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The contribution of low-energy protons to the total on-orbit SEU rate

Journal Article · · IEEE Transactions on Nuclear Science
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  1. Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)
  2. Vanderbilt Univ., Nashville, TN (United States)
  3. Freescale Semiconductor, Austin, TX (United States)
  4. Altera Corp., San Jose, CA (United States)
  5. Swift Engineering and Radiation Services, San Jose, CA (United States)
  6. Brigham Young Univ., Provo, UT (United States)
  7. Univ. of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK (Canada)
  8. BAE Systems. Manassas, VA (United States)
  9. US Naval Research Lab., Brookneal, VA (United States)
  10. TRIUMF, Vancouver, BC (Canada)
  11. Cisco Systems, San Jose, CA (United States)
  12. Broadcom Corp., Irvine, CA (United States)
  13. NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD (United States)
  14. Cypress Semiconductor, San Jose, CA (United States)
+ Show Author Affiliations

Low- and high-energy proton experimental data and error rate predictions are presented for many bulk Si and SOI circuits from the 20-90 nm technology nodes to quantify how much low-energy protons (LEPs) can contribute to the total on-orbit single-event upset (SEU) rate. Every effort was made to predict LEP error rates that are conservatively high; even secondary protons generated in the spacecraft shielding have been included in the analysis. Across all the environments and circuits investigated, and when operating within 10% of the nominal operating voltage, LEPs were found to increase the total SEU rate to up to 4.3 times as high as it would have been in the absence of LEPs. Therefore, the best approach to account for LEP effects may be to calculate the total error rate from high-energy protons and heavy ions, and then multiply it by a safety margin of 5. If that error rate can be tolerated then our findings suggest that it is justified to waive LEP tests in certain situations. Trends were observed in the LEP angular responses of the circuits tested. As a result, grazing angles were the worst case for the SOI circuits, whereas the worst-case angle was at or near normal incidence for the bulk circuits.

Research Organization:
Sandia National Laboratories (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC04-94AL85000
OSTI ID:
1238670
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1326914
OSTI ID: 1326915
Report Number(s):
SAND--2015-8870J; 614053
Journal Information:
IEEE Transactions on Nuclear Science, Journal Name: IEEE Transactions on Nuclear Science Journal Issue: 6 Vol. 62; ISSN 0018-9499
Publisher:
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)Copyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

Cited By (1)

Single event effects in high-energy accelerators journal February 2017

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Related Subjects

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS
angular effects
error rate prediction
proton direct ionization
secondary protons
single-event effects