Levels of radiation hardened ICs
Edited by David Barth, 7 December 2008
from page 78 of the September 29, 2008 issue of Aviation Week & Space
Technology, by David Hughes.
The levels of radiation hardened ICs at the time of this writing are as follows:
- Radiation-tolerant
These ICs are less robust than radiation-hardened ICs. Although they will usually withstand the effects of naturally
occurring radiation from the sun and space, they probably will fail due to a nuclear detonation that charges the
radiation belts above the earth and loads them with high-energy particles. Civilian ICs are usually radiation-tolerant,
but not radiation-hardened. Radiation-tolerant ICs are less expensive than radiation-hardened devices which is
economically desirable because the current state-of-the-art is superceeded by new device designs over a relatively short
period of time.
- Radiation-hardened
These ICs are military-grade, designed to withstand the EMP and the effects of high-energy particles imparted to the
radiation belts that circle the earth following a nuclear detonation. Since the 1990s, chips are radiation-hardened by
the way they are designed at the transistor and circuit level. The design is given to a commercial chip foundry to do
the manufacturing which does not require special accommodations. This process is called radiation hardened by design
(RHBD). The effects of radiation are mitigated by modifying transistor topology. Transistor.