Radiation tolerance tests on key components of the ePIC-dRICH readout card

TL;DR

This study evaluates the radiation tolerance of key components in the ePIC-dRICH detector's readout system, confirming most components withstand expected radiation levels except for a microcontroller, and highlights the need for mitigation strategies.

Contribution

Proton irradiation tests on RDO card components reveal their radiation tolerance levels, identifying vulnerabilities and informing system design for the ePIC-dRICH detector.

Findings

All components except ATtiny817 microcontroller tolerate expected TID levels.

The ATtiny817 microcontroller failed under irradiation, indicating vulnerability.

SEU rates observed suggest the need for mitigation strategies.

Abstract

The dual-radiator RICH (dRICH) detector of the ePIC experiment will employ over 300000 SiPM pixels as photosensors, organized into more than 1000 Photon Detection Units. Each PDU is a compact module, approximately 5x5x12 cm^3 in size, including four custom ASICs connected to 256 SiPMs and an FPGA-based readout card (RDO) responsible for data acquisition and control. Considering the moderately harsh radiation environment expected in the dRICH detector, this study reports on proton irradiation tests performed on key components of the RDO card to assess their tolerance to cumulative Total Ionizing Dose (TID) and Single Event Effects (SEE). All tested components demonstrated radiation tolerance beyond the TID levels expected for the dRICH environment, with the exception of the ATtiny817 microcontroller, which showed destructive failure. Furthermore, as expected, the observed Single Event Upset (SEU) rates call for appropriate mitigation strategies in the final system design.