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Since computers rely on the distribution of electrons in microchips to represent binary code, cosmic rays and ionizing radiation from radioactive elements can introduce software errors by detaching electrons from atoms.
Findings
Additional insights we found via Veritasium
In binary code, 0s and 1s represent the presence or absence of negatively charged electrons in the wells of semiconductors—materials underlying microchips.
Alpha particles—a positively charged type of ionizing radiation composed of two protons and two electrons—can free up a large number of electrons in microchips, which can then fill previously empty wells, turning a 1 into a 0.
In the 1970s, Intel realized that ceramic packaging for its microchips had been contaminated with radioactive materials from an old uranium mill upstream of its manufacturing plant, resulting in these single-upset code errors.
This phenomenon poses a challenge for space-based data centers, which would be exposed to ionizing radiation from cosmic rays—energetic particles traveling near the speed of light.
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