(A few snippets) :
On May 3, engineers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, in Pasadena, Calif., the primary manufacturer of the spacecraft, learned from a “non-NASA customer” that vital, radiation-resistant chips failed when tested at radiation levels “significantly lower” than they were supposed to.
..
“We’re seeing some of these MOSFETs fail at lower radiation levels” than the prevailing environment around Europa, Shannon Fitzpatrick, the head of flight programs for NASA’s Planetary Science Division, said during a meeting of the Planetary Science Advisory Committee, a group of outside researchers who advise NASA, this week. She also said in the meeting that engineers had not yet solved the issue.
The chips currently in Europa Clipper are manufactured by Infineon Technologies, a German semiconductor firm. They are also used in military spacecraft. An Infineon spokesperson declined to comment on “actual or potential customers,” but said that the company has “stringent processes in place to ensure compliance with all relevant quality and performance standards for our products.”
…
From a personal perspective - I was always curious what options were available for hardening ICs and transistors for dealing with space travel. Jupiter has a huge magnetic field and generates all kinds of radiation.. (I remember from the mid 2010s, Lockheed Martin SSC was big on using FPGAs for new satellites).
Besides using “older processes” where the transistors are physically bigger (and able to withstand more abuse).. Are chips hardened at the fab production / wafer level, or is it always something applied after the ICs are made that strengthen them for space? (i.e. finish the IC and then add layers of a material (Boron?) that resists radiation, and perform PCB best practices that reduce the chance of inducing current, etc).
On May 3, engineers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, in Pasadena, Calif., the primary manufacturer of the spacecraft, learned from a “non-NASA customer” that vital, radiation-resistant chips failed when tested at radiation levels “significantly lower” than they were supposed to.
..
“We’re seeing some of these MOSFETs fail at lower radiation levels” than the prevailing environment around Europa, Shannon Fitzpatrick, the head of flight programs for NASA’s Planetary Science Division, said during a meeting of the Planetary Science Advisory Committee, a group of outside researchers who advise NASA, this week. She also said in the meeting that engineers had not yet solved the issue.
The chips currently in Europa Clipper are manufactured by Infineon Technologies, a German semiconductor firm. They are also used in military spacecraft. An Infineon spokesperson declined to comment on “actual or potential customers,” but said that the company has “stringent processes in place to ensure compliance with all relevant quality and performance standards for our products.”
…
From a personal perspective - I was always curious what options were available for hardening ICs and transistors for dealing with space travel. Jupiter has a huge magnetic field and generates all kinds of radiation.. (I remember from the mid 2010s, Lockheed Martin SSC was big on using FPGAs for new satellites).
Besides using “older processes” where the transistors are physically bigger (and able to withstand more abuse).. Are chips hardened at the fab production / wafer level, or is it always something applied after the ICs are made that strengthen them for space? (i.e. finish the IC and then add layers of a material (Boron?) that resists radiation, and perform PCB best practices that reduce the chance of inducing current, etc).