Single Event Effects in Muller C-Elements and Asynchronous Circuits Over a Wide Energy Spectrum

The C-element is the critical component of asynchronous circuits' control paths. This paper presents a complete analysis of the effect of radiation particle hits on a Van-Berkel C-element in 90nm bulk technology. The alpha particles, neutrons and heavy ions results show significant intrinsic sensitivity to Single Event Transients and Single Event Upsets. Furthermore, we propose a static and dynamic state-aware analysis of individual gates and more complex asynchronous elements. The ethodology allows evaluating the vulnerability intervals of the asynchronous circuit for a given application and implementation, highlighting rendezvous phases where the C-element is susceptible to SEUs, disrupting circuit behavior and requiring a null wave to recover. The results of the analysis can be exploited to predict and improve circuit reliability performance.