Microchip RTAX-S/SL

RTAX-S/SL

RTAX-S radiation-tolerant FPGAs offer industry-leading advantages for designers of space-flight systems. High performance and low-power consumption, true single-chip form factor, and live-at-power-up operation all combine to make RTAX-S the FPGA of choice for space designers. From concept to final integration and flight, Microsemi provides the tools and support to help you successfully integrate your space-flight application into RTAX-S radiation-tolerant FPGAs. Additionally, for space applications that have a need for a lower standby current, Microsemi offers RTAX-SL, the low-power grade option that has half the standby current of the standard product at worst-case conditions. RTAX-S/SL offers high performance at densities of up to 4 million equivalent system gates and 840 user I/Os for space-based applications. The RTAX-S/SL family, the leading Microsemi product offering for space applications, features SEU-hardened flip-flops implemented without any user intervention, and offers the benefits of user-implemented triple module redundancy (TMR) without the associated overhead.

Key Features

Radiation Performance

Single-Event Effects

Testing performed at BNL and Texas A & M 2004

SEL and SEDR

Single-Event Transient

Logic Single-Event Upset (SEU)

Memory SEU

Total Ionizing Dose

Total Ionizing Dose (TID)

Total Ionizing Dose (TID) is caused by radiation due to charged particles and gammas in space. This radiation deposits energy by causing ionization in the material. The ionization can change the charge excitation, charge transport, bonding, and decomposition properties of the material, and therefore, the device parameters. The total dose is a cumulative ionizing radiation that an electronic device receives over a specified period of time. The damage is dependent on the amount of radiation and how long it took to accumulate the total dose and is expressed in Radiation Absorbed Dose (RAD). Microsemi publishes Radiation & Reliability Data so that customers can use the radiation data when designing applications with high-reliability needs.

Single-Event Effects

Ionizing radiation can cause unwanted effects in semiconductor devices. Energetic protons, neutrons, heavy ions, and alpha particles can strike sensitive regions of the transistor, causing various failures, or SEE, such as the following: Single-Event Upsets (SEUs), which occur when high-energy ionizing particles, such as heavy ions, alpha particles or protons, irradiate a circuit or pass through an integrated circuit, causing a disruption in the system logic. Single-Event Latch-Up (SEL) is a condition that causes a device to lose functionality due to a single-event-induced high current state. An SEL may or may not cause permanent device damage, but it does require power strobing of the device to resume normal device operations. Devices with low (< 37.5 MeV-cm2/mg) SEL LETTH are considered unsuitable for space applications. Single-Event Transient (SET) upsets are caused by charges accumulated in reverse-biased junctions in CMOS digital circuits at higher frequencies