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ALTER TECHNOLOGY
DRIVING
Characterising anti-radiation behaviour, both response
to gamma radiation (TID) and single event effects (SEE)
or displacement damage (DD).
Integrity in vacuum conditions and degassing characteristics.
The need to have broader operating temperature ranges,
integrity to thermal cycles, etc.
It does not consider the use of prohibited materials in
space; for example, pure tin, which in certain conditions
can produce tin filaments, a mechanism of failure
known to produce short circuits.
We must emphasise the importance of knowing all fundamental
failure modes that can be suffered by automotive
parts during a space mission, including all pertinent aspects
in the test plan, from a radiation test, to the verification
of degassing levels, or the possible presence of prohibited
materials, using appropriate inspection techniques: electrical
measurements, X-ray inspection, acoustic verification
(CSAM), electronic microscopy (SEM), EDAX, X-ray fluorescence,
etc.
It should be considered that activities on a component level
must be complemented by and connected with other actions
that influence the reliability of the final equipment, from the
design itself (introduction of redundancies, etc.), to the tests
carried out at higher levels of integration.
The added value of all these processes is based on adequate
engineering work, an in-depth knowledge of the technologies
to be evaluated, together with experience and access
to the necessary test methods and inspection techniques.
Once the batch has passed the planned research and test
activities, it is deemed trustworthy for use in the application.
On the other hand, the normal way to acquire parts within
the automotive sector is with the use of a PPAP (Production
Part Approval Process). The PPAP is a valuable tool for trusting
component suppliers and their production processes,
but it requires orders of large quantities of parts, larger than
those needed in the space sector, even considering the new
needs of the mega-constellation of satellites.
(Top image) Summary of the measurement bank.
(Image below) Detail of an internal visual inspection of a semiconductor
laser
In line with these considerations, the AEC qualified automotive
components are clearly not a direct replacement for
the qualified components for use in space and do not fully
meet the sector's demands; however, they remain of high
interest and have great potential for use in space, designing
protocols that complement this difference and enabling the
level of confidence required by the sector to be reached.
Demetrio López
Innovation Director
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