IEC TR 62396-8:2020

IEC TR 62396-8 ®
Edition 1.0 2020-04
TECHNICAL
REPORT
colourcolour
insinsiidede
Process management for avionics – Atmospheric radiation effects –
Part 8: Proton, electron, pion, muon, alpha-ray fluxes and single event effects
in avionics electronic equipment – Awareness guidelines
All rights reserved. Unless otherwise specified, no part of this publication may be reproduced or utilized in any form
or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and microfilm, without permission in writing from
either IEC or IEC's member National Committee in the country of the requester. If you have any questions about IEC
copyright or have an enquiry about obtaining additional rights to this publication, please contact the address below or
your local IEC member National Committee for further information.

IEC Central Office Tel.: +41 22 919 02 11
3, rue de Varembé info@iec.ch
CH-1211 Geneva 20 www.iec.ch
Switzerland
About the IEC
The International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) is the leading global organization that prepares and publishes
International Standards for all electrical, electronic and related technologies.

About IEC publications
The technical content of IEC publications is kept under constant review by the IEC. Please make sure that you have the
latest edition, a corrigendum or an amendment might have been published.

IEC publications search - webstore.iec.ch/advsearchform Electropedia - www.electropedia.org
The advanced search enables to find IEC publications by a The world's leading online dictionary on electrotechnology,
variety of criteria (reference number, text, technical containing more than 22 000 terminological entries in English
committee,…). It also gives information on projects, replaced and French, with equivalent terms in 16 additional languages.
and withdrawn publications. Also known as the International Electrotechnical Vocabulary

(IEV) online.
IEC Just Published - webstore.iec.ch/justpublished
Stay up to date on all new IEC publications. Just Published IEC Glossary - std.iec.ch/glossary
details all new publications released. Available online and 67 000 electrotechnical terminology entries in English and
once a month by email. French extracted from the Terms and Definitions clause of
IEC publications issued since 2002. Some entries have been
IEC Customer Service Centre - webstore.iec.ch/csc collected from earlier publications of IEC TC 37, 77, 86 and
If you wish to give us your feedback on this publication or CISPR.

need further assistance, please contact the Customer Service

Centre: sales@iec.ch.
IEC TR 62396-8 ®
Edition 1.0 2020-04
TECHNICAL
REPORT
colourcolour
insinsiidede
Process management for avionics – Atmospheric radiation effects –

Part 8: Proton, electron, pion, muon, alpha-ray fluxes and single event effects

in avionics electronic equipment – Awareness guidelines

INTERNATIONAL
ELECTROTECHNICAL
COMMISSION
ICS 03.100.50; 31.020; 49.060 ISBN 978-2-8322-8010-2

– 2 – IEC TR 62396-8:2020 © IEC 2020
CONTENTS
FOREWORD . 5
INTRODUCTION . 7
1 Scope . 8
2 Normative references . 8
3 Terms, definitions, abbreviated terms and acronyms . 8
3.1 Terms and definitions . 9
3.2 Abbreviated terms and acronyms . 10
4 Technical awareness . 12
4.1 Basic knowledge of atmospheric secondary particles . 12
4.2 Four typical hierarchies of faulty conditions in electronic equipment: Fault –
error – hazard – failure . 15
4.3 General sources of radiation . 18
4.3.1 General sources of terrestrial radiation . 18
4.3.2 Atmospheric radiation particles . 19
4.3.3 Spectra at the avionics altitude . 22
4.4 Particle considerations . 25
4.4.1 General . 25
4.4.2 Alpha particles . 25
4.4.3 Protons . 26
4.4.4 Muons and pions . 30
4.4.5 Low-energy neutrons . 32
4.4.6 High-energy neutrons . 33
4.5 Conclusion and guidelines . 43
Annex A (informative) CMOS semiconductor devices . 45
Annex B (informative) General description of radiation effects . 48
B.1 Radiation effects in semiconductor materials by a charged particle – Charge
collection and bipolar action . 48
B.2 Radiation effects by protons . 49
B.3 Radiation effects by low-energy neutrons . 51
B.4 Radiation effects by high-energy neutrons . 52
B.5 Radiation effects by heavy ions . 53
Bibliography . 54

