Nuclear Reaction Models Responsible for Simulation of Neutron-induced Soft Errors in Microelectronics

Terrestrial neutron-induced soft errors in MOSFETs from a 65 nm down to a 25 nm design rule are analyzed by means of multi-scale Monte Carlo simulation using the PHITS-HyENEXSS code system. Nuclear reaction models implemented in PHITS code are validated by comparisons with experimental data. From the analysis of calculated soft error rates, it is clarified that secondary He and H ions provide a major impact on soft errors with decreasing critical charge. It is also found that the high energy component from 10 MeV up to several hundreds of MeV in secondary cosmic-ray neutrons has the most significant source of soft errors regardless of design rule.