Mixed Circuit Device Simulation of Single Event Upset in a Memory Cell

Introduction

This article presents Single Event Upset (SEU) simulation of a SRAM cell using MixedMode3D. MixedMode3D provides the capability to simultaneously perform circuit simulation coupled with three-dimensional device simulation. This allows one to examine the internal operation of a three-dimensional numerically simulated device and predict the response of the attached circuit in a self consistent manner.

When an ionized particle interacts with a semiconductor, electron-hole pairs are generated along the path of the incident particle [1]. These generated electron-hole pairs can be transported through the semiconductor by drift and diffusion processes, which ultimately can affect transient device currents. Under certain biasing conditions the transient currents can alter the previously stored state of the circuit, causing an error in the data stored in the circuit. This phenomenon is generally referred to as Single Event Upset (SEU) [2].