A novel method for accurately estimating alpha-induced soft error rates

We have developed a sensitive dosimetry, vacuum /spl alpha/-tracking, and used it to measure dose rates of /spl alpha/-particle emission in order to estimate /spl alpha/-induced soft error rates. We found that the detection limit of the developed dosimetry is 3.2/spl times/10/sup -5/ /spl alpha/ph/spl middot/cm/sup -2/, approximately 30 times more sensitive than that of conventional dosimetry. We used the newly obtained dose rates of LSI materials in accelerated tests and simulations to demonstrate that the developed method provides drastically more accurate soft error rate estimation.