Use of light-ion-induced SEU in devices under reduced bias to evaluate their SEU cross section

Single-event upset (SEU) cross section was measured for several devices under reduced bias with light ions, in particular /spl alpha/-particles. The results show that /spl alpha/-particles can be used, in a simple manner, for testing devices in order to save accelerator time. A proportionality law was found for scaling the reduced bias results to normal operation bias.

I. Introduction

In space, ions reach the sensitive nodes of electronic devices from all directions. In order to exactly calculate the single-event upset (SEU) rate of a given device in orbit, one should know the full angular dependence of the device cross section as a function of the ion linear energy transfer (LET, or ). This requires accelerators with very energetic ions, which could reach the sensitive volumes (SVs) for SEU from all directions. Usually, only limited SEU measurements are performed and the SEU rates are calculated using models which assume certain shapes for the SVs.