Method of testing electronic components

#This application claims priority from German Provisional Application No. 10 2010 010 716.6, filed 8 Mar. 2010, the contents of which is incorporated in its entirety herein by reference.

#The present invention relates to a method for testing the radiation hardness of electronic components. This testing has high economic and industrial relevance because electronic components on board of satellites, space vessels, aircraft (“missiles”) and in Earth-based nuclear facilities can be subject to extreme irradiation by different forms of radiation which can lead to malfunction of electronic devices and circuits if they are not adequately designed.

#Each spaceship, each probe, each aircraft and, above all, each satellite is packed with electronic components. These components are critically important for the functioning of the missile. For this reason, the resistance of electronic components to be used on board missiles against various types of space radiation is tested extensively prior to launch. Moreover, it is not enough to test a certain electronic component only once. Due to variations found in the quality of different production batches of electronic components, it is typically desirable to conduct tests of electronic components intended for use each time a missile is assembled.

#FIG. 1A shows a basic LPA scheme. A focused high-power laser pulse is incident on matter (solid, liquid, gaseous or plasma). Electrons are set into motion by focused electromagnetic fields, which can result either in relativistic pencil-like electron and photon beams propagating in the forward direction with low divergences, and/or in the generation of electrostatic charge separation which in addition to electrons leads to subsequent acceleration of protons and ions with broad-cone emission angles.

#FIG. 1B shows a method, according to one aspect of the present invention, of testing an electric component using a known LPA device.

#FIG. 2A shows electron fluence in space, showcases: L=2 in the AE8 min model and L=3 in the AE8max model.

#In conjunction with the Figures, preferred embodiments of the inventive method are described that utilize, under two aspects of the invention described herein, a compact and relatively inexpensive system, a single compact beam of radiation for testing electronic components to ascertain their resistance to various types of high energy radiation encountered in space.

#In a first aspect of the inventive method, the approach of the invention is to utilize a known device that will accelerate particles such as electrons, protons, neutrons, and even ions, based on the interaction of a focused laser beam with matter. This known device is a Laser-Plasma Accelerator (“LPA”), for achieving laser-plasma acceleration. It is known that the LPA is capable of producing, in a single beam, many different types of radiation.

#Yet, to date, this characteristic has not been recognized as providing a useful source of electron energy for the industrial application which is the subject of the present invention. In fact, most research and application of the electron beam that is produced by LPAs is directed to eliminating the broad spectrum of electron energy produced by LPAs in an effort to confine the resulting energy spectrum to a narrowly distributed range. The present invention on the other hand is directed to utilizing this characteristic that has otherwise been discarded by the scientific community as being a hindrance to desired research and usefulness.