Alpha-particle-induced charge collection measurements for megabit DRAM cells

Author

Takeuchi, Kan ; Shimohigashi, Katsuhiro ; Takeda, Eiji ; Yamasaki, Eiji ; Toyabe, Toru ; Itoh, Kiyoo

Author_Institution

Hitachi Ltd., Tokyo, Japan

Volume

36

Issue

9

fYear

1989

fDate

9/1/1989 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

1644

Lastpage

1650

Abstract

An alpha-particle-induced charge collection mechanism for megabit DRAM cells was studied using an experimental method for 1-bit cell test structures with storage areas of 1 to 30 μm². The dependence of the critical charge Q_c for soft errors on the cell size and p⁺ barriers was extensively examined. Q_c was found to be proportional to the diagonal length of the depletion region. In addition, charge collection in the presence of p⁺ barriers was enhanced by charge multiplication through the weak avalanche effect

Keywords

MOS integrated circuits; VLSI; alpha-particles; integrated circuit technology; integrated memory circuits; random-access storage; semiconductor device models; 1 Mbit; 1-bit cell test structures; alpha particle induced soft errors; alpha-particle-induced charge collection mechanism; cell size; charge collection measurements; charge multiplication; critical charge; depletion region; diagonal length; megabit DRAM cells; p⁺ barriers; soft errors; storage areas; weak avalanche effect; Area measurement; Charge measurement; Current measurement; Laboratories; Proposals; Random access memory; Testing; Time measurement; Very large scale integration; Voltage;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Electron Devices, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9383

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/16.34226

Filename

34226