There is, I think, something ethereal about i —the square root of minus one. I remember first hearing about it at school. It seemed an odd beast at that time—an intruder hovering on the edge of reality.

Usually familiarity dulls this sense of the bizarre, but in the case of i it was the reverse: over the years the sense of its surreal nature intensified. It seemed that it was impossible to write mathematics that described the real world in …

I and i

Physical mechanisms responsible for nondestructive single-event effects in digital microelectronics are reviewed, concentrating on silicon MOS devices and integrated circuits. A brief historical overview of single-event effects in space and terrestrial systems is given, and upset mechanisms in dynamic random access memories, static random access memories, and combinational logic are detailed. Techniques for mitigating single-event upset are described, as well as methods for predicting device and circuit single-event response using computer simulations. The impact of technology trends on single-event susceptibility and future areas of concern are explored.

Basic mechanisms and modeling of single-event upset in digital microelectronics

Context. CoRoT is a space telescope dedicated to stellar seismology and the search for extrasolar planets. The mission is led by the CNES in association with French laboratories and has a large international participation. The European Space Agency (ESA), Austria, Belgium, and Germany contribute to the payload, and Spain and Brazil contribute to the ground segment. Development of the spacecraft, which is based on a PROTEUS low earth orbit (LEO) recurrent platform, commenced in October 2000, and the satellite was launched on December 27, 2006. Aims. The instrument and platform characteristics prior to launch have been described in ESA publication (SP-1306). In the present paper we explain the behaviour in flight, based on raw and corrected data. Methods. Five runs have been completed since January 2007. The data used here are essentially those acquired during the commissioning phase and from a long run that lasted 146 days. These enable us to give a complete overview of the instrument and platform behaviour for all environmental conditions. The ground based data processing is not described in detail because the most important method has been published elsewhere. Results. We show that the performance specifications are easily satisfied when the environmental conditions are favourable. Most of the perturbations, hence data corrections, are related to LEO perturbations: high energy particles inside the South Atlantic Anomaly (SAA), eclipses and temperature variations, and line of sight fluctuations due to the attitude control system. Straylight due to the reflected light from the earth, which is controlled by the telescope and baffle design, appears to be negligible.

/pdf/the-corot-satellite-in-flight-description-and-performance-4vw6c97tz2.pdf

The CoRoT satellite in flight : description and performance

This paper provides a historical review of the literature on the effects of radiation-induced displacement damage in semiconductor materials and devices. Emphasis is placed on effects in technologically important bulk silicon and silicon devices. The primary goals are to provide a guide to displacement damage literature, to offer critical comments regarding that literature in an attempt to identify key findings, to describe how the understanding of displacement damage mechanisms and effects has evolved, and to note current trends. Selected tutorial elements are included as an aid to presenting the review information more clearly and to provide a frame of reference for the terminology used. The primary approach employed is to present information qualitatively while leaving quantitative details to the cited references. A bibliography of key displacement-damage information sources is also provided.

Review of displacement damage effects in silicon devices

CREME96 is an update of the Cosmic Ray on Micro-Electronics code, a widely-used suite of programs for creating numerical models of the ionizing-radiation environment in near-Earth orbits and for evaluating radiation effects in spacecraft. CREME96, which is now available over the World-Wide Web (WWW) at http://crsp3.nrl.navy.mil/creme96/, has many significant features, including: (1) improved models of the galactic cosmic ray, anomalous cosmic ray, and solar energetic particle ("flare") components of the near-Earth environment; (2) improved geomagnetic transmission calculations; (3) improved nuclear transport routines; (4) improved single-event upset (SEU) calculation techniques, for both proton-induced and direct-ionization-induced SEUs; and (5) an easy-to-use graphical interface, with extensive on-line tutorial information. In this paper we document some of these improvements.

CREME96: A Revision of the Cosmic Ray Effects on Micro-Electronics Code

This work presents the three-dimensional simulation of heavy-ion induced charge collection in SiGe heterojunction bipolar transistors (HBTs) on silicon-on-insulator (SOI). Charge collection is found to be independent of the thickness of n+ buried layer, part of the SOI film, which directly relates to the collector resistance. The simulation results show that potential perturbation is confined within a thin region near the collector-base junction, due to the heavy doping of the n/sup +/ layer. Comparisons with bulk SiGe HBTs show that the charges collected by the collector and substrate are much smaller in SOI than in bulk HBTs, primarily because of the removal of the collector-substrate pn junction. The charges collected by the emitter and base, however, are nearly identical in SOI and bulk HBTs, because the heavily doped n+ buried layer decouples the potential perturbation and hence charge collection in the intrinsic emitter, base and collector from those in the collector-substrate junction. The load dependence of charge collection is also examined.

Three-dimensional Simulation of heavy-ion induced charge collection in SiGe HBTs on SOI

Proton induced luminescence in the HgCdTe detectors for the Wide Field Camera 3 instrument has been investigated. A radiation experiment has been conducted to localize the source of the luminescence. Conclusive evidence is shown that the luminescence originates in the CdZnTe substrate and propagates toward HgCdTe photodiodes as ~800 nm radiation. Luminescence is proportional to the proton energy deposited in the substrate. Subsequent testing of detectors with the substrate removed confirmed that substrate removal completely eliminates proton induced luminescence.

/pdf/radiation-induced-luminescence-of-the-cdznte-substrate-in-1gaeq2kgqt.pdf

Radiation induced luminescence of the CdZnTe substrate in HgCdTe detectors for WFC3

The in-flight data of SEUs in the devices of panels B and C of the MPTB experiments are presented. Ground test data for M65656 are used to calculate the SEU rates in this device using the calculated flux of ions along the orbit. The models used are CREME96, simple expressions derived here, and the figure of merit model. A very good agreement is found between these calculations and the observed rates.

Single event upsets in the dual-port-board SRAMs of the MPTB experiment

The motion of ionizing-radiation-induced rogue charge carriers in a semiconductor can create unwanted voltage and current conditions within a microelectronic circuit. If sufficient unwanted charge or current occurs on a sensitive node, a variety of single event effects (SEEs) can occur with consequences ranging from trivial to catastrophic. This paper describes the application of heavy ion microprobes to assist with calibration and validation of SEE modeling approaches.

Applications of heavy ion microprobe for single event effects analysis

We compare measurements and modeling of 27 and 63 MeV proton-induced transients in a large-format HgCdTe long wavelength infrared (LWIR) focal plane assembly operating at 40 K. Charge collection measurements describe very limited diffusion of carriers to multiple pixels showing significantly reduced particle induced cross-talk for the lateral diffusion structure.

/pdf/proton-induced-transients-and-charge-collection-measurements-43ahs73xtu.pdf

Paul W. Marshall

Papers

Three-dimensional Simulation of heavy-ion induced charge collection in SiGe HBTs on SOI

Radiation induced luminescence of the CdZnTe substrate in HgCdTe detectors for WFC3

Single event upsets in the dual-port-board SRAMs of the MPTB experiment

Applications of heavy ion microprobe for single event effects analysis

Proton-induced transients and charge collection measurements in a LWIR HgCdTe focal plane array