2002 IEEE Nuclear and Space Radiation Effects Conference

Phoenix, Arizona
July 15-19, 2002

The 39th annual IEEE Nuclear and Space Radiation Effects Conference (NSREC) will be held at the family-friendly, all-suites Point South Mountain Resort in Phoenix, Arizona. You are cordially invited to attend and participate in this annual technical gathering of radiation effects specialists. The conference has evolved into one of the most prominent international symposia on radiation effects in electronic materials, devices, and circuits. The technical program will consist of 10 sessions of contributed papers, three invited talks, and a poster session. In addition, this conference features a highly recognized Short Course, Radiation Effects Data Workshop, and Industrial Exhibit.

The conference is sponsored by the IEEE/Nuclear and Plasma Science Society Radiation Effects Committee and supported by the Defense Threat Reduction Agency, Sandia National Laboratories, Air Force Research Laboratory, and the NASA Electronic Parts and Packaging Program.

Tom Turflinger of NAVSEA Crane, the 2002 NSREC Technical Program Chairman, with the support of the technical committee, is assembling an outstanding technical program. The Session Chairs for 2002 include both highly experienced members of our community, as well as those who are newcomers to NSREC leadership.

Single Event Effects, Devices and Integrated Circuits
Ron Pease, RLP Research & Satoshi Kuboyma, NASDA

The technical committee will meet in March 2002 for final paper selection. The papers and posters will present the very latest information on radiation effects on electronics. Given the success of computer aided oral presentations at the last two NSRECs, the 2002 conference will also encourage computer-aided oral presentations in Phoenix.

Although the deadline for submitting summaries has passed, a few late-news papers will be accepted and will be presented in the poster session. The deadline for submission of late-news papers is May 31, 2002. Please submit late-news summaries, using the 4-page summary and 35-word abstract format, to Tom Turflinger. Additional information on submission of late-news summaries can be found at www.nsrec.com.

This conference will include a workshop for papers on radiation effects data for electronic devices and systems. These papers are intended to provide radiation response data to scientists and engineers who use electronic devices in a radiation environment. Further, it is intended to be of interest to designers of radiation-hardened systems. These papers will be presented in a separate workshop session (using poster paper format). All conference registrants will be mailed a copy of the Workshop Proceedings (an archival IEEE publication).

Attendees at the 2002 NSREC in Phoenix will also have the opportunity to participate in a high-quality one-day short course on Monday, July 15. An added attraction for this yearØs course will be an updated version of the CD-ROM archive of Radiation Effects Short Course Notebooks. We have added the past four years of notebooks to our previous collection (which covered from 1980-1998). The updated CD now spans the entire period from 1980-2002 and includes a full text search engine. NSREC will provide a complimentary copy of this new CD to all those who register for the 2002 Short Course. For those who cannot attend, the CD will be available from the IEEE on-line store for $200 ($160 IEEE members). If you missed any of the NSREC short courses over the past 23 years, this resource is a worthwhile addition to your digital library.

Paul Dressendorfer of Sandia National Laboratories, the 2002 Short Course Chairman, is putting together a cohesive set of four talks covering the issues involved in radiation effects for space systems, from the characteristics of the radiation environment continuing on through how one assures that a satellite will actually work as desired in that environment. It will lay a foundation of basic background material and build upon that to discuss some of the advanced technologies and approaches coming into use.

The 2002 Short Course will start with a discussion of the space environment. The first speaker, Joe Mazur of The Aerospace Corporation, will describe the hazards of the space environment, what creates the environment and how one measures it, how it varies with time and position, and how one translates that external environment into what components within the satellite will experience. Jim Schwank of Sandia National Laboratories will then describe the effects of total dose on different device technologies. He will first describe the basic mechanisms for total dose damage, beginning with the traditional understanding of positive charge and interface trap buildup and moving on to recent concerns such as radiation-induced leakage current and microdosimetry effects. He will then use this understanding of damage mechanisms to discuss how total dose damage affects various device technologies. The third session will be taught by Todd Weatherford of the Naval Postgraduate School, who will discuss single event effects beginning with their underlying mechanisms on through their effects on devices. This has been an area of great interest at the Conference, and this talk will help place much of the work in the field into perspective. It will also include some educational animated simulations of single ion strikes on different device structures. Finally, the short course will conclude with a session by Christian Poivey of the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, who will tie all the talks together with a discussion of how one performs hardness assurance. He will cover this topic not only at the device level, but also describe what is done at the system level so that the electronics system in a satellite actually will perform as desired in the environment of space.

For those interested in Continuing Education Units (CEUs), there will be an open-book test at the end of the course. The course is valued at 0.6 CEUs and endorsed by the IEEE and the International Association for Education and Training (IACET).

This year's Industrial Exhibit will feature the leading suppliers of radiation hardened products, related materials, and services. The Industrial Exhibit permits one-on-one discussions between exhibitors and conference attendees on the latest in radiation-hardened electronic devices, radiation analysis and test services, and radiation test facilities and test equipment. If you would like to participate in the exhibit, or need more information on the exhibit, please visit http://www.nsrec.com or contact Chuck Tabbert, the 2002 NSREC Industrial Exhibits Chairman.

General Chair: Ken Hunt
Vanderbilt U. at AF Research Laboratory, +1 505 846-4959

Short Course: Paul Dressendorfer
Sandia National Laboratories,
+1 505 844-5373

Article prepared by Teresa Farris, the RESG Publicity Chairperson. She can be reached at Aeroflex UTMC, 4350 Centennial Blvd., Colorado Springs, CO 80907-3486; Phone: +1 719 594-8035; Fax: +1 719 594-8468; E-mail: teresa.farris@utmc.aeroflex.