Single event effects in the high-input voltage DC/DC converter for aerospace applications

Historically, spacecraft power system nominal bus voltages have been increasing over time to accommodate increasing bus load demands while reducing spacecraft mass, particularly in electrical harnesses. The use of higher nominal spacecraft bus voltages requires higher rated circuit protection devices as well as a thorough understanding of power system dynamics during fault clearing events. In this paper, we analyzed the operating principles of the high-input voltage DC/DC converters. The single-event transients and single-event function failures of the DC/DC converters are evaluated for aerospace applications by experiments. The result indicates that the power MOSFETs of the high voltage bus DC/DC converters need to pay special attention for the single-event effects.