Single-Event Effect Performance of a Conductive-Bridge Memory EEPROM

We investigated the heavy ion single-event effect (SEE) susceptibility of the industry's first stand-alone memory based on conductive-bridge memory (CBRAM) technology. The device is available as an electrically erasable programmable read-only memory. We found that single-event functional interrupt (SEFI) is the dominant SEE type for each operational mode (standby, dynamic read, and dynamic write/read). SEFIs occurred even while the device is statically biased in standby mode. Worst case SEFIs resulted in errors that filled the entire memory space. Power cycle did not always clear the errors. Thus the corrupted cells had to be reprogrammed in some cases. The device is also vulnerable to bit upsets during dynamic write/read tests, although the frequency of the upsets are relatively low. The linear energy transfer threshold for cell upset is between 10 and 20 MeV·cm²/mg, with an upper limit cross section of 1.6 × 10 ^{- 11} cm²/bit (95% confidence level) at 10 MeV· cm²/mg. In standby mode, the CBRAM array appears invulnerable to bit upsets.