Reliability

To evaluate susceptibility to soft errors caused by cosmic-ray neutrons, which method measures quickly by applying neutrons far more intense than in the real environment?

  1. AAccelerated testing by irradiating with a neutron beam from an accelerator or similar
  2. BPutting the chip in a freezer
  3. CShining strong light on the chip
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Answer: A. Accelerated testing by irradiating with a neutron beam from an accelerator or similar

Terrestrial neutron flux is low, so observing enough soft errors in the real environment would take a long time. Instead, an intense neutron beam at an accelerator facility is applied, and the soft error rate (FIT) in the real environment is estimated from the number of errors that occur in a short time.

  • A. Correct. Accelerated testing irradiates with an intense neutron beam.
  • B. Cooling cannot evaluate neutron-induced errors.
  • C. Light cannot reproduce neutron-induced phenomena.
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More Reliability questions

  1. When extrapolating TDDB test results to operating voltage, there is the E model, which expresses lifetime as an exponential of field, and the 1/E model, which uses the reciprocal of field. Which statement about their difference is correct?
  2. Which correctly lists the three periods that make up the bathtub curve, showing how failure rate changes over time?
  3. Which correctly describes electromigration?
  4. Which correctly describes MTBF (mean time between failures)?
  5. In accelerated tests that raise temperature to shorten life test time, which model is often used to express the relationship between temperature and lifetime?