The single-event-effect behaviour of commercial-off-the-shelf memory devices-A decade in low-Earth orbit

This paper presents the results of a 10-year study on radiation effects in commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) memory devices operating within the on-board data handling systems of five low-Earth orbiting micro-satellites, designed and built at the University of Surrey (UoS). The ionising particle environment inside three of these spacecraft has been investigated concurrently using radiation monitoring payloads developed by UoS and the Defence Evaluation and Research Agency (DERA). Through the use of these monitoring instruments, and an allied programme of ground-based testing of the memory devices, the industry-standard computer models of the radiation environment have been verified, and the memory device behaviour has characterised with respect to single-event (SEEs) due to galactic cosmic-rays, geomagnetically trapped particles, and solar particles.

[1]  J. I. Vette,et al.  Ap-8 trapped proton environment for solar maximum and solar minimum. [AP8MAX and AP8MIN] , 1976 .

[2]  James H. Adams,et al.  Cosmic Ray Effects on Microelectronics , 1982 .

[3]  W. J. Stapor,et al.  Two parameter Bendel model calculations for predicting proton induced upset (ICs) , 1990 .

[4]  R. Harboe-Sorensen,et al.  The behaviour of measured SEU at low altitude during periods of high solar activity (spacecraft memories) , 1990 .

[5]  K. P. Ray,et al.  A double-peaked inner radiation belt: cause and effect as seen on CRRES , 1991 .

[6]  J. W. Ward,et al.  Single Event Upset Error Protection for Solid State Data Memory on Microsatellites , 1991 .

[7]  E. L. Peterson.  The relationship of proton and heavy ion upset thresholds , 1992 .

[8]  L. Adams,et al.  A verified proton induced latch-up in space (CMOS SRAM) , 1992 .

[9]  Clive Dyer,et al.  Observations of single-event upsets in non-hardened high-density SRAMs in Sun-synchronous orbit , 1992 .

[10]  J. C. Pickel,et al.  Rate prediction for single event effects-a critique , 1992 .

[11]  M. S. Hodgart.  Efficient coding and error monitoring for spacecraft digital memory , 1992 .

[12]  Robert Ecoffet,et al.  Protons and heavy ions induced stuck bits on large capacity RAMs , 1993, RADECS 93. Second European Conference on Radiation and its Effects on Components and Systems (Cat. No.93TH0616-3).

[13]  Craig Underwood,et al.  Observation and prediction of SEU in Hitachi SRAMs in low altitude polar orbits , 1993 .

[14]  R. Ecoffet,et al.  Observations Of Single-event Upset And Multiple-bit Upset In Non-hardened High-density SRAMs In The TOPEX/ Poseidon Orbit , 1993, 1993 IEEE Radiation Effects Data Workshop.

[15]  Rui Dilão,et al.  Radiation environment measurements with the cosmic ray experiments on-board the KITSAT-1 and PoSAT-1 micro-satellites , 1994 .

[16]  Andrew Sims,et al.  Measurement of the radiation environment from LEO to GTO using the CREAM and CREDO experiments , 1995 .

[17]  Craig Ian Underwood,et al.  Single event effects in commercial memory devices in the space radiation environment , 1996 .