Alpha radiation detection using silicon memory chips--preliminary studies

Alpha radiation dosage is an important occupational health factor in the mining of uranium and mineral sands. Alpha radiation induced errors in the data of silicon based memory chips provide the foundation for a new type of sensor, with the potential for affordable and prompt measurement of personal alpha doses. With particular reference to Dynamic Random Access Memories (DRAM) this paper introduces the operating principle of a memory based radiation sensor, which is the error mechanism in silicon integrated circuits.