Abstract— The “Altitude SEE Test European Platform” (ASTEP) is dedicated to real-time soft-error rate (SER) testing of semiconductor memories. The platform, located in the French Alps on the “Plateau de Bure” at 2552m, has been operational since March 2006. This test facility includes a proprietary automatic test equipment specially designed for static memory (SRAM) testing and secured remote control operation via internet. First real-life SER measurements on 3.6 Gbit of SRAMs manufactured in CMOS 130 nm technology are reported, as well as the comparison between real-life and accelerated SER. Project perspectives for CMOS 65nm SRAMs are finally reported.

Index Terms— Single-Event Effects (SEE), Single-Event Rate (SER), real-life testing, atmospheric neutrons, terrestrial radiation environment, static memory, accelerated tests, SER simulation, alpha-SER, neutron-SER.

Paper presented at RADECS 2006, the 2006 Radiation Effects on Components and Systems (RADECS) Workshop, Athens, Greece, Training and Conference Centre of the National Bank of Greece on September 27-29, 2006.

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