Soft Error Studies using a Scanning Source

A system was developed to investigate the alpha particle noise burst susceptibility of individual circuit nodes. The data are generated by scanning the circuit with both a focused laser spot and a micro-capillary collimated alpha particle beam. The laser is used in a rapid scan, coarse raster, to identify sensitive nodes. The collimated alpha source is used to investigate the soft error susceptibility in the vicinity of these nodes. Correlation between maps using both laser and alpha sources is generally good. Sensitivity maps of both special test structures and commercial dynamic RAMs are given as examples of the technique.