IEC PAS 62396-4:2007

Process management for avionics - Atmospheric radiation effects - Part 4: Guidelines for designing with high voltage aircraft electronics and potential single event effects

Provides guidance on atmospheric radiation effects on high voltage, nominally above 200 V, avionics electronics used in aircraft operating at altitudes up to 60 000 feet. Is to be used in conjunction with IEC/TS 62396-1. Defines the effects of that environment on high voltage electronics and provides design considerations for the accommodation of those effects within avionics systems.

General Information

• Status: Replaced
• Publication Date: 17-Sep-2007
• ICS: 03.100.50 - Production. Production management
• ICS: 31.020 - Electronic components in general
• ICS: 49.060 - Aerospace electric equipment and systems
• Technical Committee: TC 107 - Process management for avionics
• Current Stage: DELPUB - Deleted Publication
• Completion Date: 25-Jul-2008

Relations

• Replaced By: IEC TS 62396-4:2008 - Process management for avionics - Atmospheric radiation effects - Part 4: Guidelines for designing with high voltage aircraft electronics and potential single event effects
• Effective Date: 05-Sep-2023

Standards Content (Sample)

IEC/PAS 62396-4
Edition 1.0 2007-09
PUBLICLY AVAILABLE
SPECIFICATION
PRE-STANDARD
Process management for avionics – Atmospheric radiation effects –
Part 4: Guidelines for designing with high voltage aircraft electronics and
potential single event effects

IEC/PAS 62396-4:2007(E)
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IEC/PAS 62396-4
Edition 1.0 2007-09
PUBLICLY AVAILABLE
SPECIFICATION
PRE-STANDARD
Process management for avionics – Atmospheric radiation effects –
Part 4: Guidelines for designing with high voltage aircraft electronics and
potential single event effects

INTERNATIONAL
ELECTROTECHNICAL
COMMISSION
PRICE CODE
N
ICS 03.100.50; 31.020; 49.060 ISBN 2-8318-9205-8

– 2 – PAS 62396-4 © IEC:2007(E)

CONTENTS
FOREWORD.3

1 Scope and object.5

1.1 Normative references .5

2 Terms and definitions .5

3 Potential high voltage single event effects .5
4 Quantifying single event burnout in avionics for high voltage devices .6
5 Relevant SEB data and applying it to avionics .8
5.1 SEB data from heavy ion testing is not relevant.8
5.2 SEB from high energy neutron and proton testing.8
5.3 Calculating the SEB Rate at Aircraft Altitudes .10
5.4 Measurement of high voltage component radiation characteristics, EPICS .10
6 Conclusion .13

Bibliography.14

Figure 1 – SEB cross sections measured in 400 V and 500 V MOSFETs for WNR and
proton beams.8
Figure 2 – SEB cross sections measured in 1 000 V MOSFETs and 1 200 V IGBTs
with WNR neutron and 200 MeV proton beams .9
Figure 3 – Application of EPICS to the measurement of radiation event induced charge
and current .12
Figure 4 – EPICS Plot of 1 200 V diode numbers of events at currents taken at
different applied voltages for a neutron fluence of approximately 3,5 x 10 neutrons
per cm measured at energies greater than 10 MeV .13

PAS 62396-4 © IEC:2007(E) – 3 –

INTERNATIONAL ELECTROTECHNICAL COMMISSION

____________
PROCESS MANAGEMENT FOR AVIONICS –

ATMOSPHERIC RADIATION EFFECTS –

Part 4: Guidelines for designing with high voltage aircraft electronics

and potential single event effects

FOREWORD
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A PAS is a technical specification not fulfilling the requirements for a standard but made
available to the public.
IEC-PAS 62396-4 has been processed by IEC technical committee 107: Process management
for avionics.
The text of this PAS is based on the This PAS was approved for publication
following document: by the P-members of the committee
concerned as indicated in the following
document:
Draft PAS Report on voting
107/59/NP 107/71/RVN
Following publication of this PAS, which is a pre-standard publication, the technical committee
or subcommittee concerned will transform it into an International Standard.

