Research Projects

As transistors grow into the nanometer regime, microelectronic circuits, such as CMOs memory devices, become sensitive to ionizing particle strikes. These CMOs memories experience single-Event Effects (sEE) in a radioactive environment, which can be classified into soft Errors (sEU), Hard Errors (sEGR, sEB, and sEL), and sEUs. sEUs can alter the values stored in memory elements and significantly reduce the reliability of Integrated Circuits (ICs). Neutron flow is the primary cause of sEUs in terrestrial environments. Neutrons can generate electron-hole pairs in semiconductors through nuclear interactions, causing ion recoils, which can alter stored values. Researchers have proposed solutions to mitigate the impact of ionizing particle strikes on CMOs memories. An approach suggests employing sRAM as a sensing component in a dosimeter system to gauge the quantity of charge generated by neutron/proton exposure in an ionizing atmosphere with high Linear Energy Transfer (LET). The dosimeter system will involve designing the sRAM array system, PCB design, fabricating, and evaluating its performance. The dosimeter will be low-cost, operate in real-time, compact, energy-efficient, and easy to manufacture. The objective of the proposed dosimeter is to calibrate and characterize beams of neutrons and protons, assisting in measurements of the shielding effect.