A Simulation Tool for Space Applications: RadiSPICE

This paper describes a radiation simulation tool, RadiSPICE, which has the capability of performing statistical radiation simulations, temperature sweep, and sensitivity analysis for integrated circuits prone to radiation exposure. Single Event Transient (SET) and Total Ionising Dose (TID) effects are modelled through current and voltage sources introduced to the circuit. RadiSPICE imports the circuit netlist and performs statistical radiation simulation, temperature sweep, and sensitivity analyses. Output histograms along with maximum and minimum values of extracted parameters can be probed. To demonstrate the effectiveness of the tool, two case studies are performed on a linear amplifier and a logic cell, showing that space radiation can be detrimental to electrical circuit performance. To our best knowledge, the developed tool is the first example of a well-equipped CAD tool for radiation simulation for electrical circuits.