive nodes [1,2]
Threshold energy has been measured for different Static Random Access Memory (SRAM) structures, which are traditional 6T, LEAP 11T, Quatro 10T, and Regular 11T, respectively
A result from former Alpha radiation testing to the same SRAM chip is shown in Table 3 [30]

Summary

Introduction

Single Event Effects (SEEs) are electrical disturbance in Integrated Circuits (ICs) or analogue circuits when they are hit by ionizing particles through or near sensitive nodes (a small area inside IC that is sensitive to external electronic stimulation) [1,2]. When the ionizing particle passes through the semiconductor materials in the IC, a number of Electron-Hole pairs (EHPs) will be generated, which is the reason for the circuits disturbance. A traditional testing method for SEEs is Heavy Ion (HI) or protons and neutrons testing, which uses an accelerator to provide particles with certain energy and ICs devices would be exposed to the ion beams for simulating the SEEs phenomenon in natural space [3,4]. Pulsed laser systems have been introduced and widely used for simulating Single Event Effects procedure by generating EHPs through photon-particle interaction [4,5,6]. For the abilities of fast scanning speed and repeatability, the laser system can be further used to find sensitive area in the Materials 2019, 12, 3411; doi:10.3390/ma12203411 www.mdpi.com/journal/materials

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