Estimating the Dimensions of the SEU-Sensitive Volume

Simulations of the diffusion contribution to charge collection in SEU events are carried out under the simple assumption of random walk. The results of the simulation are combined with calculations of the funneling length for the field-assisted drift components to determine the effective thickness of the sensitive volume element to be used in calculations of soft-error rates for heavy-ion-induced and proton-induced upsets in microelectronic circuits. Comparison is made between predicted and measured SEU crosssections for devices for which the critical charges are known from electrical measurements and the dimensions of the sensitive volume used are determined by the techniques described. The agreement is sufficient to encourage confidence that SEU rates can be calculated from first principles and a knowledge of the material, structural, and electrical characteristics of the device.