Failure Analysis of Galaxy S7 Edge Smartphone Using Neutron Radiation

Abstract

In this article, we investigate neutron-induced failures of the Galaxy S7 Edge smartphone (released 2016). Anomalous changes in the neutron-irradiated Galaxy smartphone are described in detail (e.g., device current increments up to 270 mA or overheating in the proximity of the WiFi module). The discussion of system failures includes not only visual observations, but also changes in the current and device temperature of the target smartphone. The system behavior associated with failure modes is also discussed in an effort to relate single-event effects to system malfunctions. Additionally, the test results are compared to similar studies of five products (released 2007-2015). In comparison to the failure rates among those products, the system-level failure-in-time (FIT) did not show a downward trend, although the FIT per megabit (FIT/Mbit) values of static random access memory (SRAM) declined as the technology node shrank.