Observation of changes in the single event upset rate in 4MB SRAM due to intervening materials in a neutron environment

Author

Wilkins, R. ; Huff, H. ; Badhwar, GAUTAM D. ; Moore, J. ; Zhou, J. ; Singleterry, R.C. ; Wender, S.A. ; Fogarty, T.N.

Author_Institution

NASA Center for Appl. Radiat. Res., Prairie View A&M Univ., TX, USA

fYear

2001

fDate

10-14 Sept. 2001

Firstpage

469

Lastpage

473

Abstract

We observe a significant increase (by a factor of approximately three) in the single event upset (SEU) rate in 4MB SRAM by modifying the incident high-energy neutron field with polyethylene of thickness between 20.5g/cm²-25.5g/cm². In comparison, these thicknesses of the same intervening materials greatly reduce the tissue equivalent dose as measured with a tissue equivalent proportional counter (TEPC). These results indicate intervening materials that may provide a measure of radiation shielding for humans may be detrimental to electronic systems.

Keywords

SRAM chips; neutron effects; polymers; radiation hardening (electronics); 4 MB; 4MB SRAM; electronic systems; intervening materials; neutron environment; polyethylene; radiation shielding; single event upset rate; tissue equivalent dose; tissue equivalent proportional counter; Aerospace electronics; Aerospace materials; Aircraft manufacture; Biological materials; Humans; NASA; Neutrons; Polyethylene; Random access memory; Single event upset;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Radiation and Its Effects on Components and Systems, 2001. 6th European Conference on

Print_ISBN

0-7803-7313-8

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/RADECS.2001.1159325

Filename

1159325