Implications of the Logical Decode on the Radiation Response of a Multi-Level Cell NAND Flash Memory

Author

Ingalls, J. David ; Gadlage, M.J. ; Duncan, Adam R. ; Kay, Matthew J. ; Cole, Patrick L. ; Hunt, Ken K.

Author_Institution

NSWC Crane, Crane, IN, USA

Volume

60

Issue

6

fYear

2013

fDate

Dec. 2013

Firstpage

4451

Lastpage

4456

Abstract

The radiation response of a multi-level cell (MLC) NAND flash is used to determine the organization of logical states as they correspond to floating gate charge levels of constituent bit cell transistors. This “logical decode” is then used to demonstrate how an MLC device can be used to emulate a single-level cell (SLC) flash with total dose radiation sensitivity equivalent to and even surpassing that of a comparable actual SLC device. In addition, it is shown that the logical decode must be taken into account when performing radiation testing on MLC flash devices so as to gather accurate worst case response data.

Keywords

NAND circuits; flash memories; radiation hardening (electronics); MLC NAND flash; MLC device; SLC flash; constituent bit cell transistors; floating gate charge levels; logical decode; logical state organization; multilevel cell NAND flash memory; radiation response; radiation testing; single-level cell flash; total dose radiation sensitivity; Flash memories; Logic gates; Nonvolatile memory; Radiation effects; X-ray scattering; Flash memory; floating gate; heavy ion; multi-level cell (MLC); single-level cell (SLC); total ionizing dose; x-ray;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Nuclear Science, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9499

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/TNS.2013.2282699

Filename

6678324