Work-Function Fluctuation Impact on the SET Response of FinFET-based Majority Voters

The evolution of integrated circuits, alongside the technology scaling, has made them more susceptible to the radiation effects, as well presenting an increasing manufacturing process variability. These challenges can lead to circuits operating outside their specification ranges. Majority voters are adopted by most of the redundancy-based methodologies to ensure the fault masking. This work evaluates the SET response of seven different versions of majority voter circuits under the process variability using an 7nm FinFET technology. The process variability is considered through the work-function fluctuation of the metal gate and the SET response is characterized by the LETth (Threshold Linear Energy Transfer) and the SET pulse width metrics. Results show the impact of different transistor arrangements in the radiation and variability robustness. The LETth values can vary by up to 65% in comparison with all evaluated circuits. The process variability impacts up to 20% the sensitivity to SET on the evaluated majority voters.

I. Introduction

The importance of reliability issues in the integrated circuits designs has increased with the advancement in microelectronics, mainly due to the technology scaling. A growth in the susceptibility to variability and radiation effects of devices is observed at advanced technology nodes [1]–[4]. The increase in the circuit density and operating frequency, the reduction of supply voltage and the high complexity of manufacturing processes are the primary contributors to this high susceptibility [1], [3].