Soft error reliability in advanced CMOS technologies-trends and challenges

With the decrease of the device size, soft error induced by various particles becomes a serious problem for advanced CMOS technologies. In this paper, we review the evolution of two main aspects of soft error-SEU and SET, including the new mechanisms to induced SEUs, the advances of the MCUs and some newly observed phenomena of the SETs. The mechanisms and the trends with downscaling of these issues are briefly discussed. We also review the hardening strategies for different types of soft errors from different perspective and present the challenges in testing, modeling and hardening assurance of soft error issues we have to address in the future.