Estimating the frequency threshold for logic soft errors

Logic soft errors are expected to contribute significantly towards overall soft-error failure-in-time (FIT) rates in the GHz frequency range. In this paper, the contribution of logic soft-errors, to the total soft error rate of circuits at the 28-nm technology node at high frequencies are quantified. Results suggest that the alpha particle logic soft error contribution to chip-level soft error rate is almost 50% at 0.5 GHz. The frequency threshold at which logic soft errors could exceed flip-flop errors is identified for ISCAS benchmark circuits. For most of the circuits analyzed, the frequency threshold is in the 0.9-2 GHz range. This suggests that logic soft errors could be major problem along with flip-flop errors as circuits operate at higher frequencies.