RIDGETOP GROUP WILL DESIGN A RAD-HARD APPLICATION SPECIFIC INTEGRATED CIRCUIT (ASIC) FOR SPACECRAFT POWER M…

Public award description

RIDGETOP GROUP WILL DESIGN A RAD-HARD APPLICATION SPECIFIC INTEGRATED CIRCUIT (ASIC) FOR SPACECRAFT POWER MANAGEMENT THAT IS FUNCTIONAL OVER A TEMPERATURE RANGE OF -230 TO +130 OC. THIS ASIC IS INTENDED TO WORK IN CONJUNCTION WITH A FUEL CELL POWER SYSTEM AND BATTERY BACK-UP TO PROVIDE UNINTERRUPTED POWER TO CRITICAL MODULES IN SPACE. RIDGETOP WILL COMBINE RADIATION HARDENING (RH) TECHNIQUES WITH LARGE SCALE INTEGRATION (LSI) METHODOLOGIES TO BUILD A POWER MANAGEMENT SYSTEM FOR SPACECRAFT APPLICATIONS ONTO A SINGLE MONOLITHIC CIRCUIT. THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THIS INNOVATION IS A SINGLE RELIABLE COMPONENT (ASIC) THAT WILL MEET PLATFORM REQUIREMENTS FOR HIGH VOLTAGE, WIDE OPERATING TEMPERATURE RANGE, AND RADIATION TOLERANCE (MINIMUM 100 KRADS TOTAL IONIZING DOZE (TID), 100 MEVCM2/MG SINGLE EVENT LATCHUP (SEL). DURING PHASE 1, WE WILL SELECT TWO FUNCTIONAL BLOCKS FROM WITHIN A REPRESENTATIVE NASA POWER MANAGEMENT SYSTEM AS TEST CASES. DESIGNS FOR THESE BLOCKS WILL BE DEVELOPED AND VALIDATED THROUGH SPICE CIRCUIT AND RADIATION SIMULATIONS, USING TECHNOLOGY FILES PROVIDED BY A COMMERCIAL FOUNDRY. IN PHASE 2, RIDGETOP WILL DELIVER WORKING PROTOTYPE INTEGRATED CIRCUITS (ICS) THAT MEET AND EXCEED THE ABOVE REQUIREMENTS.