Introduction to Hardening

What is at stake ?

Hardening is a mandatory step to ensure that electronic devices can work in a harsh radiative and/or electromagnetic environment.

Hardening is therefore requested for :

• space systems (satellites, launchers,…) facing the radiative environment induced by the Sun and the space particles,
• civil nuclear systems (especially for the electronic devices implemented in “hot” environment, for instance next to the reactor heart or to nuclear fuel rods),
• weapon systems or infrastructures designed to survive after a nuclear aggression,
• aircraft and vehicles including a large proportion of electronic equipments (atmospheric neutrons effects).

The typical environments to be addressed, either natural or artificial, are summarized in the following diagrams :

 Natural environments

Artificial environments

SGEMP : System Generated ElectroMagnetic Pulse (EM ienvironment induced by the interaction of X-rays with the system matter)
IEMN : Nuclear ElectroMagnetic Pulse

Hardening methodology

Hardening requirements need to be taken into account as soon as possible in the design of a piece of equipment or of a complete system in order to minimize the impact on development costs and schedule.

The NUCLETUDES' know-how makes possible to adapt these methods to various industrial contexts.


It thus leads to :

• model the physical phenomena : radiation/matter interaction and induced coupling effects (including Nuclear EM Pulse)
• define robust electronic architectures through electronic components testing and electronic expertise,
• for nuclear aggressions, to evaluate the thermo-mechanical effects : high-speed thermodynamics.

As a complement to these engineering activities, NUCLETUDES also owns dedicated test facilities.

At last, NUCLETUDES has developed several specific spin-off technologies for sensors and dosimeters.