Simulations of single event effects in 6T2C-based ferroelectric non-volatile static random access memory

Abstract

The single event effects (SEEs) on ferroelectric Hf0.5Zr0.5O2 capacitor-based non-volatile static random access memory (nvSRAM) were investigated by simulation. A nvSRAM cell integrated with two ferroelectric Hf0.5Zr0.5O2 capacitors is proposed in this study. A macro-model of the ferroelectric Hf0.5Zr0.5O2 capacitor, extracted from the real fabricated devices, is utilized for simulation analysis. Fundamental store and recall operations of the proposed nvSRAM design have been demonstrated. An independent double exponential current source was utilized and injected into specific circuit nodes to simulate the heavy ion induced single event transient current. The simulation results show that the transient pulse current is possible to upset the logic state of the memory cell from 1 to 0, but whether it can recover in a short time period after the upset errors depends on the exact value of linear energy transfer for the injected particles. In addition, increasing the remnant polarization (P r) and decreasing the coercive voltage (V c) and film thickness of ferroelectric capacitors can mitigate the influence of SEEs, which provides guidance for process hardening techniques aiming at space applications.