Abstract Reliability of ferroelectric random access memories (FRAMs) is an important issue in Space application. In this work, we investigated the impact of total ionizing dose (TID) on single event effect (SEE) sensitivity of FRAMs. Five types of errors were detected. The event cross section detected in dynamic tests decreased after irradiation. Biased devices during TID irradiation had a greater decrease in event cross section than unbiased devices. TCAD simulations were performed to investigate the effects of heavy ions on memory cells of FRAMs. The collected charges at the drain of NMOS transistors induced by incident ions had a negative impact on polarized state of the ferroelectric capacitors.