
www.irf.com
5
ART28XXT Series
Radiation Performance
The radiation tolerance characteristics inherent in the
ART28XXT converter are the direct result of a carefully
planned ground-up design program with specific radiation
design goals. After identification of the general circuit to-
pology, a primary task of the design effort was selection of
appropriate elements from the list of devices for which
extensive radiation effects data was available. By impos-
ing sufficiently large margins on those electrical param-
eters subject to the degrading effects of radiation, design-
ers were able to select appropriate elements for incorpo-
ration into the circuit. Known radiation data was utilized for
input to PSPICE and RadSPICE in the generation of circuit
performance verification analyses. Thus, electrical per-
formance capability under all environmental conditions in-
cluding radiation was well understood before first applica-
tion of power to the inputs.
A principal design goal was a converter topology that, be-
cause of large design margins, had radiation performance
essentially independent of normal elemental lot radiation
Completion of first article fabrication, screening and stan-
dard environmental testing was followed by radiation test-
ing to confirm design goals. All design goals were met
handily and in most cases exceeded by large margin.
These test samples were built with elements that, with the
foregoing exceptions, were not screened for radiation char-
acteristics. Additional radiation tests on subsequent
ART28XXT manufacturing lots provide continued confir-
mation of the soundness of the design goals as well as
justification for the element selection criteria.
The following table specifies guaranteed minimum radia-
tion exposure levels tolerated while maintaining specifica-
tion limits.
performance variations. In the few instances where such
margins were not assured, element lots were selected
from which die were fabricated (and characterized) as
radiation hard devices so that realization of the design
goals could be assured.
Radiation Specification T
case
= 25°C
Test
Conditions
Min
Typ
Max
Unit
Total Ionizing Dose
(2:1 Margin)
MIL-STD-883, Method 1019.4
Operating bias applied during exposure
100
500
KRads
(Si)
Dose Rate
Temporary Saturation
Survival
MIL-STD-883, Method 1021
1E8
1E11
Rads
(Si)/sec
Neutron Fluence
MIL-STD-883, Method 1017.2
3E12
Neutron
/cm2
Heavy Ions
(Single event effects)
BNL Tandem Van de Graaff Generator
83
MeV
cm2/mg