- Intel reported strange errors in their 16 kilobit dynamic random access memory (DRAM) in 1978, where ones would spontaneously flip to zeros with no apparent cause, and the problem was later found to be caused by the ceramic packaging of the chip 0s.
- The ceramic packaging contained radioactive atoms, including uranium and thorium, which had made their way into the packaging from the Green River in Colorado, where a new manufacturing plant was constructed downstream of an old uranium mill 10s.
- The alpha particles emitted by uranium and thorium were energetic and ionizing enough to create electron hole pairs in the silicon, causing electrons to accumulate in the well and flipping a one to a zero, resulting in a single event upset, a type of soft error 1m30s.
- Investigators found that the number of bit flips directly correlated with the number of alpha particles the chip had been exposed to, by exposing the chips to alpha emitters with different levels of activity 2m6s.
- The problem was identified in the 1970s because chip components had been miniaturized to the point where a single alpha particle could produce enough charge to flip a bit, and as a result, chip manufacturers became more careful to avoid radioactive materials when producing their microchips and packaging 2m40s.
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How Alpha Particles Can Break Computer Chips
Physics17 May 20261 min summaryFrom Veritasium
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