ABSTRACT

Radiation effects in semiconductor devices are responsible for a plethora of reliability issues that vary in magnitude from single-bit data disruptions to events that lead to complete device destruction. The primary difference between single event latch-up and electrical latch-up is that the current injection that turns-on the parasitic bipolar elements is provided by a radiation event instead of an electrical event. While the previous discussion on cosmic neutrons focused on the high-energy reactions, here the focus is on very low-energy neutrons. At terrestrial altitudes three mechanisms are responsible for soft errors: the reaction of high-energy cosmic neutrons with silicon and other device materials, alpha particles emitted from trace radioactive impurities in the device materials, and the reaction of low-energy cosmic neutrons with high concentrations of B in the device. While alpha particles are directly ionizing, the linear energy transfer is significantly lower than that of the secondary ions produced by high-energy neutron reactions.