Title :
Radiation hardening of dynamic memories by the use of a new dummy cell concept
Author :
Schleifer, Horst ; Ropp, Thomas V d ; Reczek, Werner
Author_Institution :
Memory Div., Siemens AG, Munich, Germany
Abstract :
The soft error rate (SER) of DRAMs with advanced structures can be reduced significantly by the use of a new dummy cell concept. Compared to conventional dummy cell concepts, this concept applies a fully sized dummy cell. By optimising the dummy cell precharge voltage and the timing for activation of the dummy word line, the overall SER of the chip is reduced by two orders of magnitude. This is because the SER sensitivity for a physical “1” is matched to the SER sensitivity for a physical “0”. The results are verified by an accelerated SER measurement with a radium 226 source and an additional field soft error study
Keywords :
DRAM chips; alpha-particle effects; errors; integrated circuit reliability; radiation hardening (electronics); 226Ra source; DRAMs; Ra; SER sensitivity; accelerated SER measurement; dummy cell concept; dynamic memories; field soft error study; fully sized dummy cell; precharge voltage; radiation hardening; soft error rate; Acceleration; Capacitance; Costs; Error analysis; Radiation hardening; Scanning electron microscopy; Semiconductor device measurement; System testing; Timing; Voltage;
Conference_Titel :
Memory Technology, Design and Testing, 1994., Records of the IEEE International Workshop on
Conference_Location :
San Jose, CA
Print_ISBN :
0-8186-6245-X
DOI :
10.1109/MTDT.1994.397186
