The Physics & Astronomy Colloquium Series presents Henry Clark of Texas A&M University, discussing "The Radiation Effects Facility at the Cyclotron Institute at Texas A&M University" on November 15.

Abstract: Microchips must be tested for the harsh radiation environment of space and validated before they can be used in the electronic systems of satellites and space vehicles.  Galactic cosmic rays pose the unique problem of single event upsets (SEUs) in which a single GCR can either temporarily disrupt the normal function of a microchip or destroy it, making it inoperable.  SEUs can cause a wide variety of issues including data loss from memory device bit flips, service disruptions from subsystem power cycling and complete system failures from the destruction of power devices.  

The industry standard is to test microchips for SEUs caused by GCRs with the heavy ion beams provided by accelerators.  For 30 years, the Radiation Effects Facility of the Cyclotron Institute at Texas A&M University has been the world’s leading provider of heavy ion beam time for the space radiation testing community with nearly 80,000 hours total from its K500 and K150 cyclotrons.  Proton beams up to 45 MeV and Helium through Gold ions up to 40 MeV/u provide the beam energies necessary to test most microchip devices.   Three decades of beam time has given space agencies the ability to characterize many different forms of SEU effects as microchip technology has evolved and the resource to develop mitigation strategies for mission critical microchips.

In addition to the Radiation Effects program, a brief overview of Cyclotron Institute will be presented.