The sensitivity analysis of the effect of single-event-upset on low-swing signaling driver

The reliability of electronic system has become a major issue as the advances in semiconductor technology reduce device dimensions. As device geometries shrink circuit packaging densities increase and circuit application become more susceptible to transient faults caused by the effects of neutron and alpha-particle strikes. Increases in the susceptibility to effects of particle strikes (single event upsets) have resulted from the reduction in node capacitance. With the introduction of new technologies in order to achieve low power and high performance with low cost area, the problem with SEUs is becoming more significant. Consequently in this work, in order to assess the reliability of low-swing signaling schemes, it is necessary to consider the factors that can affect the signal integrity of the interconnects. It is important to include the reliability analysis with respect to occurrence of SEUs early in the design stage to improve system robustness and explore the subsequent tradeoffs. From the results obtained, the mLVSD driver has been identified as the driver with the best SEU tolerance compared to other low-swing drivers. Subsequently, in terms of SEU tolerance, the results indicate a good tradeoff between introducing high bias current and increasing Vdd, is needed in order to meet reliability target and minimal power overhead.