Exploring soft error susceptibility in FET devices via Geant4 simulation

• Ano de defesa: 2024
• Autor(a) principal: Pereira, Elisa Garcia
• Tipo de documento: Dissertação
• Tipo de acesso: Acesso aberto
• Idioma: eng
• Instituição de defesa: Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul; Escola Politécnica; Brasil; PUCRS; Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ciência da Computação
• Palavras-chave em Português: Soft Errors; Cosmic Rays; MOSFET; FinFET; Geant4; Erros Soft; Raios Cósmicos; CIENCIA DA COMPUTACAO::TEORIA DA COMPUTACAO
• Link de acesso: https://tede2.pucrs.br/tede2/handle/tede/11660

In recent years, there have been significant advancements in electronic device technology. However, these devices are susceptible to Single-Event Effects (SEEs) due to the interaction of cosmic rays with sensitive regions, which can lead to processing errors. Therefore, it is necessary to conduct a study to correlate cosmic ray events with the potential for processing errors, particularly concerning interactions between the sensitive area of the device and specific particles. In this work, we present a simulation study using Geant4 to understand the interaction of cosmic rays with technology and their possible effects. Our simulations used incident particles such as protons, alpha particles, positive pions, negative pions, positive muons, and negative muons. These particles were incident with energies ranging from 0.5 MeV to 100 TeV and at various angles of incidence. The simulations showed that alpha particles generate the most electrons, which is particularly relevant near outer space, while protons, which constitute the majority of cosmic rays, have a significant impact not only in outer space on low earth orbit SEEs, although positive muons and pions have less effects, they are more prominent in lower levels, including ground level. Angular incidence is critical in SEE evaluation, with planar technologies demonstrating higher occurrences of electrons, and FinFETs showing potential for bit flip current generation despite fewer electrons.