Experimental evidence is presented relevant to the angular dependences of multiple-bit upset （MBU） rates and patterns in static random access memories （SRAMs） under heavy ion irradiation. The single event upset （SEU） cross sections under tilted ion strikes are overestimated by 23.9%-84.6%, compared with under normally incident ion with the equivalent linear energy transfer （LET） value of 41 MeV/（mg/cm2）, which can be partially explained by the fact that the MBU rate for tilted ions of 30° is 8.5%-9.8% higher than for normally incident ions. While at a lower LET of - 9.5 MeV/（mg/cm2）, no clear discrepancy is observed. Moreover, since the ion trajectories at normal and tilted incidences are different, the predominant double-bit upset （DBU） patterns measured are different in both conditions. Those differences depend on the LET values of heavy ions and devices under test. Thus, effective LET method should be used carefully in ground-based testing of single event effects （SEE） sensitivity, especially in MBU-sensitive devices.
Using a Monte Carlo simulation tool of the multi-functional package for SEEs Analysis （MUFPSA）, we study the temporal characteristics of ion-velocity susceptibility to the single event upset （SEU） effect, including the deposited energy, traversed time within the device, and profile of the current pulse. The results show that the averaged dposited energy decreases with the increase of the ion-velocity, and incident ions of 2~9Bi have a wider distribution of energy deposition than 132Xe at the same ion-velocity. Additionally, the traversed time presents an obvious decreasing trend with the increase of ion-velocity. Concurrently, ion-velocity certainly has an influence on the current pulse and then it presents a particular regularity. The detailed discussion is conducted to estimate the relevant linear energy transfer （LET） of incident ions and the SEU cross section of the testing device from experiment and simulation and to critically consider the metric of LET.
Graphene and thin graphite films deposited on SiO2/Si are irradiated by swift heavy ions(209Bi, 9.5 Me V/u) with the fluences in a range of 1011ions/cm2–1012ions/cm2 at room temperature. Both pristine and irradiated samples are investigated by Raman spectroscopy. For pristine graphite films, the 'blue shift' of 2D bond and the 'red shift' of G bond with the decrease of thickness are found in the Raman spectra. For both irradiated graphene and thin graphite films, the disorder-induced D peak and D' peak are detected at the fluence above a threshold Φth. The thinner the film, the lower the Φthis. In this work, the graphite films thicker than 60 nm reveal defect free via the absence of a D bond signal under the swift heavy ion irradiation till the fluence of 2.6 × 1012ions/cm2. For graphite films thinner than 6 nm, the area ratios between D peak and G peak increase sharply with reducing film thickness. It concludes that it is much easier to induce defects in thinner films than in thicker ones by swift heavy ions. The intensities of the D peak and D' peak increase with increasing ion fluence, which predicts the continuous impacting of swift heavy ions can lead to the increasing of defects in samples. Different defect types are detected in graphite films of different thickness values. The main defect types are discussed via the various intensity ratios between the D peak and D' peak(HD/HD).
Cu-Ni core-shell nanowires, with an inner Cu core diameter of about 60 nm and varying Ni shell thicknesses （10, 30, 50, 60, and 80 nm）, were successfully fabricated in porous polycarbonate （PC） ion- track templates by a two-step etching and electrodeposition method. In our experiment, the thickness of Ni shell can be effectively tuned through the etching time of templates. The core-shell structure was confirmed by scanning electron microscopy （SEM） and transmission electron microscopy （TEM）. The X-ray diffraction （XRD） pattern elucidates the co-existence of characteristic peaks for both Cu and Ni, indicating no other phases were formed during preparation. Magnetic hysteresis loops measured via vibrating sample magnetometry （VSM） revealed that Cu-Ni core-shell nanowires with thinner Ni shell exhibited obviously diamagnetic character and together with a weak ferromagnetic activity, whereas ferromagnetic behavior was primarily measured for the wires with thicker Ni shell. With increasing Ni shell thickness, the squareness and coercivity value became smaller due to the shape anisotropy and the formation of multi-domain structure.
Geant4 tools were used to model the single event upset （SEU） of static random access memory cells induced by heavy ion irradiation. Simulated results obtained in two different regions of incident ion energies have been compared in order to observe the SEU occurrence by energetic ions and their effects on the radial ionization profile of deposited energy density. The disagreement of SEU cross sections of device response and radial distribution of deposited energy density have been observed in both low energy and high energy regions with equal linear energy transfer （LET） which correspond to the both sides of the Bragg peak. In the low energy region, SEUs induced by heavy ions are more dependent upon the incident ion species and radial distribution of deposited energy density, as compared with the high energy region. In addition, the velocity effect of the incident ion in silicon in the high energy region provides valuable feedback for gaining insight into the occurrence of SEU.
Monte Carlo simulation results are reported on the single event upset(SEU) triggered by the direct ionization effect of low-energy proton. The SEU cross-sections on the 45 nm static random access memory(SRAM) were compared with previous research work, which not only validated the simulation approach used herein, but also exposed the existence of saturated cross-section and the multiple bit upsets(MBUs) when the incident energy was less than 1 MeV. Additionally, it was observed that the saturated cross-section and MBUs are involved with energy loss and critical charge. The amount of deposited charge and the distribution with respect to the critical charge as the supplemental evidence are discussed.
Embedded RAM blocks（BRAMs） in field programmable gate arrays（FPGAs） are susceptible to single event effects（SEEs） induced by environmental factors such as cosmic rays, heavy ions, alpha particles and so on. As technology scales, the issue will be more serious. In order to tackle this issue, two different error correcting codes（ECCs）, the shortened Hamming codes and shortened BCH codes, are investigated in this paper. The concrete design methods of the codes are presented. Also, the codes are both implemented in flash-based FPGAs. Finally, the synthesis report and simulation results are presented in the paper. Moreover, heavy-ion experiments are performed,and the experimental results indicate that the error cross-section of the device using the shortened Hamming codes can be reduced by two orders of magnitude compared with the device without mitigation, and no errors are discovered in the experiments for the device using the shortened BCH codes.
