A Field Analysis of System-level Effects of Soft Errors Occurring in Microprocessors used in Information Systems

Soft errors due to alpha and cosmic particles are a growing reliability threat to information systems. In this work, a methodology is developed to analyze the effects of single event upsets (SEU) and obtain FIT rates for commercial microprocessors in live information systems. Our methodology is based on data collected from error logs and error traces of the information systems present globally in the field. We also compare the system effects of errors that are suspected to be due to SEUs as compared with non-SEU errors. Soft errors are further localized within specific microprocessor resources with the assistance of the machine check architecture. The analyzed field data represents a world-wide population of microprocessors installed in the field. In total, several thousands systems and thirty-six months of field data were analyzed. The methodology used in carrying out this field analysis is discussed in detail and results are presented.