Bloom Filters for Soft Error Detection: Neutron and Fault Injection Validation

As memory cells continue to shrink in modern semiconductor technologies, radiation-induced Single Event Effects, such as single- and multi-bit upsets, pose growing challenges to system reliability. While effective and efficient for single and double-bit errors, traditional error detection and correction approaches, such as Error Correcting Codes (ECC), incur substantial overhead and complexity when designed to detect and correct multiple-bit errors. This study investigates the use of probabilistic data structures (PDS) as lightweight detectors for multiple-bit soft errors in memories. Leveraging the space-efficient and low-latency properties of Bloom filters, we implement a lightweight error detector (checker) within a representative memory subsystem on a flash-based FPGA. The checker's performance is validated through extensive neutron beam irradiation and fault-injection campaigns, demonstrating effective detection of multiple-bit errors with a tunable false-positive rate.