Understanding Single-Event Effects in FPGA for Avionic System Design

摘要

Radiation has proven to cause transient and permanent failures in the semiconductors. When an energetic radiation particle strikes the semiconductor substrate, single-event effects (SEEs) occur. The effects due to SEE are prime areas of research and various experiments have been conducted to study the effects through artificial radiation environment. Radiation effects in avionics systems are gaining more attention since they are used to perform safety critical functions at higher altitudes. In this paper, a comprehensive review on the topic of SEEs on electronics, with special emphasis on its effects on field-programmable gate array (FPGA) is presented. This bibliographical survey covers most of the state-of-the-art technologies used in the prevention and mitigation techniques in FPGA design and also briefs the standards used for managing SEE in avionics. A detailed description of radiation experiments, their test setups and analysis are not included as they are beyond the scope of this review; instead, it gives a design perspective in a radiation environment.