Electromagnetic susceptibility investigation of microcontroller by pulsed current injection

The high-power electromagnetic (HPEM) environments pose dangerous threats to the electronic systems, especially the civilian infrastructures. So the system-level electromagnetic (EM) effects have abstracted more and more attentions. As an example, the susceptibility of the microcontroller system is investigated by the pulsed current injection (PCI). The setup and procedure of the testing are presented. The fault phenomena of the devices are observed embedded in, but not separated from, the system. The results show that the EM susceptibility of system is determined by both the system function and the components. It is possible for one element to experience three fault modes, the static, soft and hard. Besides the amplitude, the failure thresholds can vary with the pulse widths of the injected currents, and as the random values distribute in a certain range. These data are helpful for the quantification of the system-level EM susceptibility. The issues of the tests necessary to be studied further are pointed out finally.