Integrated Circuit Design for Radiation Environments

10 Emerging Effects and Future Technology

10.1 Introduction

In the future, as technologies and applications change, the issue of radiation effects will change. In this chapter, the text will close on discussions associated with radiation effects, technology and system scaling, nano‐technology issues, technology lifetime and reliability, future terrestrial and space issues, and 2.5‐D and 3‐D components and systems [1–5].

10.2 Radiation Effects in Advanced Technologies

Radiation effects in advanced technologies will change with the device types, circuits, and systems evolve. With future technology, the scale of the devices and circuits will decrease as the radiation particles and issues remain the same. Future devices will change in geometry, orientation, and size. This will influence the circuitry sensitivity and failure rates. As the circuits decrease in physical size, particles that did not impact the circuits in the past may lead to failure in future devices. Particles such as alpha particles, muons, and pions may begin to influence circuits that were in the past immune to the events [1,2].

Space environments contain high‐energy cosmic radiation, which is destructive to microelectronics. Terrestrial environments, however, are shielded by Earth's atmosphere, and radiation at sea level is minimal. Commercial off‐the‐shelf (COTS) devices are widely used in terrestrial electronic systems (computers, communication networks, mobile devices, and electronic control systems). ...