A1 Journal article (refereed)
Assessment of Proton Direct Ionization for the Radiation Hardness Assurance of Deep Submicron SRAMs Used in Space Applications (2021)

Coronetti, A., Garcìa Alìa, R., Wang, J., Tali, M., Cecchetto, M., Cazzaniga, C., Javanainen, A., Saigné, F., & Leroux, P. (2021). Assessment of Proton Direct Ionization for the Radiation Hardness Assurance of Deep Submicron SRAMs Used in Space Applications. IEEE Transactions on Nuclear Science, 68(5), 937-948. https://doi.org/10.1109/TNS.2021.3061209

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Publication details

All authors or editors: Coronetti, Andrea; Garcìa Alìa, Rubén; Wang, Jialei; Tali, Maris; Cecchetto, Matteo; Cazzaniga, Carlo; Javanainen, Arto; Saigné, Frédéric; Leroux, Paul

Journal or series: IEEE Transactions on Nuclear Science

ISSN: 0018-9499

eISSN: 1558-1578

Publication year: 2021

Volume: 68

Issue number: 5

Pages range: 937-948

Publisher: IEEE

Publication country: United States

Publication language: English

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1109/TNS.2021.3061209

Publication open access: Openly available

Publication channel open access: Partially open access channel

Publication is parallel published (JYX): https://jyx.jyu.fi/handle/123456789/74417

Abstract

Proton direct ionization 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 of memory devices in space applications for state-of-the-art deep sub-micron technologies. The general approach nowadays is to consider a safety margin to apply over the upset rate computed from high-energy proton and heavy ion experimental data. The data reported here present a challenge to this approach. Different upset rate prediction methods are used and compared in order to establish the impact of proton direct ionization on the total upset rate. No matter the method employed the findings suggest that proton direct ionization can contribute to up to 90% of the total upset rate 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.

Keywords: radiation physics; ionising radiation; protons; microelectronics; memories (computing); random access memories; space technology

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Ministry reporting: Yes

Reporting Year: 2021

JUFO rating: 1