Validating Terrestrial SER in 12-, 28-, and 65-nm SRAMs Estimated by Simulation Coupled With One-Time Neutron Irradiation

This article validates the terrestrial soft error rate (SER) estimation method proposed by Abe et al. using 12-nm FinFET and 28- and 65-nm planar static random access memories (SRAMs). Experimental results demonstrate that the SERs estimated through simulations coupled with one-time monoenergetic neutron irradiation are consistent with the SERs measured using a white neutron beam at the Research Center for Nuclear Physics (RCNP) within 70% error at the nominal operation voltage of 1.0 V for 65-nm SRAMs. In addition, the difference between the experimental results and the estimated SERs is up to 28% error for 12- and 28-nm SRAMs. Furthermore, we investigate the influence of the dielectric materials in metal layers. Although they change the energy dependence of single-event upset (SEU) cross sections, they do not significantly affect the precision of SER estimation.