Figure 1 – Cosmic rays as origin of single event effects . 13
Figure 2 – Initial stage of secondary particle production . 14
Figure 3 – Differential high-energy neutron spectrum at sea level in NYC . 14
Figure 4 – Long-term cyclic variation in neutron flux measured at Moscow Neutron
Monitor Center . 15
Figure 5 – Differential proton spectra originating from solar-minimum sun, from big
flares on the sun, and from the galactic core . 15
Figure 6 – Typical hierarchy of fault conditions: Fault-error-failure . 18
Figure 7 – Sources of atmospheric ionizing radiation: Nuclear reactions and radioactive
decay . 19
Figure 8 – Differential flux of secondary cosmic rays at avionics altitude (10 000 m)
above NYC sea level . 22
Figure 9 – Differential flux of terrestrial radiation at NYC sea level . 23

Figure 10 – Measured differential flux of high-energy neutrons at NYC sea level and at
avionics altitudes (5 000 m, 11 000 m and 20 000 m) . 24
Figure 11 – Cumulative flux of terrestrial radiation at avionics altitude above NYC sea

level 25
Figure 12 – Comparison of measured cross section of memory devices irradiated by
high-energy protons and neutrons . 27
Figure 13 – Simplified scheme of muon/pion irradiation system . 30
Figure 14 – Nuclear capture of cross section of cadmium isotopes . 32
Figure 15 – Neutron energy spectra of monoenergetic neutron beam facilities . 35
Figure 16 – Neutron energy spectra from radioisotope neutron sources . 35
Figure 17 – Simplified high-energy neutron beam source in a quasi-monoenergetic
neutron source . 37
Figure 18 – Neutron energy spectra of quasi-monoenergetic neutron beam facilities . 38
Figure 19 – Conceptual illustration of cross section data obtained by (quasi-)
monoenergetic neutron sources and fitting curve by Weibull fit . 39
Figure 20 – Simplified high-energy neutron beam source in a spallation neutron source . 41
Figure 21 – Neutron energy spectra of spallation neutron sources and terrestrial field . 42
Figure A.1 – Basic substrate structure used for CMOSFET devices on the stripe
structure of p- and n-wells and cross sections of triple and dual wells . 45
Figure A.2 – SRAM function and layout . 46
Figure A.3 – Example of logic circuit . 46
Figure A.4 – Example of electronic system implementation . 47
Figure A.5 – Example of stack layers in an electronic system . 47
Figure B.1 – Charge collection in a semiconductor structure by funnelling . 48
Figure B.2 – Bipolar action model in a triple well n-MOSFET structure . 49
Figure B.3 – Charge deposition density of various particles in silicon as a function of
particle energy . 50
Figure B.4 – Total nuclear reaction cross section of high-energy proton and neutron in
silicon . 50
Figure B.5 – Microscopic fault mechanism due to spallation reaction of high-energy
neutron and proton in a SRAM cell . 51
Figure B.6 – (n,α) reaction cross section of low-energy neutrons with B . 52
Figure B.7 – Calculated energy spectra of Li and He produced by neutron capture
10 7
reaction with B(n,α) Li reaction . 52
Figure B.8 – Ranges of typical isotopes produced by nuclear spallation reaction of
high-energy neutron in silicon . 53
Figure B.9 – Calculated energy spectra of elements produced by nuclear spallation
reaction of high-energy neutrons in silicon at Tokyo sea level . 53

Table 1 – General modes of faults . 17
Table 2 – Properties of atmospheric radiation particles . 19
Table 3 – Selected data sources for spectra of atmospheric radiation particles . 22
Table 4 – Non-exhaustive list of methods for alpha-particle SEE measurements . 26
Table 5 – Non-exhaustive list of facilities for proton irradiation . 27
Table 6 – Non-exhaustive list of facilities for muon irradiation . 31
Table 7 – Non-exhaustive list of facilities for thermal/epi-thermal neutron irradiation . 33

– 4 – IEC TR 62396-8:2020 © IEC 2020
Table 8 – Non-exhaustive list of facilities for low-energy neutron irradiation . 36
Table 9 – Non-exhaustive list of facilities for quasi-monoenergetic neutron irradiation . 40
Table 10 – Non-exhaustive list of facilities for nuclear spallation neutron irradiation . 42

INTERNATIONAL ELECTROTECHNICAL COMMISSION
____________
PROCESS MANAGEMENT FOR AVIONICS –
ATMOSPHERIC RADIATION EFFECTS –

Part 8: Proton, electron, pion, muon, alpha-ray fluxes and single event
effects in avionics electronic equipment – Awareness guidelines

FOREWORD
1) The International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) is a worldwide organization for standardization comprising
all national electrotechnical committees (IEC National Committees). The object of IEC is to promote international
co-operation on all questions concerning standardization in the electrical and electronic fields. To this end and
in addition to other activities, IEC publishes International Standards, Technical Specifications, Technical Reports,
Pub
...