Single-Event Multiple Effect Tolerant RHBD14T SRAM Cell Design for Space Applications

Static Random Access Memory (SRAM) is primarily used as a memory storage element, which is susceptible to radiation-induced Single Event Upsets (SEUs). Hence, a robust SRAM bit-cell design is primarily a difficult task to address the space radiation environment. Furthermore, as the transistor's size moves into nanometer regimes, a new challenge like Single Event Multiple Effects (SEME's) evolved in SRAMs. SEME's make the design of SRAM a serious challenge. In this article, a novel Radiation Hardened By Design (RHBD) SRAM bit-cell is proposed based on the polarity upset mechanism of SEUs. This work shows that the proposed RHBD14T SRAM bit-cell is SEU immune and delivers higher SEME critical charge than state-of-the-art RHBD SRAM bit-cells. The Monte Carlo (MC) simulations further show that the proposed RHBD14T SRAM delivers the lower Probability of Failure when compared to reported RHBD SRAM cells. Consequently, the proposed bit cell's sensitive area is 128% lower with respect to the recently reported state-of-the-art RHBD RSP14T SRAM bit-cells.

Automated summary

SRAM is used as a memory storage element susceptible to radiation-induced SEUs, making robust SRAM bit-cell design a difficult task. As transistor sizes move into nanometer regimes, a new challenge of SEMEs has emerged in SRAM design. The proposed RHBD14T SRAM bit-cell is immune to SEUs and delivers higher SEME critical charge compared to state-of-the-art RHBD SRAM bit-cells.