Radiation considerations for electronic design --- books?

[Spehro Pefhany]

Hi, all:-

would appreciate recommendations for books on designing electronics to
live in relatively high radiation space environments (not quite
rad-hard). Particularly power MOS circuits and digital.

Thanks in advance..

Best regards,
Spehro Pefhany

 

[Martin Riddle]

Hi, all:-

would appreciate recommendations for books on designing electronics to
live in relatively high radiation space environments (not quite
rad-hard). Particularly power MOS circuits and digital.

Thanks in advance..

Best regards,
Spehro Pefhany
--
"it's the network..." "The Journey is the reward"
[email protected] Info for manufacturers:
http://www.trexon.com
Embedded software/hardware/analog Info for designers:
http://www.speff.com

Do a Google search on FPGA and radiation exposure, some interesting articles
there and approximate failure rates.

 

[Barry Lennox]

Hi, all:-

would appreciate recommendations for books on designing electronics to
live in relatively high radiation space environments (not quite
rad-hard). Particularly power MOS circuits and digital.

Thanks in advance..

Best regards,
Spehro Pefhany

Not aware of any books, but NatSemi has published a fair amount on
this. Go to: http://search.national.com/home/html/entry.html and do
an internal search of their app notes and other tech lit.

Barry Lennox

 

[Terry Given]

Hi, all:-

would appreciate recommendations for books on designing electronics to
live in relatively high radiation space environments (not quite
rad-hard). Particularly power MOS circuits and digital.

Thanks in advance..

Best regards,
Spehro Pefhany

my $0.02: from a buddy who did a lot of smps for space apps, radiation
can reduce Vth of power MOS, and even make it negative! So use lots of
negative bias (bipolar drive) to ensure they stay off.

Cheers
Terry

 

[[email protected]]

Hi, all:-

would appreciate recommendations for books on designing electronics to
live in relatively high radiation space environments (not quite
rad-hard). Particularly power MOS circuits and digital.

Thanks in advance..

Best regards,
Spehro Pefhany

Isn't MOS banned for space apps due to possible contamination? I know
cadmium is because it corrodes titanium.

 

[Harry Dellamano]

my $0.02: from a buddy who did a lot of smps for space apps, radiation can
reduce Vth of power MOS, and even make it negative! So use lots of
negative bias (bipolar drive) to ensure they stay off.

Cheers
Terry

Terry is speaking of NMOS devices. PMOS devices Vth is increased by
radiation, in a negative direction, turning the device off so bias is not
needed but higher drive levels are.
Cheers + HNY,
Harry

 

[Spehro Pefhany]

Do a Google search on FPGA and radiation exposure, some interesting articles
there and approximate failure rates.

Thanks. There's at least one manufacturer of FPGAs who we have
experience with and who has the information available.

Best regards,
Spehro Pefhany

 

[Spehro Pefhany]

Not aware of any books, but NatSemi has published a fair amount on
this. Go to: http://search.national.com/home/html/entry.html and do
an internal search of their app notes and other tech lit.

Barry Lennox

Will do so, thanks. .

Best regards,
Spehro Pefhany

 

[Spehro Pefhany]

my $0.02: from a buddy who did a lot of smps for space apps, radiation
can reduce Vth of power MOS, and even make it negative! So use lots of
negative bias (bipolar drive) to ensure they stay off.

Cheers
Terry

Good point. It appears that Vth can go in either direction (or first
down then up with increasing exposure), that breakdown voltage can be
negatively affected and that the drain leakage current increases. I
have not found anything yet that correlates the effects to the precise
construction of the power MOSFET.

Best regards,
Spehro Pefhany

 

[Spehro Pefhany]

Terry is speaking of NMOS devices. PMOS devices Vth is increased by
radiation, in a negative direction, turning the device off so bias is not
needed but higher drive levels are.
Cheers + HNY,
Harry

Hi, Harry:-

So I see. Do you know if there is any particular type of MOSFET that
is more or less sensitive to radiation damage? Can we get this info
from the manufacturers? I don't suppose it's a high priority for them
to provide it, considering the low quantities of parts that will end
up being used.

