Impact of Nuclear Reaction Models on Neutron-Induced Soft Error Rate Analysis

Terrestrial neutron-induced soft error rate (SER) analyses in the 25-nm design rule MOSFET are performed by means of multiscale Monte Carlo simulation with different nuclear reaction models used in PHITS code. It is clarified that a choice of nuclear reaction models has a great effect on the SER prediction. Even if the calculated production cross sections for secondary ions are the same among different reaction models, the difference in double-differential cross sections results in essential impact on the calculated SERs. Through validation of the nuclear reaction models used in PHITS code, it is concluded that the combined use of the e-mode with JENDL-4.0 below 20 MeV and the MQMD plus GEM above 20 MeV is the most suitable for the soft error simulation.