This paper describes the main failure mechanism of charge redistribution Successive Approximation Register (SAR) Analog-to-Digital Converters (ADCs) under radiation. Results of two different radiation experiments (gamma and X-ray) each considering two identical 130nm, 8-bit SAR ADCs, operating with distinct sampling rates, showed that lower sampling frequencies cause the converters to fail at lower accumulated dose, while increasing the sampling frequency increases the converters robustness to radiation. A SPICE model of a SAR ADC is used to simulate radiation induced leakage effects, considering the same technology node and operating conditions of the tested converters. A very good agreement between simulation results and gamma irradiation experimental data allows us to explain the main failure mechanism, which is related to leakage in switches connected to the programmable capacitor array of the internal DAC of the converter.

本文介绍了电荷再分配逐次逼近寄存器 (SAR) 模数转换器 (ADC) 在辐射下的主要故障机制。两个不同的辐射实验（伽马和 X 射线）的结果分别考虑两个相同的 130nm、8 位 SAR ADC，以不同的采样率运行，结果表明较低的采样频率会导致转换器在较低的累积剂量下失效，同时增加采样频率增加了转换器对辐射的鲁棒性。考虑到测试转换器的相同技术节点和工作条件，使用 SAR ADC 的 SPICE 模型来模拟辐射引起的泄漏效应。模拟结果和伽马辐照实验数据之间的非常好的一致性使我们能够解释主要的失效机制，