Best regards,
Spehro Pefhany

 

[Spehro Pefhany]

Isn't MOS banned for space apps due to possible contamination? I know
cadmium is because it corrodes titanium.

This stuff probably is banned for that reason:

http://www.idrc.ca/uploads/user-S/1144354177111443541054619_sea_moss_300.jpg

Best regards,
Spehro Pefhany

 

[Spehro Pefhany]

Not aware of any books,

P.S. There are a bunch of books that sound plausible on Amazon etc.,
just wondering if anyone found them useful. I know some of you have
done designs for space and LEO.

Best regards,
Spehro Pefhany

 

[Jim Thompson]

This stuff probably is banned for that reason:

http://www.idrc.ca/uploads/user-S/1144354177111443541054619_sea_moss_300.jpg

Best regards,
Spehro Pefhany

I put the first power MOS into space... hexfets in the Shuttle.

...Jim Thompson

 

[Harry Dellamano]

Hi, Harry:-

So I see. Do you know if there is any particular type of MOSFET that
is more or less sensitive to radiation damage? Can we get this info
from the manufacturers? I don't suppose it's a high priority for them
to provide it, considering the low quantities of parts that will end
up being used.

Best regards,
Spehro Pefhany
--

IRF has radiation harden power MOS but you pay X10 more than the same
"soft" device. Search their site for more info. A lot of data has been taken
by users of rad-hard devices but it is difficult to locate. I have not done
a rad-hard job in a while and tend to shy away from them. It like designing
back in 1980 because those devices could stand more radiation. Normally the
customer gives you a short list of IC's that he has characterized under
radiation that you can use, LM124, LM139 and the like. Voltage references
tend to be very susceptible.
Have fun,
Harry

 

[Spehro Pefhany]

I put the first power MOS into space... hexfets in the Shuttle.

...Jim Thompson

Thought so. I should have been picking your brain over your killer
saketinis (sp?) last Friday, but only heard about this project
yesterday evening. ;-)

Best regards,
Spehro Pefhany

 

[Jim Thompson]

Thought so. I should have been picking your brain over your killer
saketinis (sp?) last Friday, but only heard about this project
yesterday evening. ;-)

Best regards,
Spehro Pefhany

Using off-the-shelf CMOS is tricky. In custom stuff I simply build-in
current limiting to avoid destruction unless, of course, I have the
luxury of an SOS or SOI process.

Coming back up in a known/desired state is usually the trickiest part.

...Jim Thompson

 

[ChrisQuayle]

Hi, all:-

would appreciate recommendations for books on designing electronics to
live in relatively high radiation space environments (not quite
rad-hard). Particularly power MOS circuits and digital.

Thanks in advance..

Best regards,
Spehro Pefhany

You could try nasa's klabs.org. iirc they have some studies...

Chris

 

[Ancient_Hacker]

Hi, all:-

would appreciate recommendations for books on designing electronics to
live in relatively high radiation space environments (not quite
rad-hard). Particularly power MOS circuits and digital.

You have to watch out for specmanship with these statistics.

The average space environment isnt too bad, but there are occasional
"cosmic rays" with really high energies, some higher than can be
simulated on Earth. IIRC there was one cosmic ray measured at enough
energy to have moved a baseball!

So a stat of say 10% leakage degradation at 1000 Rads over 1000 hours
isnt terribly meaningful. That number doesnt tell you anything about
what happens when one 800MeV particle hits your 74HC04.

It's like saying nobody is affected by traffic accidents as the average
person gets hit by 0.00003 of a car per year.

You have to design in error-detection and correction circuitry if you
want the electronics to survive a serious cosmic ray.

 

[Peter Bennett]

Hi, all:-

would appreciate recommendations for books on designing electronics to
live in relatively high radiation space environments (not quite
rad-hard). Particularly power MOS circuits and digital.

Thanks in advance..

Best regards,
Spehro Pefhany

We have a facility here that may be of interest:
http://www.triumf.info/public/tech_transfer/services.php

I know that companies have come here to test semiconductors - don't
know if any info is publicly available, but you could contact the
person mentioned on that site for more info.

 

[Richard Henry]

I put the first power MOS into space... hexfets in the Shuttle.

Well, the first MOS anyone could talk about, maybe.