Effectiveness of NIEL as a Predictor of Single-Event Displacement Damage Effects in CMOS Circuits

• Published in: IEEE transactions on nuclear science Vol. 72; no. 4; pp. 1384 - 1394
• Main Authors: Trippe, James M., Sierawski, Brian D., Mayberry, Grant, Dattilo, Hannah M., Pantelides, Sokrates T., Fleetwood, Daniel M., Schrimpf, Ronald D., Massengill, Lloyd W., Reed, Robert A.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York IEEE 01.04.2025; The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE)
• Subjects: Computational modeling; Damage; Data models; Degradation; Displacement damage (DD); Effectiveness; Energy loss; Energy transfer; Figure of merit; hardness assurance; Integrated circuit modeling; Linear energy transfer (LET); microelectronics; Monte Carlo; Monte Carlo methods; Protons; radiation effects; Semiconductor device modeling; Silicon; Single Event Effects; single-event effects (SEEs); single-particle DD; Transistors
• ISSN: 0018-9499; 1558-1578; 1558-1578
• DOI: 10.1109/TNS.2024.3520493

Single-event displacement damage (SEDD) effects are a rising concern in modern technology nodes with small feature sizes. A model is developed using existing displacement damage (DD) data to calculate SEDD cross sections as a function of nonionizing energy deposition. This model is validated against existing data. Results of the model are used to demonstrate the effectiveness of nonionizing energy loss (NIEL) as a figure of merit (FOM) for predicting SEDD effects, analogous to the use of linear energy transfer (LET) for single-event effects (SEEs). Rate predictions of SEDD are performed for representative orbits. A method based on using NIEL as an FOM is found to reasonably and conservatively predict on-orbit SEDD rates predicted by direct calculation using the model. Implications for SEDD hardness assurance are discussed.