Dynamic radiation testing on commercial integrated MEMS inertial navigation system with X-rays and electrons

In this contribution we report advances in radiation testing at the particle accelerator laboratory of ENEA Frascati Research Centre on a commercial 9-axis integrated MEMS inertial measurement unit (IMU) (accelerometer, gyroscope and magnetometer). This commercial component has already been the focus of a previous experimental campaign, reported at IAC 2019, where the device was tested in mechanically static and electronically dynamic conditions for combined total ionizing dose (TID) and Single Event Effects (SEE) with 30 MeV proton beam from the TOP-IMPLART linear accelerator. Commercial off the shelf (COTS) products of the same class of the component under test, not designed for harsh environment, could be used as sensors for attitude determination in University Cubesat missions and tested for radiation resistance with the procedure we are investigating. The COTS IMU is here tested at the REX (Removable Electron X-rays) facility based on a S-band linear accelerator which can provide electron beams up to 5 MeV and bremsstrahlung X-rays beams via a conversion head with tungsten target. The purpose of the experiment is to confirm the TID resistance, already evaluated up to 50 krad(Si) with the TOP-IMPLART proton beam, and further probe the device degradation at higher dose levels by X-rays and electrons irradiation. While X-rays irradiation alone is adequate to investigate TID-only response of the device, electrons in this energy range are also relevant as a radiation source as they are representative of the trapped particles environment that the device could actually be subjected to. In this contribution we repot the results of irradiation with X-rays and comparison of device degradations induced by photons and protons. The outcome of irradiation with the two sources is discussed, highlighting advantages and disadvantages of the different procedures towards the definition of a simple yet meaningful risk assessment strategy for this kind of devices.