Ionizing Radiation Effects in Electronics

140 Ionizing Radiation Effects in Electronics

occurrence at any time, but nite duration. Thus, the longer the clock period, the less

likelihood that a SET is captured by a linear rate. Consequently, for SET-sensitive

devices, the failure rate is reduced with a longer clock period.

There are a couple of reasons why frequency dependence is not often studied

when examining the SEE sensitivity of a microprocessor. The rst is that at low

frequency the probability is already at about 20%–30% of maximum so it cannot

increase much before saturating. Additionally, frequency-dependent upsets are

mixed with those that are not frequency-dependent and possib ...