Transient Voltage Suppressors Are Radiation Resistant

May 4, 2005 1:05 PM

AVX has produced transient voltage suppressor (TVS) devices based upon a multilayer varistor (MLV) concept and zinc oxide material systems. Designated the MG and V2F Series, the rad-hard TVS devices have significantly expanded designer application choices. MLVs are available in case sizes as small as 0402 to as large as 2220.

“The MLVs offer significant advantages to design engineers in military applications and in harsh environments. Among those advantages are high inrush capability, repetitive strike capability, fast turn on time and small size,” said AVX Applications Engineering Manager, Ron Demcko. “AVX MLVs are reliable and offer accuracy and repeatability in harsh environments, such as aircraft, spacecraft sensors and oil exploration equipment, in part because they are radiation resistant.”

Under neutron fluence and gamma total dose environments, AVX MLVs have been characterized as radiation resistant. Test results show that multiple element array configurations (multiguards) and transfeed LC–T MLV configuration withstand neutron fluence fields of up to 5 × 10¹² N/cm² with virtually no change in breakdown voltage. Breakdown voltage is defined as the value of dc voltage that drives the MLV into a 1-mA current conduction state.

Multiguards and transfeed devices also have little breakdown voltage variation when exposed to 10k rads of gamma radiation. This data is generated for the most size efficient MLV packages AVX offers—MLV arrays and MLV feedthru filters. These configurations can save designers up to 90% of the board area that discrete solutions would require and offer a 50% weight reduction. Pricing starts at $0.18 for a 0508 four element device in 10,000-piece quantities.

For more information, visit www.avxcorp.com.

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