Geometric Analysis of Soft Errors and Oxide Damage Produced by Heavy Cosmic Rays and Alpha Particles

The interaction of fast heavy ions and alpha particles with microelectronic cells is examined. An analytic expression for the event rate due to the cosmic flux is derived based on the track length distribution in rectangular volumes. Both transient (soft errors) and permanent (oxide damage) effects are considered. The multiple hit consequences of the LSI/VLSI cells lying in a common plane are developed.