ION-INDUCED CHARGE COLLECTION AND SEU SENSITIVITY OF EMITTER COUPLED LOGIC (ECL) DEVICES

This paper presents single event upset (SEU) and latchup test results for selected Emitter Coupled Logic (ECL) microcircuits, including seve ral types of low capacity SRAMs and other memory devices. The high spe ed of ECL memory devices makes them attractive for use in space applic ations. However, the emitter coupled transistor design increases susce ptibility to radiation induced functional errors, especially SEU, beca use the transistors are not saturated, unlike the transistors in a CMO S device. Charge collection at the sensitive nodes in ECL memory eleme nts differs accordingly. These differences are responsible, in part, f or the heightened SEU vulnerability of ECL memory devices relative to their CMOS counterparts.