Full temperature single event upset characterization of two microprocessor technologies

Data for the Fairchild 9450 I/sup 3/L bipolar microprocessor and the Harris 80C86 CMOS/epi (vintage 1985) microprocessor are presented, showing single-event soft errors for the full mil-spec temperature range of -55 degrees C to 125 degrees C. These data show for the first time that the soft-error cross sections continue to decrease with decreasing temperature at subzero temperatures. The temperature dependence of the two parts, however, is very different. >