Irradiation Test Results on Cryogenics Electronic Cards using the Smartfusion2 FPGA

Abstract

In the context of implementing more control and data processing capabilities in new electronic cards at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), the Smartfusion2 Flash-based Reprogrammable Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) has been tested in the CHARM radiation facility at CERN. The CHARM facility was configured to offer a representative radiation environment of the CERN's Large Hardon Collider (LHC) accelerator. The FPGAs were tested during three irradiation campaigns. The observed radiation effects include Single Event Upsets (SEU), Single Event Transients (SET), Single Event Latch-ups (SEL), Single Event Functional Interrupts (SEFI) and failures due to Total Ionizing Radiation (TID). The use of this FPGA is linked to the implementation of appropriate Finite State Machine (FSM) encoding, Printed Circuit Board (PCB) design, and automated power cycling that are here discussed. The suitability of the FPGA in harsh environments and critical applications such as the cryogenics electronics infrastructure in the LHC tunnel is also discussed.