Radiation Effects on Proton Particles in Bipolar Memory Devices

Abstract

In recent years, a new type of problem has occurred in radiation-borne electronic systems, known as Single Event Upsets (SEU). Radiation hardened electronic components are to be used for nuclear power plants, defence equipments, satellites, etc due to various kinds of radiation particles in the space. Here, the main focus is to measure the phenomena of SEU by building our own microcontroller test board for the effects of protons on the electronic devices under different radiation levels. The SEU results from the level change of stored information due to photon radiation and temperature fluctuations in the space environment which are prevalent in the geosynchronous, cosmic rays, high energy explosion which are common during wartime. The impacts of SEU in all defense electronic systems which make use of bipolar memory (ROM/RAM/EEPROM/SRAM) devices are studied. In this paper, the radiation hardening test was carried out at three different levels (beam current and energy) and the measurements of SEU carried out are listed. The possible reasons for SEU are addressed. A simple effective and powerful test technique to measure the phenomenon of SEU is suggested, and the results are presented for the analysis and future reference.