Radiation Handbook for Electronics

A compendium of radiation effects topics for space, industrial and terrestrial applications

Overview

This comprehensive handbook explores radiation effects on electronics across space, industrial, and terrestrial applications. It covers radiation environments (space, terrestrial, artificial), particle interactions with matter, and both dose effects (TID, displacement damage) and single-event effects. The guide details radiation sensitivity by technology, mitigation techniques through process and design hardening, and testing/qualification procedures. Written for engineers and scientists, it provides practical guidance on understanding, predicting, and mitigating radiation-induced failures in semiconductor devices.

What you will learn from this handbook

Radiation environments: Characteristics of space radiation (galactic cosmic rays, solar radiation, Van Allen belts), terrestrial neutron flux, and artificial radiation in medical/industrial settings
Physical mechanisms: How different particles (photons, electrons, ions, neutrons) interact with semiconductor materials and deposit energy
Failure modes: Total ionizing dose effects, displacement damage, single-event upsets, latchup, transients, burnout, and gate rupture mechanisms
Technology sensitivity: How CMOS, bipolar, and BiCMOS technologies respond differently to radiation based on feature size and architecture
Mitigation strategies: Radiation hardening by process (RHBP) and design (RHBD), including layout techniques, redundancy, and error correction
Testing procedures: Detailed guidance on TID testing, heavy-ion testing, proton testing, and qualification standards (MIL-STD-883, JESD57)

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About the authors

Early in his 29 year career at TI, Robert Baumann discovered that the reaction of 10B with low-energy cosmic neutrons was a dominant reliability risk in digital electronics and developed mitigation schemes that reduced product failure rates nearly ten-fold. From 1993-1998, He was involved in transistor and radiation effects reliability and advanced failure analysis at TI’s Mihomura Fab and Tsukuba R&D Center in Japan. When he returned to Dallas he led radiation effects programs for the advanced technology reliability group. He co-led the SIA’s expert panel, which successfully negotiated with the U.S. Government to change ITAR export control laws that posed a serious risk of export restriction to advanced commercial technologies. Baumann was one of the primary authors of the JEDEC (JESD89, 89A) industry standard for radiation characterization in the terrestrial environment for which he was awarded the JEDEC Chairman’s Award. In 2012 he moved to the high reliability product group focused on improving the characterization, modeling and reporting of radiation effects. Baumann was elected TI and IEEE Fellow. He has coauthored and presented more than 90 papers and presentations, two book chapters and has fifteen U.S. patents. Baumann retired from TI in 2018.

Kirby Kruckmeyer started his career at National Semiconductor (acquired by Texas Instruments in 2011) as a process engineer, developing processes for the world’s first 5-inch analog wafer fab. During this time, Kruckmeyer gained experience with semiconductor physics, passivation charging effects and radiation-hardened processing. From 1990-1992, Kruckmeyer was an assignee from National Semiconductor to Semiconductor Manufacturing Technology (SEMATECH), an industry consortium established to improve processing technology in the United States. There, he supervised engineers from other companies in the development of 150-mm process technologies. After finishing his assignment, Kruckmeyer returned to National, where he moved into product development and eventually was the product line manager for National’s Automotive Systems group. In 2005, Kruckmeyer moved in the High Reliability product group. He was instrumental in developing National Semiconductor’s leadership in space-grade data converters, enhanced low dose rate sensitivity-free products and radiation testing. At Texas Instruments, Kruckmeyer continues to support space applications, radiation testing and space product development. He has authored and presented over 20 papers, sits on radiation testing standards committees, and participates in radiation conferences.