Effects of space radiation on electronic microcircuits

The single event effects or phenomena (SEP), which so far have been observed as events falling on one or another of the SE classes: Single Event Upset (SEU), Single Event Latchup (SEL) and Single Event Burnout (SEB), are examined. Single event upset is defined as a lasting, reversible change in the state of a multistable (usually bistable) electronic circuit such as a flip-flop or latch. In a computer memory, SEUs manifest themselves as unexplained bit flips. Since latchup is in general caused by a single event of short duration, the single event part of the SEL term is superfluous. Nevertheless, it is used customarily to differentiate latchup due to a single heavy charged particle striking a sensitive cell from more ordinary kinds of latchup. Single event burnout (SEB) refers usually to total instantaneous failure of a power FET when struck by a single particle, with the device shorting out the power supply. An unforeseen failure of these kinds can be catastrophic to a space mission, and the possibilities are discussed

Light flash phenomena induced by HzE particles

Astronauts and Apollo and Skylab missions have reported observing a variety of visual phenomena when their eyes are closed and adapted to darkness. These phenomena have been collectively labelled as light flashes. Visual phenomena which are similar in appearance to those observed in space have been demonstrated at the number of accelerator facilities by expressing the eyes of human subjects to beams of various types of radiation. In some laboratory experiments Cerenkov radiation was found to be the basis for the flashes observed while in other experiments Cerenkov radiation could apparently be ruled out. Experiments that differentiate between Cerenkov radiation and other possible mechanisms for inducing visual phenomena was then compared. The phenomena obtained in the presence and absence of Cerenkov radiation were designed and conducted. A new mechanism proposed to explain the visual phenomena observed by Skylab astronauts as they passed through the South Atlantic Anomaly, namely nuclear interactions in and near the sensitive layer of the retina, is covered. Also some studies to search for similar transient effects of space radiation on sensors and microcomputer memories are described

Terrestrial Cosmic Ray Induced Soft Errors and Large-Scale FPGA Systems in the Cloud

Radiation from outer space can cause soft errors in microelectronic devices deployed at terrestrial altitudes on Earth. Cosmic rays entering the Earth’s atmosphere create a complex cascade of radioactive particles. The most likely form of cosmic radiation to cause soft errors in microelectronics at terrestrial levels are neutrons. SRAM-based FPGAs are susceptible to terrestrial cosmic ray induced soft errors. These soft errors occur infrequently for a single device deployed at terrestrial altitudes. When many FPGAs are deployed in a large-scale system, the impact of these soft errors on reliability can be significant. This study examines terrestrial cosmic ray induced soft errors and the effects they can have on large-scale deployment of FPGAs in cloud computing. Fifteen data-center-like designs were tested for sensitivity through fault injecting. Sensitivities ranged from less than 1% to about 12% of randomly injected faults resulting in unacceptable behavior. A hypothetical but realistic large-scale FPGA system, with 100,000 node deployed at a high-altitude, running the most sensitive design would experience the dominant failure mode of silent data corruption every 3.8 hours on average. This system would only be able to retain reliability level above 0.99 for about two minutes. Some soft error detection and recover approaches are discussed

A Survey of Fault-Injection Methodologies for Soft Error Rate Modeling in Systems-on-Chips

The development of process technology has increased system performance, but the system failure probability has also significantly increased. It is important to consider the system reliability in addition to the cost, performance, and power consumption. In this paper, we describe the types of faults that occur in a system and where these faults originate. Then, fault-injection techniques, which are used to characterize the fault rate of a system-on-chip (SoC), are investigated to provide a guideline to SoC designers for the realization of resilient SoCs

Soft-Error Rate of Advanced SRAM Memories: Modeling and Monte Carlo Simulation

International audienc

Shortcomings in ground testing, environment simulations, and performance predictions for space applications

This paper addresses the issues involved in radiation testing of devices and subsystems to obtain the data that are required to predict the performance and survivability of satellite systems for extended missions in space. The problems associated with space environmental simulations, or the lack thereof, in experiments intended to produce information to describe the degradation and behavior of parts and systems are discussed. Several types of radiation effects in semiconductor components are presented, as for example: ionization dose effects, heavy ion and proton induced Single Event Upsets (SEUs), and Single Event Transient Upsets (SETUs). Examples and illustrations of data relating to these ground testing issues are provided. The primary objective of this presentation is to alert the reader to the shortcomings, pitfalls, variabilities, and uncertainties in acquiring information to logically design electronic subsystems for use in satellites or space stations with long mission lifetimes, and to point out the weaknesses and deficiencies in the methods and procedures by which that information is obtained

Radiation effects in high speed III-V integrated circuits

The article of record as published may be found at http://dx.doi.org/10.1142/S0129156403001612International Journal of High Speed Electronics and Systems, v. 13, p. 277 (2003).The types of applications affected by radiation effects in W-V devices have significantly changed over the last four decades. For most applications W-V ICs have provided sufficient radiation hardness. Some expectations for hardened soft error applications did not materialize until much later. Years of research defined that not only material properties. but device structures. layout practices and circuit design influenced how m-v devices were susceptible to certain radiation effects. The highest performance ill-V ICs due to their low power-speed energy products will provide challenges in ionizing radiation environments from sea level to space

TIROS-N Cosmic Ray study

An experimental and analytical study was performed on the impact of galactic cosmic rays on the TIROS-N satellite memory in orbit. Comparisons were made of systems equipped with the Harris HMI-6508 1 x 1024 CMOS/bulk RAM and the RCA CDP-1821 1 x 1024 bit CMOS/SOS RAM. Based upon the experimental results, estimated bit error rates were determined. These were at least 8.0 bit errors/day for a 300 kilobit memory with the HMI-6508 and .014 bit errors/day with the CDF-1821. It was also estimated that the HMI-6508 latchup rate in orbit is at least two orders of magnitude less than the bit error rates; the CDP-1821 will not latchup