Abstract
Proton direct ionization (PDI) from low-energy protons has been shown to have a potentially significant impact on the accuracy of prediction methods used to calculate the upset rates (URs) of memory devices in space applications for state-of-the-art deep submicron technologies. The general approach nowadays is to consider a safety margin to apply over the UR computed from high-energy proton and heavy-ion experimental data. The data reported here present a challenge to this approach. Different UR prediction methods are used and compared in order to establish the impact of PDI on the total UR. Regardless of the method employed, the findings suggest that PDI can contribute to up to 90% of the total UR, on average, for a general selection of space orbits, with peaks of up to 99%. Such results suggest that an approach based on the characterization of the low-energy portion of the proton spectrum would be more convenient for similar technologies than the application of a general safety margin. Based on data presented here, the previously proposed margin of 5 is exceeded, by large amounts in some cases.
Highlights
T HE potential impact of direct ionization phenomena arising from singly charged particles, such as protons [1], [2], electrons [3], and muons [4], on the upset rate (UR) of memory devices has been a matter of concern for more than a decade
When it comes to space applications, low-energy protons (LEPs) are one of the main threats challenging the standard UR prediction methodologies based on high-energy proton (HEP) and heavy-ion (HI) single-event upset (SEU) characterizations
While losing the link to the data of these specific devices, such analysis can allow exploring how the D factor would vary when changing the critical charge of the model, which can be used to assess whether the device may be sensitive to direct ionization from HEPs and how the picture may change for other devices having a different critical charge
Summary
T HE potential impact of direct ionization phenomena arising from singly charged particles, such as protons [1], [2], electrons [3], and muons [4], on the upset rate (UR) of memory devices has been a matter of concern for more than a decade When it comes to space applications, low-energy protons (LEPs) are one of the main threats challenging the standard UR prediction methodologies based on high-energy proton (HEP) and heavy-ion (HI) single-event upset (SEU) characterizations. One of the main studies [6] proposes the use of a degraded HEP beam as an enabler for LEP SEU ground testing In this case, the main advantage is the possibility to exploit the energetic spread introduced by the degraders in the beamline to irradiate the device with a spectra replicating that found in a typical Earth space mission in the 0–3 MeV energy range. These are used, along with other prediction tools to estimate the UR of the characterized devices for a few selected space orbits in order to evaluate the impact of PDI UR in typical space missions
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