A new approach to designing electronic systems for operation in extreme environments: Part II - The SiGe remote electronics unit

Author

England, T.D. ; Diestelhorst, R.M. ; Kenyon, E.W. ; Cressler, J.D. ; Ramachandran, V. ; Alles, M. ; Reed, R. ; Berger, R. ; Garbos, R. ; Blalock, B. ; Mantooth, A. ; Barlow, M. ; Dai, F. ; Johnson, W. ; Ellis, C. ; Holmes, J. ; Webber, C. ; McCluskey, P.

Author_Institution

Sch. of Electr. & Comput. Eng., Georgia Inst. of Technol., Atlanta, GA, USA

Volume

27

Issue

7

fYear

2012

fDate

7/1/2012 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

29

Lastpage

41

Abstract

We have presented the architecture, simulation, packaging, and over-temperature and radiation testing of a complex, 16-channel, extreme environment capable, SiGe Remote Electronics Unit containing the Remote Sensor Interface ASIC that can serve a wide variety of space-relevant needs as designed. These include future missions to the Moon and Mars, with the additional potential to operate in other hostile environments, including lunar craters and around the Jovian moon, Europa. We have expanded on the previous introduction of the RSI to show the validity of the chip design and performance over an almost 250 K temperature range, down to 100 K, under 100 krad TID radiation exposure, with SEL immunity and operability in a high-flux SET environment.

Keywords

Ge-Si alloys; Moon; application specific integrated circuits; electronics packaging; radiation hardening (electronics); semiconductor materials; sensors; space vehicle electronics; Europa; Jovian moon; SEL immunity; SiGe; TID radiation exposure; chip design; electronic system design; electronics packaging; high-flux SET environment; lunar craters; radiation testing; remote electronics unit; remote sensor interface ASIC; Circuit layout; Computer architecture; Design methodology; Digital control; Environmental factors; Integrated circuits; Microprocessors; NASA; Radar remote sensing; Remote sensing; Space missions; Space vehicles;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Aerospace and Electronic Systems Magazine, IEEE

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0885-8985

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/MAES.2012.6328839

Filename

6328839