Analysis of Single-Event Upsets in Phase-Locked Loops

Abstract

Exploration of space provides us with usefulinformation about the universe. Understanding the number ofissues and solving them lead to progress in this field. The sun ismajor source of radiation, thus the radiation experienced by thespace-craft in the outer space is one of the issue. The electroniccircuitry on-board the space-crafts are exposed to theseradiations and may result in reduction of the lifetime of thespace-crafts and even cause failure. Thus for successful and safeexploration of space it is necessary to analyze and understand the effects of radiation on any electronics circuitry. One of the main integral parts of many electronic systems is a phase-lockedloop(PLL) which is widely used in commercial and spacedeployedelectronic system to reduce phase delay associated withdistribution of clock signal. Single event upsets (SEUs) have been a growing concern in modern integrated circuits (ICs) whereincreased susceptibilities to SEUs have been reported as devicefeature sizes decrease and operating frequencies increase [1].Thus analyzing the effects of single event transients (SET) in PLLis important for all these applications. This paper summarizeseffects of radiation on different blocks in PL