Neutron Beam Testing Methodology and Results for a Complex Programmable Multiprocessor SoC

• Main Author: Anderson, Jordan Daniel
• Format: Others
• Published: BYU ScholarsArchive 2019
• Subjects: MPSoC; ZU9EG; ZCU102; FPGA; Scrubbing; Neutron Cross Section; PCAP; SEM IP; SEU; CRAM; Engineering
• Online Access: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/etd/7196; https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=8196&context=etd

The Xilinx Multiprocessor System-on-Chip (MPSoC) is a complex device that uses 16nm FinFET technology to combine multiple processors, a large amount of FPGA resources, and many I/O interfaces on a single chip die. These features make the MPSoC a high-performance and architecturally flexible device. The potential computing power makes the MPSoC ideal for many embedded applications including terrestrial and space applications.The MPSoC, however, does not have extensive radiation history as many other devices have. The extent of the effect that ionized particles may have on the MPSoC is not well established. To solve this problem, neutron radiation testing can be used to determine the device's susceptibility to single-event upsets (SEUs). . Though this thesis is not intended to qualify the MPSoC for space, this work does provide useful neutron radiation test data that helps to characterize the susceptible nature of the device. This thesis summarizes the SEU results obtained from neutron testing on the UltraScale+ MPSoC ZU9EG device. A series of three neutron beam tests were performed on the MPSoC ZU9EG at Los Alamos National Laboratories (LANL). Testing was performed using a novel testing methodology to collect SEU counts on the programmable logic and the processing system simultaneously. These results show a $10.1 timess improvement of the programmable logic CRAM over the previous Xilinx UltraScale device series.