CAREER: An Integrated Approach to Soft Error Mitigation in CMOS Digital Systems

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One of today?s most challenging design issues is the threat of radiation-induced soft errors in CMOS digital systems. In nanometer technologies, the frequency of soft errors affects the markets of consumer electronics and networking, not just aerospace or military applications. This research aims to develop mitigation strategies that reduce the overall soft error rate while minimizing traditional cost metrics such as silicon area, power consumption, and performance degradation. Both technology scaling and system complexity have motivated designers to rely upon cell libraries and reusable cores in their design flow. This work investigates the fundamental fault generation and fault transport of radiation-induced soft errors within those building blocks. By identifying the fundamental characteristics of soft errors, design principles can be developed to improve the starting point for reliability of all types of integrated circuits, from avionics and space applications to enterprise servers, network routers, and control systems. This work includes simulation of irradiated individual circuits as well as experimentation to analyze the full hardware implementation of a microprocessor. The research leverages and integrates traditional domains such as computer architecture, VLSI design, fault tolerance, and radiation effects. Another critical component of this effort is the recruitment and retention of students in science and engineering from traditionally underrepresented groups. The PI has partnered with the Tennessee Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation program at Vanderbilt University to provide summer undergraduate research opportunities and professional development seminars to help students prepare for and succeed in graduate school.