Prediction of single event upsets on a semiconductor memory induced by cosmic-ray muons

Matsuba, Hirotaka*; Watanabe, Yukinobu*; Abe, Shinichiro   

Stored data on semiconductor device is flipped by incident radiation (so-called Single Event Upset, SEU), and temporal malfunction (so-called soft error) is caused on microelectronics. Recently, the effect of terrestrial muons to soft error is suggested because devices become small and sensitive to radiation. Soft errors can be caused not only by muon direct ionization but also by secondary ions generated by negative muon capture reaction. The analysis of soft error rate (SER) in the 65, 45, 32 and 25-nm technology NMOSFET is performed based on the single sensitive volume model using PHITS. It is clarified that the terrestrial muon-induced SER shows a decreasing trend which is similarly to terrestrial neutron-induced SER. From the detailed analysis for 25-nm technology NMOSFET, it is clarified that muon direct ionization and secondary ions generated by negative muon capture affect on soft error.