This webinar will overview RD ALFA Microelectronics, its heritage, and the current offering of radiation-hardened components qualified for space applications.
We will review ALTER’s capabilities for space equipment testing, with a special focus on new developments and ESA’s statement of conformity for small satellites.
Invincible business decisions of the Component Manufacturers shape the EEE Component market, endangering long-term follow-up projects. Especially the Military/Space EEE Components minuscule market share is more vulnerable to business decisions.
The space industry is booming, and space semiconductors are transforming from traditional ‘space-grade’ to advanced ‘Commercial-Off-The-Shelf (COTS)’. However, most COTS semiconductors are severely affected by extraterrestrial radiation.
The New Space industry resorts to this way of saving. Such a shortcut obviously is cost-efficient, but it still invokes knowledgeable, educated technical decisions. It is not enough to accept some usually undefined risks. The cost of cost-saving has to be known.
Typical pass/fail criteria are not useful while no actual information about optoelectronic parts (mostly COTS) are operated in space environments or sometimes in ways for which were not designed. Detailed study of the degradation or failure modes may determine that not fully compliant devices may still be suitable for a certain application.
There is a trend to push toward the use of Automotive Grade 0, 1 EEE Components as preferred vs. Industrial Grade EEE Components.
The presentation walks through the AEC-Q100 (ICs) document, highlighting points to be scrutinized before making an educated decision.