Periodic Reporting for period 2 - RADSAGA (RADiation and reliability challenges for electronics used in Space, Avionics, on the Ground and at Accelerators)
Período documentado: 2019-03-01 hasta 2022-02-28
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.
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.
The RADSAGA Innovative Training Network started in March 2017 and finished 5 years later, having achieved both its ESR training and personal development goals as well as its technical and scientific objectives related to an enhanced understanding of radiation effects on emerging complex components and systems for a broad variety of radiation environments and applications.
The RADSAGA training program has been organised in the form of network-wide events as well as of individual training sessions to develop specific skills. A wide range of topics have been covered in two main axes: personal skill consolidation and improvement and specific technical knowledge development on key topics for RADSAGA. After the initial RADSAGA training (October 2017) and workshop (March 2018), the Jyvaskyla and Saint Etienne Summer Schools in Summer 2018 provided a deeper insight into the basic mechanisms involved in radiation effects to electronics, their evolution with technology scaling, and the specificities of radiation effects in photonics and optoelectronics. The ESRs management and complementary skills have strongly been powered during the Specialized Training Event and Workshop (KU Leuven in February 2020), where the ESRs have been accompanied by experts from the Flanders Business School to develop an entrepreneurial project on the technologies developed in RADSAGA. The RADSAGA advancement was summarized in the Final Conference, held in May 2021 as an online event, and attracting a high level of interest from the radiation effects community as a whole.
The ESRs managed to successfully complete an impressive amount of studies, concept designs and system testing with their work already led to scientific publications and contributions in international conferences.
The RADSAGA scientific program is divided into four main Work Packages (WP). The main technical and scientific achievements in the scope of WP1 are related to the development of a robust, low-cost radiation detector that will provide a standardized and user-friendly means of measuring the radiation environment in a broad range of experimental facilities, as well as to the thorough study of the radiation effects in commercial DRAM memories candidates for space missions, and a comprehensive summary of the irradiation facilities available across Europe. In WP2, critical progress has been accomplished in the design of radiation-hard components and the identification of strategic industrial partners for their implementation. Moreover, a computational approach has been proposed to simulate the sensitivity to soft errors and Single Event Latchup in highly integrated technologies. In the scope of WP3 and WP4, significant advancement has been made in the definition of system tests based on devices to be qualified also at component level. A subset of these systems was already tested in the CHARM facility in July 2018, and the results have contributed to the development of a set of guidelines aimed at optimizing and standardizing such type of qualification, and which was reviewed, with a very positive outcome, by radiation effects experts, in a meeting held in November 2019.
The RADSAGA training program has been organised in the form of network-wide events as well as of individual training sessions to develop specific skills. A wide range of topics have been covered in two main axes: personal skill consolidation and improvement and specific technical knowledge development on key topics for RADSAGA. After the initial RADSAGA training (October 2017) and workshop (March 2018), the Jyvaskyla and Saint Etienne Summer Schools in Summer 2018 provided a deeper insight into the basic mechanisms involved in radiation effects to electronics, their evolution with technology scaling, and the specificities of radiation effects in photonics and optoelectronics. The ESRs management and complementary skills have strongly been powered during the Specialized Training Event and Workshop (KU Leuven in February 2020), where the ESRs have been accompanied by experts from the Flanders Business School to develop an entrepreneurial project on the technologies developed in RADSAGA. The RADSAGA advancement was summarized in the Final Conference, held in May 2021 as an online event, and attracting a high level of interest from the radiation effects community as a whole.
The ESRs managed to successfully complete an impressive amount of studies, concept designs and system testing with their work already led to scientific publications and contributions in international conferences.
The RADSAGA scientific program is divided into four main Work Packages (WP). The main technical and scientific achievements in the scope of WP1 are related to the development of a robust, low-cost radiation detector that will provide a standardized and user-friendly means of measuring the radiation environment in a broad range of experimental facilities, as well as to the thorough study of the radiation effects in commercial DRAM memories candidates for space missions, and a comprehensive summary of the irradiation facilities available across Europe. In WP2, critical progress has been accomplished in the design of radiation-hard components and the identification of strategic industrial partners for their implementation. Moreover, a computational approach has been proposed to simulate the sensitivity to soft errors and Single Event Latchup in highly integrated technologies. In the scope of WP3 and WP4, significant advancement has been made in the definition of system tests based on devices to be qualified also at component level. A subset of these systems was already tested in the CHARM facility in July 2018, and the results have contributed to the development of a set of guidelines aimed at optimizing and standardizing such type of qualification, and which was reviewed, with a very positive outcome, by radiation effects experts, in a meeting held in November 2019.
The RADSAGA ITN has had a crucial impact on the training and individual experience of the ESRs.
Most of the ESRs have familiarised with new cultures (in their home institute, during the training and during the secondment periods) and have already benefited from an intensive scientific and academic experience. As a key outcome, RADSAGA has formed 15 highly prepared professionals fully capable of developing their activities in research and/or industry in the interdisciplinary fields of radiation effects to electronics and electronics reliability.
Moreover, the outcome of the RADSAGA project, in the form of a methodology to improve and harmonize the design and qualification of electronic components and systems for a broad range of environments and applications, has materialized in a set of guidelines for agencies, institutes and industry; and which have already stated to have as an impact an enhancement of the equipment reliability in addition to a reduction in the qualification costs. The system level tests carried out in the scope of RADSAGA at the CHARM facility during the 2018 operation have provided essential input to the development of such guidelines.
RADSAGA has also been very active in terms for outreach and dissemination. The ESRs and some supervisors participated in a broad variety of events to promote the RADSAGA activities explained in the previous paragraphs.
Most of the ESRs have familiarised with new cultures (in their home institute, during the training and during the secondment periods) and have already benefited from an intensive scientific and academic experience. As a key outcome, RADSAGA has formed 15 highly prepared professionals fully capable of developing their activities in research and/or industry in the interdisciplinary fields of radiation effects to electronics and electronics reliability.
Moreover, the outcome of the RADSAGA project, in the form of a methodology to improve and harmonize the design and qualification of electronic components and systems for a broad range of environments and applications, has materialized in a set of guidelines for agencies, institutes and industry; and which have already stated to have as an impact an enhancement of the equipment reliability in addition to a reduction in the qualification costs. The system level tests carried out in the scope of RADSAGA at the CHARM facility during the 2018 operation have provided essential input to the development of such guidelines.
RADSAGA has also been very active in terms for outreach and dissemination. The ESRs and some supervisors participated in a broad variety of events to promote the RADSAGA activities explained in the previous paragraphs.