Soft errors in semiconductor devices due to environmental radiation; Simulation of soft errors due to environmental radiations

Abe, Shinichiro   

Non-destructive faults (the so-called soft errors) in microelectronics caused by environmental radiation such as neutrons and muons have been recognized as a serious reliability problem. The number of microelectronics requiring high reliability increases with the growth of the information society. Therefore, it is not realistic to evaluate the soft error rate (SER) of all microelectronics by measurement. Moreover, the evaluation of SER in the pre-manufacturing stage is sometimes required. As a result, the evaluation of SER by simulation become more important. We have developed the soft error simulation method with PHITS code. We have also simulated the neutron- and muon-induced soft errors. These results will be reported in the journal of the Atomic Energy Society of Japan (AESJ) as the explanatory article.