The development of a Single-Event upset immune, re-programmable and non-volatile field programmable gate array (r-NV-FPGA)

Radiation tolerant Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGA’s) have gained wide and rapid acceptance by military and aerospace equipment suppliers; however, there are presently a limited number of chip-sets available for production and they are limited to one time programming; hence if program changes are subsequently required a backup or chip replacement is required. The lack of FPGA alternatives severely limits the range of available functions and applications that would greatly benefit from increased performance with radiation hardness. Further, FPGA technology that can be produced from common mass production techniques is highly sought after for significant cost savings on a per unit basis. We propose to use our newly invented radiation tolerant high temperature non-linear dielectric to develop a Single Event Upset (SEU) immune re-programmable and nonvolatile logic device, a small FPGA, that is immune to SEU events. In Phase I we showed proof of our high temperature non-linear dielectric concept and in Phase II we will optimize the technology for prototype demonstration in a commercial manufacturing environment using common mass production techniques, and demonstrate packaged device functionality for use in radiation environments. Phase III will be product introduction to the military and commercial space markets.