Synergistic effect of total ionizing dose and single-event upset in the analog/digital converter AD574

Abstract

This study investigates the AD574, a 12-bit analog/digital converter (ADC) produced by American Analog Devices, Inc. (ADI) using bipolar/I2L technology. The test samples are subjected to a total ionizing dose (TID) of 400 Gy(Si) under 60Co γ irradiation. The samples with and without the TID are then subjected to a single-event upset (SEU) test, and the upset times of the output codes under the input signal conditions of 0 V, 1 V, and 2.5 V are obtained. The test results indicate that, after accumulating a total dose of 400 Gy(Si), the upset of the AD574 output code shifts toward the right of the center code value, resulting in a change in the upset times. Furthermore, the mechanism of the TID-SEU synergistic effect for the AD574 is preliminarily analyzed; it is believed that this phenomenon is related to the sensitivity of the ADC internal comparator single-event transient (SET). The amplitude and width of the SET pulse of the comparator with the TID increase significantly; this causes a change in the AD574 output code value upset distribution and the number of upset times. This study on the TID-SEU synergistic effect serves as a useful reference for aerospace components with radiation hardness.

Keywords

• ad converter
• total ionizing dose
• single-event upset
• synergistic effect