– 4 – PAS 62396-4 © IEC:2007(E)

This PAS shall remain valid for an initial maximum period of three years starting from 2007-09.

The validity may be extended for a single three-year period, following which it shall be revised

to become another type of normative document or shall be withdrawn

IEC/PAS 62396 consists of the following parts, under the general title Process management

for avionics – Atmospheric radiation effects:

• Part 2: Guidelines for single event effects testing for avionics systems

• Part 3: Optimising system design to accommodate the Single Event Effects (SEE) of

atmospheric radiation
• Part 4: Guidelines for designing with high voltage aircraft electronics and potential
single event effects
• Part 5: Guidelines for assessing thermal neutron fluxes and effects in avionics
systems
PAS 62396-4 © IEC:2007(E) – 5 –

PROCESS MANAGEMENT FOR AVIONICS –

ATMOSPHERIC RADIATION EFFECTS –

Part 4: Guidelines for designing with high voltage aircraft electronics

and potential single event effects

1 Scope and object
This PAS is intended to provide guidance on Atmospheric Radiation effects on high voltage,
nominally above 200 V. Avionics electronics used in aircraft operating at altitudes up to
60 000 feet (18,3 km). It is intended to be used in conjunction with IEC/TS 62396-1. This PAS
defines the effects of that environment on high voltage electronics and provides design
considerations for the accommodation of those effects within avionics systems.
This PAS is intended to help aerospace equipment manufacturers and designers to
standardise their approach to Single Event Effects on high voltage Avionics by providing
guidance, leading to a standard methodology.
Details are given of the types of Single Event Effects relevant to the operation of high voltage
Avionics electronics, methods of quantifying those effects, appropriate methods to assist
design and to demonstrate the suitability of the electronics for the application.
1.1 Normative references
The following referenced documents are indispensable for the application of this document,
only the edition cited applies. For undated references, the latest edition of the referenced
document (including any amendments) applies.
IEC/TS 62396-1, Process management for avionics – Atmospheric radiation effects – Part 1:
Accommodation of atmospheric radiation effects via single event effects within avionics
electronic equipment
2 Terms and definitions
For the purpose of this document, the terms and definitions given in IEC/TS 62396-1 apply.
3 Potential high voltage single event effects

A N-channel power MOSFET can have two different types of catastrophic effects induced by
the deposition of charge from a single energetic particle, Single Event Burnout, SEB and
Single Event Gate Rupture, SEGR. In addition to this kind of power MOSFET, other power
devices, such as Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistors (IGBTs), bipolar power transistors and
diodes, which have large applied voltage biases and high internal electric fields, are
susceptible to SEB. In SEB, the penetration of the source-body-drain region by the deposited
charge can forward bias the thin body region under the source. If the bias applied to the drain
exceeds the local breakdown voltage of the parasitic bipolar elements, the single event
induced pulse initiates avalanching in the drain depletion region that eventually leads to
destructive burnout SEB. SEGR applies to N and P channel MOSFETS. It is explained via the
transient plasma filament created by the energy deposition track when the MOSFET is struck
through the thin gate oxide region. As a result of this transient track filament, there is a
localized increase in the oxide field which can cause the oxide to break down, leading first to
gate leakage and finally to gate rupture. As a consequence of the atmospheric neutrons, SEB
is the major threat to high voltage electronics.

– 6 – PAS 62396-4 © IEC:2007(E)

Although at the outset, this threat to the power system in an aircraft from SEB may appear to

be remote or even far-fetched, the experience of breakdowns in the high voltage electronics

on electric trains in Europe before 1995 shows that SEB can be real and has happened in the

field. In this case, European and Japanese manufacturers of high voltage semiconductors

noticed that some of their devices were undergoing burnout failures in the field during normal
operation of newly developed train engines [1, 2] . The diodes and GTO thyristors (Gate Turn

Off Thyristors) used on the trains were rated at 4 500 V, and were normally operated at
(50 to 60) % of rated voltage. They were designed for terrestrial use for > 35 years, so when

the failures first appeared in the field after only a few months, this was puzzling. The failure

mode was investigated in great detail and eventually a set of experiments, carried out at three

different locations (salt mine, top-floor laboratory and basement),
...