Topical day on radiation effects on instrumentation: from components to systems

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Scope

This topical day intends to give an overview of the aspects of the response of instrumentation in different radiation environments like space, facilities such as the Large Hadron Collider and future nuclear fission or fusion facilities such as MYRRHA or ITER. It is postulated that given the correct interpretation, tests performed with one radiation environment in mind may also provide useful data for other environments.

The effect of irradiating electronic or optical components and the consequent degradation in performance of the device made from such components can follow a number of courses. The final result will depend upon the type of radiation, the rate of energy deposition, the type of material, its particular contribution to the device function and the physical principles upon which the function of the device is based.

Many efforts have been provided to manufacture devices that can operate as intended in these harsh radiation environment. This has required the development of process techniques to fabricate radiation-hardened devices, the development of circuit design techniques to compensate the degrading effects of radiation in semiconductor components and the development of reliable hardness assurance test procedures.

To qualify a device for use, one must rely on laboratory measurements. These laboratory measurements must be correlated to a radiation environment in which the radiation exposure may take place over a period of many years. To make these correlations, it is necessary to have a thorough understanding of the mechanisms that govern the radiation response of the devices to be used. However, new aspects of traditional degradation mechanisms have kept appearing during the years, due to device scaling and introduction of innovative materials and device concepts. New results and phenomena continuously emerge, keeping the radiation effects community busy in studies for deeper understanding which drive the development of new, better, faster and more intelligent circuits and systems for these harsh conditions.