Development of ion beams for space effects testing using an ECR ion source

At LBNL's 88-Inch Cyclotron and Berkeley Accelerator Space Effects (BASE) Facility, a range of ion beams at energies from 1 to 55 MeV/nucleon are used for radiation space effects testing. By bombarding a component with ion beams the radiation component of the space environment can be simulated and single event effects (SEEs) determined. The performance of electronic components used in space flight and high altitude aircraft can then be evaluated. The 88- Inch Cyclotron is coupled to the three electron cyclotron resonance ion sources (ECR, AECR-U, VENUS). These ion sources provide a variety of ion species, ranging from protons to heavy ions such as bismuth, for these tests. In particular the ion sources have been developed to provide "cocktails", a mixture of ions of similar mass-to-charge ratio, which can be simultaneously injected into the cyclotron, but selectively extracted from it. The ions differ in both their linear energy transfer (LET) deposited to the part and in their penetration depth into the ...