Microelectronic components and systems are present in every-day life applications such as computing, transport and communication. The rapid advancement of the related technologies, aiming at faster, smaller and lower power products, is often linked to an enhanced sensitivity to radiation effect. So far mainly limited to space applications, such effects are an increasing concern for ground-level applications.
RADSAGA (“RADiation and Reliability Challenges for Electronics used in Space, Aviation, on the Ground and at Accelerators”) addresses the challenge of ensuring a reliable operation of electronic systems in a broad range of environments and applications. The main objective of the project is to invest in the training of Early-Stage Researchers who will collaborate with the main experts in the field in Europe to improve design and qualification methodologies that will, in a cost and time efficient manner, help institutes and companies deliver reliable products.
Therefore, RADSAGA aims, through its rich network of academic, research and industrial partners, to tackle the emerging needs of extending the understanding of radiation effects to electronics, nowadays developed mainly for critical usage in space, to the broader range and complexity of effects and applications. In order to do so, the first part of the project focuses on investigating the radiation fields both in operational and experimental scenarios and establishing a coherent link between them.
The second part of the project is devoted to the challenges of radiation effects at a component level, both in the case of commercially available products, as well as customized radiation-tolerant developments. For the latter case, the individual ESR projects focused on design will profit from the progress in the projects developing computing tools to optimize the response of the components to radiation.
Moreover, in its third part, RADSAGA addresses the challenges related to radiation effects from a system point of view. Though not included in the standard procedures, tests are in practice performed at system level in order to reduce the cost and time associated to the qualification. However, there are significant difficulties related to investigating the representativeness of the experimental environment and conditions, and establishing the link between observations at system and component level behaviour. The problem is approached from a combined top/down and bottom/up methodology, and will profit from the availability of the CHARM facility at CERN.
RADSAGA will harmonize the technical and scientific results and integrate them in the project’s key outcome: a handbook of radiation effects testing which will serve the institutes and industry as guidelines to efficiently design and qualify electronic components and systems for high-reliability applications.
