Space Radiation Environment Prediction for VLSI microelectronics devices onboard a LEO Satellite using OMERE-Trad Software

This tutorial/survey paper presents the assessment/determination of level of hazard/threat to emerging microelectronics devices in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) space radiation environment with perigee at 300 Km, apogee at 600Km altitude having different orbital inclinations to predict the reliability of onboard Bulk Built-In Current Sensor (BBICS) fabricated in 350nm technology node at OptMA Lab. UFMG Brazil. In this context, the various parameters for space radiation environment have been analyzed to characterize the ionizing radiation environment effects on proposed BBICS. The Space radiation environment has been modeled in the form of particles trapped in Van-Allen radiation belts(RBs), Energetic Solar Particles Events (ESPE) and Galactic Cosmic Rays (GCR) where as its potential effects on Device- Under-Test (DUT) has been predicted in terms of Total Ionizing Dose (TID), Single-Event Effects (SEE) and Displacement Damage Dose (DDD). Finally, the required mitigation techniques including necessary shielding requirements to avoid undesirable effects of radiation environment at device level has been estimated /determined with assumed standard thickness of Aluminum shielding. In order to evaluate space radiation environment and analyze energetic particles effects on BBICS, OMERE toolkit developed by TRAD was utilized.