Evaluation of 1.5-T Cell Flash Memory Total Ionizing Dose Response

Author

Clark, Lawrence T. ; Holbert, Keith E. ; Adams, James W. ; Navale, Harshad ; Anderson, Blake C.

Author_Institution

Sch. of Electr., Comput. & Energy Eng., Arizona State Univ., Tempe, AZ, USA

Volume

62

Issue

6

fYear

2015

Firstpage

2431

Lastpage

2439

Abstract

Flash memory is an essential part of systems used in harsh environments, experienced by both terrestrial and aerospace TID applications. This paper presents studies of COTS flash memory TID hardness. While there is substantial literature on flash memory TID response, this work focuses for the first time on 1.5 transistor per cell flash memory. The experimental results show hardness varying from about 100 krad(Si) to over 250 krad(Si) depending on the usage model. We explore the circuit and device aspects of the results, based on the extensive reliability literature for this flash memory type. Failure modes indicate both device damage and circuit marginalities. Sector erase failure limits, but read only operation allows TID exceeding 200 krad(Si). The failures are analyzed by type.

Keywords

CMOS memory circuits; avionics; flash memories; integrated circuit reliability; ionisation; logic testing; 1.5 transistor per cell flash memory; 1.5T cell flash memory; COTS flash memory TID hardness; aerospace TID applications; flash memory TID response; terrestrial TID applications; total ionizing dose response; Flash memories; Radiation effects; Radiation hardening (electronics); Flash memory; total ionizing dose;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Nuclear Science, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9499

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/TNS.2015.2488539

Filename

7348775