Direct Ionization Impact on Accelerator Mixed-Field Soft Error Rate

We investigate, through measurements and simulations, the possible direct ionization impact in the accelerator soft error rate, not considered in standard qualification approaches. Results show that, for a broad variety of state-of-the art commercial components considered in the 65 nm to 16 nm technological range, indirect ionization is still expected to dominate the overall soft-error rate in the accelerator mixed-field. However, the derived critical charges of the most sensitive parts, corresponding to ∼0.7 fC, are expected to be at the limit of rapid direct ionization dominance and soft-error increase. peerReviewed