Proton-Induced Single-Event Degradation in SDRAMs

Retention time and cell functionality degradation under proton irradiation is studied for SDRAM references that exhibit in-flight faulty behavior on satellites. Proton irradiation, with an adapted test protocol, allows to reproduce these effects and to gain a valuable insight on this phenomenon. Data acquired allow for a physical interpretation of the degradation, which results of one or more damage clusters created by a single particle.