Mixed mode simulation of heavy ion impact on 3D SRAM cell

Scaling made the semiconductor devices more susceptible to the impact of heavy ion bombardment. Electronic devices used in extraterrestrial space for military and communication purposes can be extremely vulnerable to high concentrations of heavy ions in the outer atmosphere. The impact of heavy ions can induce unwanted changes in the data state by flipping the output nodes of the SRAM cell. The objective of this paper is to study the impact of heavy ions on the data state of the SRAM cell. Key feature is the simulation of a 6T SRAM cell as a single contiguous block of silicon, demonstrating a true 3D mixed-mode simulation capability. Upset probability changes with variation in the characteristic distance of the heavy ion strike. Process and device mixed mode simulations are carried out.