Radiation Induced Soft Fails in Space Electronics

Advanced microelectronic circuits are sensitive to the passage of single ionizing particles. These circuits store information so that the deposition of a small charge (picocoulomb range) can charge a storage node, resulting in a bit error. This effect presents a problem to computer memories on earth because alpha particles are emitted from microelectronic packages and materials. The problem is much more severe in space due to primary cosmic rays and to nuclear reactions in the device produced by protons from the earth´s radiation belts. A number of satellite systems have been severely affected by single event soft-fails.