Soft-error-rate improvement in advanced BiCMOS SRAMs

An improvement in soft-error-rate (SER) achieved by implementing a triple-well structure in a BiCMOS process is discussed. For 4-Mb SRAMs fabricated in a BiCMOS process, an optimized triple-well process improves the accelerated SER (ASER) by over two orders of magnitude without compromising device performance. Diode charge collection and ASER measurements show excellent correlation across several BiCMOS and CMOS processes.<<ETX>>

[1]  H. Kawamoto,et al.  A Soft Error Rate Model for MOS Dynamic RAM's , 1982, IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits.

[2]  D.S. Yaney,et al.  Alpha-particle tracks in silicon and their effect on dynamic MOS RAM reliability , 1979, IEEE Transactions on Electron Devices.

[3]  S. Kayano,et al.  Improvement of soft-error rate in MOS SRAMs , 1989 .

[4]  S. Voldman,et al.  CMOS SRAM alpha particle modelling and experimental results , 1987, 1987 International Electron Devices Meeting.

[5]  W.H. Krautschneider,et al.  Prediction of Soft Error Rate of 4 Mbit DRAM , 1987, ESSDERC '87: 17th European Solid State Device Research Conference.

[6]  S. Kirkpatrick Modeling diffusion and collection of charge from ionizing radiation in silicon devices , 1979, IEEE Transactions on Electron Devices.

[7]  R. H. Dennard,et al.  Alpha-particle-induced soft error rate in VLSI circuits , 1982 .

[8]  B. R. Wilkins,et al.  Influences on soft error rates in static RAMs , 1987 .

[9]  G. A. Sai-Halasz,et al.  Stability and SER analysis of static RAM cells , 1985 .

[10]  H. Momose,et al.  A P-type buried layer for protection against soft errors in high density CMOS static RAMs , 1984, 1984 International Electron Devices Meeting.

[11]  A.M. Mohsen,et al.  Alpha-particle-induced charge collection measurements and the effectiveness of a novel p-well protection barrier on VLSI memories , 1985, IEEE Transactions on Electron Devices.

[12]  S.E. Schuster,et al.  Stability and SER analysis of static RAM cells , 1985, IEEE Transactions on Electron Devices.

[13]  Asanga H. Perera,et al.  A high performance 0.5 mu m BiCMOS triple polysilicon technology for 4 Mb fast SRAMs , 1990, International Technical Digest on Electron Devices.

[14]  S. Konaka,et al.  New well structure for deep sub-&mu;m CMOS/BiCMOS using thin epitaxy over buried layer and trench isolation , 1990, Digest of Technical Papers.1990 Symposium on VLSI Technology.

[15]  T. May,et al.  Alpha-particle-induced soft errors in dynamic memories , 1979, IEEE Transactions on Electron Devices.