Sensitivity Characterization of a COTS 90-nm SRAM at Ultralow Bias Voltage

This paper presents the characterization of the sensitivity to 14-MeV neutrons of a commercial off-the-shelf 90-nm static random access memories manufactured by Cypress Semiconductor, when biased at ultralow voltage. First, experiments exposing this memory at 14-MeV neutrons, when powering it up at bias voltages ranging from 0.5 to 3.3 V, are presented and discussed. These results are in good concordance with theoretical predictions issued by the modeling tool MUlti-SCAles Single Event Phenomena Predictive Platform. Then, this tool has been used to obtain soft error rate predictions at different altitudes above the Earth's surface of this device versus its bias voltage. Finally, the effect of contamination by α particles has also been estimated at said range of bias voltages.