What reliability engineers should know about space radiation effects

Radiation induced failure and degradation modes depend critically on the application as well as the component technology, so it is essential that radiation, component, design, and system engineers work together, preferably starting early in a program, to ensure critical applications are addressed in time to maximize the probability of mission success. Reliability engineers should work with the radiation effects engineer to incorporate radiation induced failure modes into their analysis. The TID and displacement damage testing and analysis can be incorporated into the parts stress derating analysis as a parameter shift by the percentage determined by testing. There are several destructive single event modes (SEL, SEGR, SEB) that need to be included in an FMEA, see table 1. For susceptible components in your design as well as specific failure modes, consult the radiation Effects Engineer on your project.