Multiscale System Modeling of Single-Event-Induced Faults in Advanced Node Processors

Journal Article · Wed May 05 00:00:00 EDT 2021 · IEEE Transactions on Nuclear Science

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1109/tns.2021.3071653· OSTI ID:1787522

Cannon, Matthew ^[1]; Rodrigues, Arun ^[1]; Black, Dolores ^[1]; Black, Jeff ^[1]; Bustamante, Luis ^[2]; Breeding, Matthew ^[1]; Feinberg, Ben ^[1]; Skoufis, Micahel ^[2]; Quinn, Heather ^[3]; Clark, Lawrence T. ^[4]; Brunhaver, John ^[4]; Barnaby, Hugh ^[4]; McLain, Michael ^[1]; Agarwal, Sapan ^[2]; Marinella, Matthew J. ^[1]

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1. Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)
2. Sandia National Lab. (SNL-CA), Livermore, CA (United States)
3. Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
4. Arizona State Univ., Tempe, AZ (United States)

Integration-technology feature shrink increases computing-system susceptibility to single-event effects (SEE). While modeling SEE faults will be critical, an integrated processor’s scope makes physically correct modeling computationally intractable. Without useful models, presilicon evaluation of fault-tolerance approaches becomes impossible. To incorporate accurate transistor-level effects at a system scope, we present a multiscale simulation framework. Charge collection at the 1) device level determines 2) circuit-level transient duration and state-upset likelihood. Circuit effects, in turn, impact 3) register-transfer-level architecture-state corruption visible at 4) the system level. Furthermore, the physically accurate effects of SEEs in large-scale systems, executed on a high-performance computing (HPC) simulator, could be used to drive cross-layer radiation hardening by design. We demonstrate the capabilities of this model with two case studies. First, we determine a D flip-flop’s sensitivity at the transistor level on 14-nm FinFet technology, validating the model against published cross sections. Second, we track and estimate faults in a microprocessor without interlocked pipelined stages (MIPS) processor for Adams 90% worst case environment in an isotropic space environment.

• Research Organization: Sandia National Laboratories (SNL-CA), Livermore, CA (United States); Sandia National Laboratories (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)
• Grant/Contract Number: AC04-94AL85000
• OSTI ID: 1787522
• Report Number(s): SAND--2021-4082J; 695305
• Journal Information: IEEE Transactions on Nuclear Science, Journal Name: IEEE Transactions on Nuclear Science Journal Issue: 5 Vol. 68; ISSN 0018-9499
• Publisher: IEEE
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

42 ENGINEERING
Fault modeling
single-event effects (SEEs)
single-event transient (SET)
single-event upset (SEU)
structural simulation toolkit (SST)