The real-time (or life testing) soft-error rate (SER) measurement is an experimental reliability technique to determine the soft error sensitivity of a given component, circuit or system from the monitoring of a population of devices subjected to natural radiation and operating under nominal conditions. This review gives a survey over recent real-time SER experiments, conducted in altitude and/or underground, and investigating modern CMOS logic technologies, down to the 40 nm technological node. The review also includes our different contributions conducted during the last decade on the ASTEP Platform (Altitude Single Event Effects Test European Platform) and at the LSM facility (Underground Laboratory of Modane) to characterize soft error mechanisms in advanced static (SRAM) memories. Finally, the review discusses the specific advantages and limitations of this approach as well as its comparison with accelerated tests using intense particle beams or sources. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.