Hierarchical CAD Tools for Radiation Hardened Mixed Signal Electronic Circuits

Orora Design Technologies proposes to develop and demonstrate a behavioral-modeling-centric design flow and supporting CAD tools for the automated analysis, synthesis and migration of radiation-hardened mixed-signal integrated circuits and systems, based on IEEE standard VHDL-AMS. Parasitic-aware behavioral modeling methods and models will be developed to characterize radiation effects on circuit blocks, interconnect and layout structures. Orora will develop tools for encapsulating and quantifying known techniques for rad-hard circuit layout and architecture, as well as tools to predict routing sizing adjustments needed for radiation induced events. The existing Orora Arsyn tool suite will be extended to support hierarchical synthesis through topology selection under radiation, physical, and electrical constraints through parameterized VHDL-AMS netlists. VHDL-AMS facilitates simultaneous simulation and evaluation of electrical, thermal, and radiation effects, and encapsulation of design knowledge for rad-hard process migration. Teaming up Boeing Solid State Electronics, the proposed design flow and tools will be validated and demonstrated on some military electronic designs.