Gamma rays can induce strap currents of electrons that generate harmful electromagnetic field similar to E M P (Electro-Magnetic Pulse). So, will the effect of radiation on the electronics be the same as by an E M P.
Nuclear radiation can damage electronics similar to EMP damage, if the electronics are energized. Nuclear radiation can damage electronics when not energized. Very high dose rates and very energetic radiation are needed in either case. An internet search for 'ionizing radiation damage to electronics' or 'radiation hardening of electronics' will produce numerous articles.
I can recommend the book "Semiconductor Radiation Detectors" by Gerhard Lutz. The book does an in-depth analysis of energy impartation in semiconductors and also the mechanisms of damages. There are several types of damages - some clearly reversible.
damage and malfunction of components (ex. - due to ionic radiation,electromagnetic radiation,outer space radiation [solar radiation] )
in nuclear plants sensor disturbance and explosions occurs due to particle radiation[gamma] ,and emp [electromagnetic pulse].
in microprocessor[rams,roms] chip defect and glitches occurs due to ionic radiation [caused by ultraviolet ray during manufacturing ]
When nuclear radiation is applied to semiconductors, the following happens:
When high-energy particles enter the silicon substrate, they generate electron-hole pairs. Apart from doing damage to the substrate, (which to my knowledge is not a dominant effect), these electron-hole pairs diffuse to nearby SRAM and flip-flop bit cells , and produce bit errors there.
The effect on SRAM memories is quite severe: The radiation causes data loss, expressed in FIT (failure in time). 1 fit = 1 fail in 1000000000 hours of operation. To mitigate the effect, many circuits (automotive electronics, servers) employ SRAM memories with ECC error correction. The goal of the error correction is to correct the effects induced by the high energetic radiation entering the substrate.
Another method to mitigate the effect on earth is to use low-alpha mold compound. This is mold compound where the alpha-particle emitting radioactive isotopes have been removed. (The problem on earth arises mainly from alfa-radiation.)
I think I once heard this is not sufficient for high-radiation exposure in eg outer space. There, not only the effect on the SRAM memories matters, but also the effect on the flip-flops. To mitigate this, is however a lot more difficult. You need to resort to multiple flip-flops and majority-voting among them to mitigate. If you have multiple flip-flops with majority voting, you need to place them a certain distance apart, to avoid that a single particle would upset more than one. Or, if you have a CPU, there are circuits that instantiate 3 CPU's, operating in lock step, and accept the answer as correct if at least 2 produce the same result.
To my knowledge, this is not done for automotive and servers, but I would not be surprised if this is common in space applications.
Have done extensive practical testing on high dosage gamma on semiconductors
You will find the the gain of a hi gain transIstor ie 800 goes to 10 after 10^12 rad. old logic ie TTL and OPAMPS like LM324 are fairly robust compared to new designs.
There is a free Silvaco webinar ¨Simulating Total Dose, Prompt Dose, Damaging Fluence and SEU using TCAD¨ on 17th February.
http://www.silvaco.com/webinar/tacd_simulation_for_total_dose.html
There is a free Silvaco webinar ¨Simulating Total Dose, Prompt Dose, Damaging Fluence and SEU using TCAD¨ on 17th February.
http://www.silvaco.com/webinar/tacd_simulation_for_total_dose.html
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