Nuclear Processes and Soft Fails in Microelectronics

Particle-induced single event effects (SEEs) are now recognized in the microelectronics and aerospace industries as one of the key factors which limit the reliability and performance in advanced technologies. In this survey we focus on an important class of SEEs, namely, single event upsets (SEUs), which are associated with soft fails in devices and circuits. We review our present understanding of the sources and physics of the SEU phenomena. At the fundamental level of particle interaction with semiconductor materials, certain nuclear processes - hadron-nucleus spallation reactions - are shown to play an important role in the SEU problems. We also discuss how nuclear modeling and certain experiments using proton, neutron and heavy ion beams provide critical inputs for SEU analysis.