Rad-Hard Technology Brief
Radiation causes performance degradation of integrated circuits through accelerated aging. The impact can cause leakage and threshold voltage shifts in ICs that can cause system failure. To mitigate these problems, Ridgetop has extensive experience in the design of radiation-hardened components for critical applications. These tools include satisfactorily addressing the following rad effects:
- Single-Event Effects (SEE)
- Total Ionizing Dose (TID)
- Transient Dose Rate (TDR)
Examples of Ridgetop design services in the radiation hardened areas, including rad hard by shielding (RHBS), rad hard by design (RHBD) methods, and rad hard by process (RHBP):
- Mixed-signal circuit designs for critical applications, including high speed, high linearity analog-to-digital converters. Sampling rates are up to 2 GS/s.
- Design using newer advanced processes such as Silicon Germanium (SiGe), Silicon on Insulator (SOI), Silicon on Sapphire (SOS), and other advanced semiconductor processes.
Ridgetop customers for our radiation hardened products and design services have included the U.S. Air Force, NAVAIR, Missile Defense Agency (MDA), Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA), NASA, and the U.S. Department of Energy. Prime Contractors for those agencies also populate our extensive customer list.
