Developing a Universal Mirror–mirror Laser Mapping System for Single Event Effect Research

Abstract

Research on single event effects (SEEs) is significant to the design and manufacture of modern electronic devices. By applying two photon absorption (TPA) ultra-fast pulsed lasers, extra electron-hole pairs (EHPs) are generated in a desired location on a chip, simulating the process that could occur in the circuit by energetic particles. In this study, a SEE sensitivity mapping system is described which uses this method to generate real-time sensitivity maps for various electronic devices. The system hardware includes an attenuator to control the energy, a Pockels cell as a fast-optical switcher and a mirror–mirror module to project the laser beam into a certain location. The system software developed for this application controls the laser system, automatically generates sensitivity maps, communicates with the testing devices and logs the SEE results. The two main features of this laser mapping system are: high scanning velocity for large area scanning (about 1 × 1 mm) and high spatial resolution for small area scanning (about 1 × 1 μm). To verify this mapping system, sensitivity maps were generated for static random access memory (SRAM) built with 65 nm technology and for commercial operational amplifiers (op-amps). The achieved sensitivity maps were compared with circuitry analysis and laser testing results, confirming this mapping system to be effective.