Study of the STT-MRAM Single-Event Effect in Pulsed Laser Irradiation Experiments

Spin-Transfer Torque Magnetic-resistive Random Access Memory (STT-MRAM) is regarded as a promising random memory device because of its non-volatility, data stability and fast addressability. However, the STT-MRAM device is susceptible to single-event effect (SEE) due to collisions with high-energy particles in the space radiation environment. In particular, the SEE of single event upset (SEU) and single event latch-up (SEL) have the ability to cause read and write data errors, functional anomalies and burn-in of the STT-MRAM device. Therefore, it is extremely valuable to study the experimental laws of SEU and SEL of the STT-MRAM device. It will provide a major contribution to further research into the radiation mechanisms and hardness assurance designs. This paper verifies that SEU and SEL can occur in the STT-MRAM device through pulsed laser simulated space radiation environment experiments. According to the experimental results, the threshold for the device to undergo SEU is 450 pJ. And the number of error bits increases with laser energy. When the laser energy is 900 pJ, the error bits have reached saturation. In addition, the device has a SEL threshold of 3.0 nJ. Its latch-up current is 72.0 mA, which is 40 times the normal operating current of the device. Finally, it is evident from the microscopic microscope images that the sensitive region of the device where SEL occurs is the peripheral CMOS circuitry.