Title :
The single event upset characteristics of the 486-DX4 microprocessor
Author :
Kouba, Coy K. ; Choi, Gwan
Author_Institution :
Avionic Syst. Div., NASA Johnson Space Center, Houston, TX, USA
Abstract :
This paper describes the development of an experimental radiation testing environment to investigate the single event effect (SEE) susceptibility of the 486-DX4 microprocessor. The goal of this work was to experimentally characterize the single event effects of the 486-DX4 microprocessor using a cyclotron facility as the fault-injection source. Three different heavy ions were used to provide different linear energy transfer rates, and a total of six microprocessor parts were tested from two different commercial vendors. A consistent set of error modes were identified and the upset cross-sections were calculated. Results show a distinct difference in on-chip cache susceptibility, as well as a marked difference in vendor performance
Keywords :
automatic test equipment; computer testing; errors; integrated circuit testing; ion beam effects; microprocessor chips; 486-DX4 microprocessor; SEE susceptibility; cyclotron facility; error modes; experimental radiation testing environment; fault-injection source; heavy ions; linear energy transfer rates; onchip cache susceptibility; single event effect susceptibility; single event upset characteristics; upset cross-sections; Aerospace electronics; Cyclotrons; Hardware; Logic testing; Microprocessors; NASA; Single event upset; Sockets; Space stations; System testing;
Conference_Titel :
Radiation Effects Data Workshop, 1997 IEEE
Conference_Location :
Snowmass Village, CO
Print_ISBN :
0-7803-4061-2
DOI :
10.1109/REDW.1997.629797
