# Radiation Qualification by Means of the System-Level Testing: Opportunities and Limitations
## 3 Opportunities Given by System-Level Testing  
The primary outcome of the system-level testing of electronics is the characterization (electrical, functional) of the whole system by a single test, i.e., the system-level test may provide:  
* for TID tests: information on the degradation of observed parameters as a function of TID, information on the TID level that the failure of the system is observed,
* for SEE tests: energy/LET threshold of specific system-level or component level effect, a cross section of these effects (as a function of energy or LET), \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{l l l} \hline \hline
**Test Type and Radiation Source** & **Main Results** \\ \hline  & - & 2 units of the PoL 2D boards were irradiated \\ SEE: high energy heavy ions & - & sensitive chips of the system were irradiated with high LET ions (up to \\ (GANIL facility) & & 94.3 MeV\(\cdot\)cm\({}^{2}\)/mg) and the system remained functional \\  & - & SETs at certain nodes, also propagating to the system output were observed, with no impact on the main system functionsmore results in [23] \\ \hline  & - & 2 units of the PoL 2D boards were irradiated \\  & - & test reproduced the environment of the example application: LEO orbit; no failures were observed \\ The mixed field at CHARM & - & the main impact of the reproduced radiative environment on the system behaviour was \\ (CERN) & & the SETs at the voltage reference chip (with no impact on the system main functions) \\  & & and slight degradation of the key system parameters (supply current: \(\sim\)2\% drift, output \\  & - & voltage: \(\sim\)1\% drift) due to cumulative effects \\  & - & more results in [24] \\ \hline  & - & 2 units of the PoL 2D boards and one 3D module were irradiated \\ SEE: ultrahigh energy heavy ions & - & parallel SEE test of 3 SUTs stacked in the beam line; the LET is homogenous but low \\ (CHARM, CERN) & - & thousands of SETs were captured and some rare events were observed: the propagation \\  & - & of SET with a specific signature through one of the critical integrated circuits, forcing the device to power cycle \\  & - & more results in [6; 25] \\ \hline  & - & 1 unit of the PoL 2D board was irradiated \\ Laser tests (Univ. Montpellier, & - & test with the good observability and possibility to reproduce rare effects—it was used to investigate rare events observed at CHARM \\ PRESERVE platform) & - & vast statistical data on the signature of the SET forcing power cycling of the system let \\  & - & us understand the propagation and power cycling mechanism \\ \hline SEE: standard energy heavy ions & - & 1 unit of the PoL 2D board was irradiated \\ (CYCLONE facility at Université & - & further investigation on the rare events observed at CHARM \\ Catholique de Louvain) & - & test was used to confirm previous results from laser tests and SPICE simulations \\  & - & more results in [6] \\ \hline  & - & 1 unit of the PoL 2D board and 1 3D module were irradiated \\  & - & SUTs irradiated up to 118 krad and are still functional \\ TID: Co-60 (Univ. Montpellier, & - & a test performed in the environmental worst case conditions (low dose rate), \\ PRESERVE platform) & & nevertheless the results of the system irradiation were much more optimistic than \\  & & expected based on the component-level tests and qualification (the FoL product was \\  & - & qualified up to the level of 50 krad) \\ \hline  & - & 2 units of the PoL 2D board and 1 3D module were irradiated \\ TID: X-rays (Univ. Montpellier, & - & functional failures of 2D boards were observed at \(>\)400 krad, which is a much higher \\ PRESERVE platform) & & TID level of failure than expected from the product qualification \\  & - & this high observability test could be used to track the complex failure mode of the \\  & - & system and to define the most sensitive component in the systemmore results in [22] \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table} 
Table 2: Overview of radiation tests of the PoL.