Title :
Alpha particle immune ECL latches
Author :
McCall, David ; Kroesen, Patricia ; Jones, Frederick, Jr. ; Phoenix, Timothy ; Hackenberg, John
Author_Institution :
Digital Equipment Corp., Marlborough, MA, USA
Abstract :
As lithography has scaled down to 1 μm and lower, ECL (emitter coupled logic) latches which had been immune to alpha particles in previous technologies have become susceptible. Experimental and theoretical work has developed techniques to restore immunity without sacrificing performance or complexity. The authors first give background theory on this topic and compare simulations to actual results from accelerated soft error rate testing. They then describe an alpha sensitivity test chip and show experimental results. Operation of the shared current source (SCS) design is discussed, and tradeoffs between alpha immunity and performance are described. The SCS circuit technique achieves alpha immunity by reducing the current through the feedback emitter followers attached to the susceptible collector nodes
Keywords :
alpha-particle effects; bipolar integrated circuits; emitter-coupled logic; errors; integrated circuit testing; integrated logic circuits; logic design; logic testing; radiation hardening (electronics); ECL latches; accelerated soft error rate testing; alpha immunity; alpha sensitivity test chip; emitter coupled logic; feedback emitter followers; shared current source; Alpha particles; Background noise; Circuit testing; Equations; Feedback; Latches; Life estimation; Lithography; Logic devices; Voltage;
Conference_Titel :
Bipolar Circuits and Technology Meeting, 1991., Proceedings of the 1991
Conference_Location :
Minneapolis, MN
Print_ISBN :
0-7803-0103-X
DOI :
10.1109/BIPOL.1991.160969
