Radiation-Induced Soft Errors and Floating Gate Memories

Abstract

A new failure mechanism which may be induced in floating gate memories by ionizing radiation is discussed. This mechanism, which is designated a "firm error", is modeled in some detail. Calculations which show that the MTBF for alpha particles emitted by ceramic packaging materials is > 100,000 years are verified experimentally. The effect of device scaling on this mechanism is also discussed.