An ultra-dense irradiation test structure with a NAND/NOR readout chain for characterizing soft error rates of 14nm combinational logic circuits

Saurabh Kumar, Minki Cho, Luke Everson, Hoonki Kim, Qianying Tang, Paul Mazanec, Pascal Meinerzhagen, Andres Malavasi, Dan Lake, Carlos Tokunaga, Muhammad Khellah, James Tschanz, Shekhar Borkar, Vivek De, Chris H. Kim

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionpeer-review

4 Scopus citations

Abstract

This paper describes a 14nm test chip employing a novel NAND/NOR readout chain for characterizing soft error rate (SER) in combinational logic gates. The proposed test structure uses high density standard logic gates as detection circuit for sensing Single Event Transients (SETs) that are then forwarded to a skewed NAND-NOR readout chain which funnels all SET pulses while expanding the pulse width to ensure they reach the final triple modular redundant (TMR) counter. The proposed circuit is compact, has a scalable architecture based on a unit cell layout, and incurs minimal area overhead. Different gate configurations (device size, threshold voltage, fan-out and chain length) were implemented in the 14nm test-chip and irradiated under a neutron beam to collect a massive amount of statistical data. Radiation data captures, for the first time, the impact of various circuit parameters on combinational logic SER in 14nm tri-gate technology.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publication2017 IEEE International Electron Devices Meeting, IEDM 2017
PublisherInstitute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.
Pages39.3.1-39.3.4
ISBN (Electronic)9781538635599
DOIs
StatePublished - 23 Jan 2018
Externally publishedYes
Event63rd IEEE International Electron Devices Meeting, IEDM 2017 - San Francisco, United States
Duration: 2 Dec 20176 Dec 2017

Publication series

NameTechnical Digest - International Electron Devices Meeting, IEDM
ISSN (Print)0163-1918

Conference

Conference63rd IEEE International Electron Devices Meeting, IEDM 2017
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CitySan Francisco
Period2/12/176/12/17

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2017 IEEE.

Funding

Acknowledgements: The authors would like to thank Dr. Heather Quinn at Los Alamos National Labs for her help with the neutron beam tests. This work was funded in part by the U.S. Government. The data analysis work was partially supported by the Defense Threat Reduction Agency under Basic Research Award No. HDTRA1-14-1-0042. The views and conclusions contained in this document are those of the authors and should not be interpreted as representing the official policies, either expressed or implied, of the U.S. Government.

FundersFunder number
U.S. Government
Defense Threat Reduction Agency

    Fingerprint

    Dive into the research topics of 'An ultra-dense irradiation test structure with a NAND/NOR readout chain for characterizing soft error rates of 14nm combinational logic circuits'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

    Cite this