When using Commercial-Off-The-Shelf (COTS) components in space environments, up-screening procedures to ensure high reliability are essential.
These procedures include mechanical, electrical, environmental tests, and especially radiation hardness evaluation.

However, when analyzing the cost of each major item in up-screening, the SEE (Single Event Effect) test—particularly the heavy ion-based evaluation—accounts for a disproportionately large portion of the total cost.

As shown in the graph, heavy ion-based SEE tests dominate the overall up-screening cost, requiring significantly more budget compared to other evaluation categories such as TID (Total Ionizing Dose), DPA (Destructive Physical Analysis), and CA (Construction Analysis).
While COTS components have the advantage of being cheaper than space-grade parts in terms of initial purchase price, the cost of SEE testing during up-screening can sometimes match or even exceed the price of space-grade components.

As this graph illustrates, evaluation using heavy ions incurs substantial cost even for a single test. Compared to this, laser-based testing for the same component is about four times cheaper.
This cost issue essentially negates the cost-saving benefits of using COTS parts, making them inefficient in some cases when compared to certified space-grade components.

To solve this issue, many are now proposing to replace heavy ion tests with laser-based SEE evaluations.
In the up-screening process required to apply COTS components to space systems, radiation hardness evaluation—particularly heavy ion-based SEE tests—has a major impact on the total cost structure.



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