Brazilian facilities to study radiation effects in electronic devices

Three facilities in Brazil are being prepared and upgraded to test and to qualify electronic devices regarding their tolerance to TID and SEE: a 60 kV X-ray source, a 1.7 MV Pelletron accelerator for low energy proton beams and an 8 MV Pelletron accelerator that produces heavy ion beams. MOSFET transistors were exposed to 10-keV X-rays and to 2.4 MeV protons extracted into air. During irradiation, characteristic curves were continuously measured to monitor the circuit's behavior relative to the accumulated dose. 12C, 16O, 28Si, 35Cl and 63Cu heavy ion beams were also used mostly to test the experimental setup, and verify beam uniformity at low fluence conditions, equilibrium charge state, and carbon stripper foil durability. To test the setup for SEE, a pMOS transistor was irradiated with 63 MeV 63Cu ions scattered at 15° by a 275 μg/cm2 gold foil. The setups are now available for TID and SEE studies in electronic devices.