A flexible SRAM based SEE Radiation Monitor

CERN requires a large number of electronic devices and equipment for its large particle accelerators and colliders such as the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). Since these electronic devices and equipment operate in harsh radiation environments, it is necessary to ensure the proper functionality of these equipment. Therefore, their sensitive components have to pass several experimental tests in a representative environment. For radiation assessment there are several facilities in Europe with different types and spectra of radiation. In order to have a common reference, a specialized monitor that can record the respective radiation levels is needed. The goal of this project is to model, simulate, design and test a controllable SRAM (Static Random-Access Memory) based radiation monitor with a cost-efficient chip under a mainstream CMOS technology. Through its targeting flexibility, low inter-chip variability and high radiation tolerance, the proposed radiation monitor will outperform commercially available devices which feature an arbitrary SEU cross-section and SEL/TID tolerance. An important part of the project will be to provide a better understanding of how much flexibility can be achieved in SEU cross-section, in particular for mixed field environments like at CERN. In a later stage the chip could be coated with dedicated layers of high-Z material to make a more particle or energy selective radiation monitor. In this way it may provide a more spectroscopy like performance to some extent. One of the main applications envisioned is in particle radiation facilities where the SRAM sensor could serve as a beam monitor or as a dedicated instrument for cross-calibration of different facilities.

Publication year:2022

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