Soft-errors induced by terrestrial neutrons and natural alpha-particle emitters in advanced memory circuits at ground level

This review covers our recent (2005–2010) experiments and modeling-simulation work dedicated to the evaluation of natural radiation-induced soft errors in advanced static memory (SRAM) technologies. The impact on the chip soft-error rate (SER) of both terrestrial neutrons induced by cosmic rays and alpha-particle emitters, generated from traces of radioactive contaminants in CMOS process or packaging materials, has been experimentally investigated by life (i.e. real-time) testing performed at ground level on the Altitude Single-event Effect Test European Platform (ASTEP) and underground at the underground laboratory of modane (LSM). The paper describes these two test platforms and surveys the characterization results obtained for two SRAM technology nodes (130 nm and 65 nm). Experimental results concerning the characterization of the natural radiation environment are also reported.