Study of Direct RF Injection on Microcontroller.

摘要

This report covers direct power injection of 8051-based microcontrollers. A test bench has been designed according to IEC 6213204 standards to test how high frequency signals impact the response of microcontroller circuits in operation. Two microcontroller circuits (Atmel LP2052 and LP216) were tested to the point of upset. Upset is defined as a reduction in voltage or shift in timing from the least significant (LSB) bit output pin (P1.0) of the microcontroller. The chip was exposed to a radio frequency (RF) signal using the direct injection method. A total of five chips were exposed to a continuous wave (CW) signal for up to 1 microsecond. At least 100 shots of pulsed power were applied to the chip from 50 to 200 MHz and each pulsed time based on a single clock cycle. The RF signal applied to the microcontroller in pulse widths of 0.24, 0.48 or 1 microsecond. Each pulse was injected based on target locations or timing positions with respect to the microcontroller clock cycle. Because upsets are different than device failure tests, a probabilistic method was used to establish what power level affected the circuit. This information was converted to probability of effects curves and compared over frequency and the type of board that was used to test the microcontroller.