ABSTRACT
Soft errors are nondestructive, nonpermanent, and nonrecurring errors. They were first observed in dynamic random-access memory due to α particles emitted by lead-based package in the 1970s [1]. Neutrons in cosmic rays were found as another important source of soft errors [2–4]. These energetic particles travel through the silicon substrate and create minority carriers. When enough minority carriers are collected by a nearby transistor’s drain diffusion node, it will result in a potential disruption of the stored 0 or 1 state, or a voltage transient, resulting in soft errors [5–7]. Soft errors belong to the broader class of single-event effects, defined as any measurable or observable change in state of performance of a device resulting from a single energetic particle strike [8]. Soft errors include single-event upset (SEU), that is, a soft error caused by a single energetic particle strike [5,6], and single-event transient (SET), that is, a momentary voltage spike at a circuit node caused by a single energy particle strike [9].
