Product category:
Electronics and Electrical Subcontracting Services
News Release from: Precision Solutions
Edited by the Manufacturingtalk Editorial
Team on 09 February 2007
Testing facility uses laser radiation
pulses
Precision Solutions' Sereel 2 facility for single event radiation effects in electronics has been officially opened by Lord Sainsbury of Turville.
Precision Solutions announced that its Sereel 2 facility has been officially opened by Lord Sainsbury of Turville The Sereel2 (Single Event Radiation Effects in Electronics Laser, 2nd generation) simulator, based within the Radiation Effects Group of the Precision Solutions business unit of MBDA UK allows Single Event Effect (SEE) testing to be carried out using pulsed laser excitation
This article was originally published on Manufacturingtalk on 17 Nov 2006 at 8.00am (UK)
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Single Event Effects are faults due to the interactions of high- energy radiation particles with microchip cells.
They range from "soft" errors involving both single and multiple bit upsets in digital devices that corrupt data stored in memory cells (until they are reset), to "hard" catastrophic errors that may lead to a destructive failure of the integrated circuit.
Testing electronic component designs for susceptibility to single event effects forms an important part of the system design process, and can prevent potentially expensive discoveries during system qualification.
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Sereel2 uses very short pulses of light from an ultra fast Ti- Sapphire laser system that are focused through a microscope objective to induce a column of ionisation (~1 um diameter) that propagates into the surface of the silicon die after the top surface of the package is removed).
The column of charge can cause a memory cell to gain or lose charge, resulting data bits "flips" known as a Single Event Upset (SEU).
Sereel2 has computer controlled nanostep XYZ positioners to allow an IC to be positioned in front of the focused laser pulses to an accuracy of 1 um.
During normal operation the IC is moved within the focus of the laser, while the laser fires pulses at a range of repetition rates from 100 Hz to a single shot.
Using a scanning action, the entire IC (or a specific section) is bombarded with laser pulses that strike the IC die at discrete locations.
A pulse energy CCD camera on the 3-axis positioning system, an adjustable pulse attenuator, and computer-controlled goniometers ensure that the die remains in the focal plane of the laser.
The contents of the device are examined after the scan is completed and any data values that are found to be in error can be saved for further analysis along with their respective addresses.
The energy of the laser pulses can be altered, which in turn changes the number of errors observed.
Techniques have also been developed for laser memory mapping and threshold contour mapping.
Depth-wise SEE sensitivity profiling can reveal funnelling of charge from the substrate, if the ionisation path penetrates deep into the substrate.
Sereel2 automation of the techniques for laser memory mapping and multi-wavelength SEE sensitivity profiling makes such studies quicker and more practical.
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