Integrated Circuit Design for Radiation Environments

Preface

The world has certainly changed since the first satellite was launched into orbit (Sputnik, October 4, 1957). Now, many nations as well as commercial companies have launch capabilities, and there is an ever‐increasing number of objects in Earth's orbit. The Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) Satellite Database provides a good estimate of the current satellite count based on open‐source information, indicating over 1900 operational satellites currently in orbit around the Earth (1957 as of November 30, 2018). While there are satellites that serve military purposes, the majority serve commercial purposes – purposes like GPS, communications, and weather monitoring. All of these orbiting objects rely on radiation‐hardened electronics in order to stay operational in the space environment.

Designing for the space environment or any number of other radiation environments requires skills and knowledge that design engineers are not likely to encounter or learn while designing for terrestrial purposes. Integrated Circuit Design for Radiation Environments fills the knowledge gap, providing a front‐to‐back guide for designing integrated circuits intended for radiation environments. The text is divided roughly into three sections. The first of these includes Chapters 1 through 4 and provides the fundamental background history, the sources of radiation, essential nuclear physics, and basic semiconductor effects knowledge. Chapters 5 and 6 are aimed at two of the practical aspects ...