About physical mechanisms inducing proton Single Event Upset in integrated memory devices

Abstract

The sensitivity of memory devices under proton irradiation has been extensively studied over the years. Two main mechanisms has been identified to drive the SEU sensitivity in last generation of devices: direct ionization for low proton energies and inelastic nuclear reactions for higher proton energies. This paper demonstrates that in some cases, the Coulomb elastic interaction can no longer be neglected and becomes dominant in a certain range of energy. It is also demonstrated that the relative contribution of this mechanism is dependent on the structure environment (overlayers).